The Most Common Dental Problems in Teenagers
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Karen Cole, the Founder & Editor-in- Chief of online magazine HealthBenefitAdmin.
Image via Pixabay
Maintaining good habits and strong dental health is extremely important during our formative teenage years, as strong dental health in teens is extremely important. Our teenage years are often a turning point in our lives — it’s either time when we set ourselves up for a lifelong commitment to high oral health standards, or it can be a time when everything starts to go downhill.
Below is a list of the most common dental problems in teenagers, and how parents can discuss concerns and prevent issues from arising in the first place.
Problems with Wisdom Teeth
Wisdom teeth are so-called because they appear during the last years of adolescence, thus indicating that a teen has indeed “matured.” Most teens develop all their permanent teeth when they reach 13. The wisdom teeth, or third molars, appear between the ages of 17 and 21. The appearance of wisdom teeth can be painful for some people.
Complications arise when wisdom teeth appear in an incorrect position or don’t come straight up. Usually, misaligned wisdom teeth will have to be removed.
If a teen complains about their jaw or back teeth hurting, it is most often an issue attributable to wisdom teeth. In order to avoid an escalation of pain and other more serious problems from arising, it’s important that your teen sees a dentist without delay (patients near Mesa, AZ may wish to check out Vibrant Dentistry!). If the appearance of wisdom teeth are not monitored, teens could develop infections, cysts, gum disease, risk damaging nearby teeth, or even get tumors.
Crooked / Misaligned Teeth
Teenagers are particularly concerned about their looks. So a crooked tooth that they didn’t worry about in the fourth grade may suddenly start causing anxiety and stress. Teens commonly face orthodontic problems with teeth that are out of alignment. The problem escalates if the crooked teeth affect their smile or speech.
Dentists commonly prescribe braces for crooked teeth. For some highly self-conscious teens, having braces can cause stress and anxiety. However, the benefits usually outweigh the cons when it comes to orthodontics — a few years of braces can provide a lifetime of beautiful straight teeth and healthy smiles. Sometimes it helps to take your teen to an orthodontist to allow the practitioner to explain the benefits of braces, or even suggest ways of overcoming the anxiety that is affecting the teen (a child psychiatrist may be able to help assuage your teen’s fears when it comes to wearing braces, also).
…Smoking!
The vast majority of teens do understand that smoking is bad for your health in general. Unfortunately, that might not stop them from trying it out.
Teens who smoke may seriously compromise their oral health. Some issues that arise from smoking include dry mouth and bad breath. If the teen continues to smoke, they may develop severely stained teeth, experience dulling of taste buds, be at higher risk for gum disease and lost teeth, among other issues.
So while it may seem obvious, it’s important to keep an eye on your teen and strongly convey the oral — and overall — health risks associated with smoking.
Oral Piercings
Some teens are very welling to try out piercings in order to stand out, express themselves, or to be rebellious, for example. While piercing some parts of the body (like the ears) can be relatively innocuous and harmless, when it comes to piercing parts of the mouth, things are not so simple.
Oral piercings such as tongue studs or rings can pose serious risks to health. Tongue piercings are highly likely to lead to infections, as with similar types of mouth piercings. Swelling is common with these types of piercings. Some swellings get so bad that the patient has trouble opening or closing his mouth. Therefore, discourage teens from getting mouth piercings.
Karen Cole
@healthbenefitad
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