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Dear Toothy:
There are a bunch of different reasons why someone might need braces. Your teeth may be too big to
fit into your mouth, so your teeth overlap or stick out. If your teeth are too small you may have
odd spaces between them. Or one of your jawbones may be the problem. If your top and bottom
jawbones don't match, your teeth may not properly rest on each other when you close your mouth.
Any single one or combination of these reasons may be enough for your orthodontist to have
suggested braces. And, thankfully your teeth can be moved; your jaw can be expanded. What braces do
is force the socket that holds your teeth to move and new bone to fill in where the socket was.
When it's your jaw that needs widening, an orthodontist will use a biteplate fitted to the roof of
your mouth to expand your jaw. The bite plate stretches the two halves of your jawbone forcing new
bone to grow in the middle. Voila, a wider jaw!
On the other hand, sometimes orthodontists decide that they don't actually need to use braces.
On occasion, they decide it's necessary to remove baby teeth before they fall out and before they
start to crowd other baby teeth or new adult teeth starting to grow in. In all of these cases, it's
remarkable what orthodontists can do to make your mouth look beautiful and healthy.
I envy you. I think braces are very attractive myself. But unfortunately, I don't have teeth.
If I did, I'd be thrilled to wear them!
Signed,
Wendell
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