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When Do Your Teeth Stop Moving

Your teeth are under a variety of stresses 24 hours a day. Simply talking and pushing your tongue against your teeth to make certain sounds can put pressure on your teeth.

Smiling, sneezing, and coughing cause the muscles of your face and mouth to move, adding more pressure to your teeth.

Those minor stressors may cause very minor changes to tooth alignment, but those changes may be enough to consider braces in adulthood.

Other, more substantial, factors may cause tooth movement over time. These include:

Jawbone growth

As you get older, your jawbone grows forward and becomes narrower. At first this can cause your lower teeth to become more crowded. Over time, the change in your bottom teeth can affect your bite, causing a shift in your upper teeth.

The changes may be so slight that nothing needs to be done. But some people may need tooth extraction and bridgework or implants to correct their bite.

Gum disease

Gum disease, or periodontitis, weakens the gums that help keep teeth in place. Loose or shifting teeth are one of many serious complications of gum disease, according to the American Dental Association.

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Teeth grinding

Grinding your teeth may not only wear down your teeth but also cause them to shift over time. This condition, called bruxism, is very common.

In a 2016 survey of more than 6,000 people, 8.6 percent reported grinding their teeth during sleep. And a 2013 review published in the Journal of Oral and Facial Pain and Headache reported that 22 to 31 percent of adults experience bruxism while awake.

CPAP

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy involves wearing a mask over your nose (though some CPAP masks cover the mouth too) in order to receive a steady flow of air into your lungs.

CPAP was designed for people who have obstructive sleep apnea. This condition causes the tissue in the back of your throat to relax during sleep, restricting the flow of oxygen into your airways.

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine acknowledged that CPAP therapy can cause some tooth movement. The researchers suggest that people using CPAP pay attention to any changes in their bite and work with an orthodontist to prevent or correct any major shifting.

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