Why have my teeth drifted forward?

[Nel]

Hi

I suffer from bad teeth and I have lost a few of my back teeth and my front teeth have drifted forward over the last few years. I have seen a dentist and she has treated my teeth but unfortunately my teeth are still positioned forward at the front and a couple of their tips actually come out of my mouth. Could you tell me why have my front teeth drifted forwards and is there anything that can be done to push them back in where they used to be? A friend suggested having braces but I don't if I can have braces at my age (54). Any suggestions?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Teeth can drift as a result of gum disease and you need to have your gums checked to see if gum disease is responsible for your teeth drifting and if so, have your gum disease treated.

Usually the teeth lie in a zone of balance between the lips and the tongue. The forces from the tongue are more than the forces from the lips but this extra force is resisted by the gum tissues around teeth. If the gum tissue are damaged by gum disease, the teeth will drift forward as a result of tongue forces that are no longer resisted sufficiently by the damaged gum tissues.

You will need to first have your gum disease treated if that exists and then you may be able to have braces treatement to push the teeth back to where they used to be.