Hi, I have crooked teeth. It does not look that bad to me, but my dentist keeps telling me that if I didn’t take care of it with braces, they would become loose. But he’s been saying it for five years (I am now 22), and they look exactly the same. I am scared, though, and I would like to hear some other options to take care of this. I have heard of cutting off a piece of the overlapping tooth and coating the exposed region with porcelain, but how expensive is that?
It is difficult to explain to you in this situation why straightening your teeth is important. They may not look different because you are young. Your teeth are crowded close to each other and there is not as much bone supporting the teeth as there would be if they were straight. As you age the gum and bone will recede. You already have some of these changes occurring now even though you don’t see and you are only 22. There is great risk in you loosing your bottom front teeth if you do not straighten your them. I would recommend braces. The cutting away of tooth overlap and placing veneers will not solve the problem of the roots of the teeth being crowded together. Dr. Lemongello

