Crowding
Crowded teeth in Greenwich, CT: often relapse after braces
Adult crowding is rarely exactly where it was at sixteen. Most of what we treat is relapse: small, correctable, and much shorter work than the original braces required.
How urgent is it?
Routine visit
Cosmetic in most cases, though crowded teeth are genuinely harder to clean, and the gums between them tend to show it.
Opening hours
Mon–Tue 8a–7p · Wed–Thu 8a–5p · Fri 9a–2p
What this usually means
The causes we see most often
01
Relapse after orthodontics
Retainers stop being worn, and lower front teeth gradually drift back over years. Extremely common, and usually a short correction to fix.
02
Natural late crowding
Lower incisors tend to crowd somewhat through adulthood, whether or not you ever had braces.
03
Drift after a lost tooth
Everything tends to shift toward a gap over time, twisting the teeth on either side of it.
04
Habits and tongue position
Long-standing habits can hold teeth out of alignment, and are worth identifying before moving them back.
What to do right now
Before you get here
- 01
Dig out your old retainer. If it still nearly fits, that is a good sign for a shorter treatment.
- 02
Photograph your teeth from the front and from below in daylight. This is useful at the consultation and useful for comparison later.
- 03
Clean carefully where teeth overlap, since crowded contacts are where decay and inflammation tend to concentrate.
- 04
Ask about retention before you ask about treatment length. It is the part that determines whether the result actually lasts.
What we would do
At the appointment
We scan your teeth and examine the bite, not just the front alignment, because moving teeth without regard to how they meet can create new problems.
You see the projected result before committing to anything, and we tell you honestly if we think aligners are the wrong tool and an orthodontist is the better referral.
Clear aligners handle most adult crowding and relapse. Treatment finishes with a retainer, and we mean for you to keep wearing it.
How we fix it
The treatments this usually leads to
Q & A
What patients ask us about this
Often four to eight months for relapse cases, longer for more significant crowding. We give you the actual number after the scan rather than as a sales figure beforehand.
Sometimes, and it is a real trade-off: veneers are faster but permanently remove tooth structure. On healthy teeth that are simply out of position, moving them is the more conservative answer.
Effectively, yes, a few nights a week indefinitely. Everyone who skips that step ends up back where they started, and we would rather be direct about it upfront.
Where we are
211 East Putnam Avenue, Suite 2-6, Cos Cob
Minutes from central Greenwich on East Putnam Avenue, with parking at the building.
Patients travel to us from
Describe it in your own words when you call. We will tell you whether it needs us today.