Your Teeth Move: Fortunately, Invisalign Correct Teeth While Allowing Mobility

Dr. Brittany Dickinson is one of the finest cosmetic dentists in the city of Chicago. A graduate of the University of Florida, as well as the London School of Economics, Dr. Brittany loves continuing her education year after year. She holds degrees in Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Business, and Medical Sciences in addition to her dental education. She has several publications in the field of Periodontal Disease research and is a graduate of numerous additional cosmetic programs including The Dawson Academy in Tampa, Aesthetic Advantage in Manhattan, and FMR Full Mouth Rehabilitation. She is also an American Academy of Facial Aesthetics certified injector for Botox and Fillers. 

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A reminder of our childhood years is our teeth being mobile, which was a direct result of our baby teeth falling out. In that time frame, all was fine with our teeth having mobility because there was an intention. Now, as we enter our adolescent years, the idea of our teeth moving freely does not seem right. To get down to the bottom of it, Haute Beauty sat down with Haute Beauty expert Dr. Brittany Dickinson to discuss if your teeth are supposed to move and if that's the case, for what reason. Here's what she had to say:

Are teeth supposed to move?

The answer is not so simple... yes a little bit of give is normal and helps your teeth absorb chewing forces, but visible movement of your teeth is cause for concern. The causes for tooth mobility can range from bone loss due to periodontal disease, to injury, to teeth grinding. In all of these cases, we want to decrease that movement and stabilize and strengthen your teeth again. Depending on the cause, the answer might be to have a deep cleaning and get on a proper maintenance schedule, to splint your teeth together with a bonded retainer, to start wearing a nightguard, to get TMJ Botox, or a combination of these! The best place to start is to have a comprehensive evaluation with your dentist to get to the root of the problem, as well as the proper solution.

What is the one situation where you'd want your teeth to move?

There is one situation when you want your teeth to move... during orthodontics! Whether you have braces or Invisalign, the orthodontic process is dependent on the ability to move teeth. With brackets and wires, the tooth mobility goes unnoticed by most, but with Invisalign, it's very easy to see tooth mobility when the trays are out. Not only is this normal, but sometimes we use an additional treatment called Propel to stimulate mobility and finish up the Invisalign process faster! For those of us that want that dream smile ASAP, Propel is amazing and cuts your time in Invisalign to less than half!