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The true scientific reasons for crowded or crooked teeth and what you can do to achieve a naturally straight smile both in baby and adult teeth.
Scientists have suggested several different theories over the decades as to what causes crooked teeth in humans.
When my Dad started medical school in the late 1940s, he was taught that racial mixing (Italians marrying Irish for example) was the cause of crooked teeth.
Malocclusions had just started to reach epidemic proportions in children at that time.
Of course, this theory of racial mixing causing crooked teeth which were incidentally presented as fact to the wide-eyed medical students of the time is completely ridiculous and has long since been disproven.
Other theories include thumb sucking and consuming soft foods which are suppositions subscribed to by many orthodontists.
The soft food theory suggests that because humans don’t exercise their jaw muscles enough that our jaws have become weak and narrowed over time.
One orthodontist once told me (while I struggled to keep a straight face) that wisdom teeth were being genetically “selected out” of the gene pool because they are no longer needed because of the different foods that humans now eat compared with ancestral societies.
Now comes a variation of the “soft food causes crooked teeth” theory which was recently described in a study published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This new theory states that the movement of humans from hunter-gatherers to farmers around 10,000 years ago put us on the inevitable road to the orthodontist’s chair.
To test this hypothesis, Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, an anthropologist at the University of Kent in the UK, examined the skull and jaw shapes of ancient skeletons housed in museums that originated from Africa, Australia, Europe, and North/South America.
Six of the populations lived by farming and five were hunter-gatherers.
A significant correlation existed between how a population obtained its food and the shape of the jaw. Hunter-gatherers had narrower and more jutting lower jaws whereas those of the agriculturalists were shorter and wider.
The shape of the upper jaw and palate also varied somewhat between the farmers and hunter-gatherers.
Von Cramon-Taubadel concludes by suggesting that the transition to farming and an increase in food processing both of which led to the consumption of softer foods resulted in a shorter and weaker human jaw.
“Jaw shortening” leads to greater crowding of the teeth.
To lend support to her theory, von Cramon-Taubadel refers to preliminary studies of animals that show that those that are raised on softer more processed foods develop smaller jaws than those raised on fresh, unprocessed diets.
Katerina Harvati, an anthropologist at the University of Tubingen in Germany says that this recent paper by von Cramon-Taubadel is a “well thought out piece of research and an important contribution” to understanding how the way humans live affects their body shape.
She goes on to say, “These findings confirm long-held ideas that the dietary shift to softer foods was an important influence affecting facial and dental morphology.” (1)
The “Soft Food” Theory
Strong contradictory evidence to the soft food theory as a reason for crooked teeth is presented in Dr. Weston A. Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
How this convincing evidence was completely ignored as part of this supposedly “well thought out piece of research” is rather surprising and I would think, downright embarrassing for the author.
While hunter-gatherers certainly had strong jaws which allowed them to consume hard foods, the strength did not come from greater exercising of the jaw muscles! As suggested by Sally Fallon Morell, President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, such a theory makes the critical mistake of confusing muscle with bone.
A narrowed jaw and palate, for example, can be identified in babies at birth long before they have chewed anything!
Dr. Price also correctly pointed out that when the jaw and palate are narrowed, other parts of the skeleton are correspondingly narrowed as well such as the pelvic opening which causes greater difficulty in childbirth and the chest cavity which crowds the vital organs.
The Swiss farmers studied by Dr. Price subsisted on very soft foods and yet had beautifully broad palates with perfectly straight teeth.
Moreover, the South Sea Islanders photographed by Dr. Price with perfectly straight teeth consumed primarily seafood and poi, both soft foods with poi, in particular, a very soft and sticky staple carbohydrate in their diet.
The Truth About Crooked Teeth
Von Cramon-Taubadel did get one aspect of her paper correct. The rise of food processing did indeed contribute to the modern epidemic of crooked teeth, but not because such foods are softer than unprocessed foods.
Rather, processed and industrialized foods are devoid of the critical nutrients necessary to produce a broad and sturdy jaw with correspondingly straight teeth.
How to Get Naturally Straight Teeth
Dr. Price’s research compellingly argues that a lack of jaw development and crooked teeth is entirely nutritional in origin such as attempting to build a wide bridge with substandard materials. (2)
Without essential nutrients in the form of minerals and the fat-soluble activators A, D, and K2 which were abundant in primitive diets, the jaw and palate cannot form with enough strength to support a broad facial structure.
No surprise that the pregnancy diet of ancestral women was rich in all three of these palate-widening nutrients, but these nutrients in their natural, synergistic form are woefully low in prenatal diets of today. Prenatal supplements do not adequately fill the gap either as these pills are largely synthetic and not easily absorbed.
Traditional cultures ensured that a fat soluble-rich diet continued throughout a child’s early years as well. This guaranteed straight baby teeth as well as uncrowded adult teeth.
The easiest way to ensure a child gets enough is with a daily dose of high vitamin cod liver oil and a K2 supplement such as butter oil, natto extract, or emu oil. Vetted brands listed here.
Hence, the narrowing of the face and crooked teeth in the majority of modern children is the result of a nutritionally deficient diet. This is the case no matter what the hardness of weaning foods, thumb-sucking or pacifier use, or whether the baby was breastfed and for how long.
(1) Blame Your Crowded Teeth on Early Farmers, Wired
(2) The Right Price, The Weston A. Price Foundation
More Information
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Busting the Beta Carotene Vitamin A Myth
Toddler’s Severe Tooth Decay Halted in 5 Days
Whiten Your Teeth Without Dangerous Chemicals
Resolving Periodontal Problems with Bone Broth
Coconut Oil Stops Strep Bacteria from Damaging Tooth Enamel
Your Dentist is Holistic?
Avoiding Root Canals
Could the Cause of Your Illness Be Right Under Your Nose?
Wisdom Tooth Extractions
Dear Sarah,
I am wondering what your thoughts are if a child already has a narrow palate? Would you do orthodontics?? My 5 year old has slightly crowded teeth and narrow jaw but those are still his baby teeth, so I am assuming he will have crowding issues in the next few years 🙁
He has beautiful teeth though and no cavities, due to his excellent diet and fclo/hvbo, it is my fault he has the crowding, due to my prenatal SAD diet 🙁
What are your thoughts on palate widening and other orthodontia?
Look into orthotropics — I commented a bit above about it.
Dr. Price recommended widening the palate as opposed to pulling teeth. I would definitely have this done. The slower the better … evaluate orthodontists based on how slowly they plan to widen. Some like to do it fast (bad) others more slowly (good).
Don’t blame yourself, by the way. We are all finding our way back to health ….
Sarah,
I admire you and all you do. This is my area of expertise, however. Slowly moving teeth is just as bad as quickly moving teeth. One should never be in braces much more than a year and that can happen if they work with an orofacial myofunctional therapist before or during treatment. But widening the palate is good but the tongue should be checked first for rest position then the breathing or this first actually. My son had his palate widened for 18 months before they put on braces. This stopped the growth of the maxilla bone so his mandible grew downward after braces. All orthodontists push the teeth back. This then stopped more growth so his chin was recessed after ortho then his TMJ problems started years later and eventually he would have airway problems leading to sleep apnea if we had done nothing. And he is a nose breather! But he is now in treatment not with the orthodontist that he went to which most people would do when there is a relapse but with Dr Hang who does the orthotropics. I did orofacial myology with him but it wasn’t enough because of the bone being prevented from growing we had to move the teeth forward on top. Then the lower jaw and TMJ can move into position. My son was in braces/treatment way too long the first time and that is hard on the bone. He will be treated in less than a year this time. Hope this makes some sense to you. Melinda
Benaan, I would start with orofacial myofunctional therapy. Do not go to an orthodontics.I think it is better to do nothing than to do orthodontia. There is still time has he is young but should see a DDS who does orthotropics soon if the permanent teeth are the same narrow arch. Most important is to check the breathing. Does he nose breathe or is his mouth open? Where is his tongue at rest? Check that by asking him when he is sitting quietly. Check him when he sleeps and gently close his mouth if open. See an orofacial myofunctional therapist who does Buteyko Breathing. I will find you one if you cannot. BBEA has Buteyko Breathing educators.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist, explores the scientific theories behind crooked teeth. http://t.co/7C1ybyhq
Great article ! Sarah, did you share Dr. Price’s findings with this orthodontist ? If so, what was his/her reaction ?
No, I didn’t bother. I got the vibe that he wasn’t open and one of my major pet peeves is wasting my time. LOL
That hard food theory is not convincing. In addition to the peoples mentioned in the post, The Inuit studied by Dr Price had broad faces, plenty of room for all their teeth, and perfect teeth. They ate plenty of soft foods like seal fat and seafood that was fermented for months. Nutrition is everything, when it comes to teeth and bone structure.
It shocks me how such obviously intelligent scientists can so totally miss the mark on this. It just goes to show that high IQ doesn’t really mean much when it comes to figuring out logical conclusions.
Let me also add that when I was a manager and was in charge of hiring people for my department, our company used an IQ test to determine ability to do the job (the positions were designer/developers in the IT dept so this was very important to ascertain). I always found it striking that frequently the highest IQ people scored very low on critical thinking (ability to solve problems). I think this is why so many scientists, doctors and others who are very very smart miss very simple concepts such as nutrition affecting the development of bone structure which is so simple to grasp for those with even one iota of common sense.
That is a very good point. In my career as an attorney, I frequently came across other attorneys who had gone to the best law schools, graduated with high grades, and were totally useless for any practical purpose. Completely lacking in common sense. They would remember a canned solution to a problem, but they could not solve a real problem when the canned solution did not fit.
I am convinced there is are different kinds of mental abilities, and doing well in an educational system which favors dogma and memorization over creativity and critical thinking is no guarantee of success in solving real problems… I am frequently stunned at the conclusions scientists come up with in studies, many of which make no sense at all, like this one.
What about pemmican and jerky? Not all aspects of the diet have to be hard, just enough. Without reading the article (bad form, sorry) I have to ask: were the authors suggesting that ONLY texture was the difference? Are the two – nutritional quality and food texture – not likely to work in concert?
There’s also the suggestion that the wider pressure and greater effort involved in breast feeding vs bottle feeding “massages” the palate and helps it develop a broad and shallow curve. We accept that a baby lying on one side will flatten their head, why is it such a stretch to think that feeding (which happens as much as sleeping in those early months!) wouldn’t be similar? And by extension that chewing on your pencil in grade school is insinct! (joking – partly. Not going to try to defend the suggestion, just wondering)
Great question Lauren. My reading is that nutrition is given no credit at all for a wide palate. There was no discussion of the differences in nutrition between the farmers and the hunter-gatherers. In fact, the author of the study examined the skulls etc but there was NO MENTION whether the teeth of the farmers were even crooked! I doubt even that they were given that these were primitive farmers with no access to processed foods much like the Swiss farmers in Dr. Price’s book who of course had beautiful, straight teeth.
The Inuit ate many tough foods such as sinews and hides. They also gnawed bones. Many old Inuits skulls show very extensive wear on their teeth. This indicates how tough their diet was.
I had forgotten about the first born being healthier, thanks for the reminder! I didn’t have the best diet when I was pregnant with my first, I was pretty much vegetarian but ate eggs, fish and some poultry. Unfortunately I ate many soy foods like soymilk, soy icream, soy protein etc. and continued to eat these while breastfeeding and gave my daughter many soy products including soy formula for about 3 months. Fortunately we are off soy now and I started eating meat again, I ate meat during my second pregnancy and even craved steak! I didn’t know about the WAPF until I pretty much stopped nursing my second. I’m making sure they eat lots of good fat now and they love fish eggs right off the spoon! I did want to mention that even though I was vegetarian for about 10 years and had poor meat intake even before I went veg. I dont have any cavities and neither does my oldest daughter. I did give her cod liver oil though off and on for years after reading the benefits from Dr. Mercolas site.
I should mention that my husband is from Ukraine and didnt come to Canada until he was around 14. He grew up on raw dairy, pastured animals and fat, fish eggs and all the other good stuff. He has straight teeth, never had braces and had room for all his wisdom teeth. I was talking to his mom and she said that when she told her siblings about margarine in Canada they laughed at her and didnt believe there was such a thing! They all used butter back home. Oh and his mom has straight teeth, no braces and only 4 cavities and shes 62!!! I believe that if I were to have a child with someone who was vegetarian that my children would have some issues. Since their father grew up on such good foods he passed down his good genes to our kids.
I saw this in New Scientist and was curious about the rationale for the author of the study to draw that particular conclusion. It demonstrates that we can only speculate within the realm of our personal limited scope of knowledge. While I disagreed with her findings, it was gratifying to note that the net result is the neolithic diet is to blame for crooked teeth.
As for my own experience, I’m a 4th born child and have one of the smallest palates my dentist has ever seen; have no wisdom teeth and have had three adult teeth removed to accommodate my bite. Raised on a regular diet of Coke (my Dad worked for the co. when I was young), I have several fillings (even in the earlier baby teeth), and until several years ago when I started to pay more attention to nutrition, had bleeding gums and constant plaque build up. In addition, while not short (5’4″), I’m very small boned and wonder if I’ll be able to eat & exercise my way to a stronger skeleton before I get too old. When you start paying attention to this stuff–looking around at people you meet, you can almost tell at a glance whose parents and themselves have been consuming a better diet. I’ve given my daughter Nora Gedgaudas’ book and make sure when my grandchildren are visiting, they benefit from what I’ve learned from WAP, Nora, et al.
I love your website Sarah, and appreciate the time you take to research and post valuable info.
I’m constantly looking at peoples teeth now, lol. I agree that you can tell who was raised on a better diet by looking at peoples face and teeth.
Look how broad the faces and jaws of older people raised on the farm typically are! Compare this to the narrow faces and pinched nostrils of modern children. The great news is that a women with a narrow face and crooked teeth (or who had braces) herself can have children with broad faces and straight teeth. This is not a genetic abnormality but is entirely controlled by diet.
Hi Sarah, just curious to know if your children have straight teeth and wide palates?
So far so good 🙂 Too early to tell for 2 of them. My oldest has beautiful straight teeth and a wide smile.
Thats good 🙂 Were you consuming a tradition diet with the oldest while pregnant?
He had the benefit of being the oldest (having all my nutritional stores). For most women, the oldest is the healthiest for that reason although young women now are not finding this as they are so much more depleted nutritionally than women were even 10 or 20 years ago. I was eating an all organic diet with my first pregnancy with plenty of fats but not cod liver oil, liver, and other sacred foods. He has had the benefit of plenty of sacred foods during his growing years which I’m sure helped although nothing can replace such a diet during gestation.
And oh, ha ha. He loves soft foods (like rare steak) and homemade soups in particular. He HATES the hard foods like nuts and seeds. LOL
I too am a believer in Dr. Price’s work and we supplement with FCLO and HVBO daily at our house and try to eat (as well as we can) a WAP diet with raw milk and lots of saturated fat. But do you think thumb sucking can play a role in jaw development at all? My son has been a thumb sucker since birth (we started a WAP diet when he was almost 1) but he has a nice wide lower jaw and his upper jaw is a little more crowded but his two front teeth are close together and stick out considerably more. I’ve been attributing this to his thumb sucking but is it possible to have broad straight teeth with a correct diet even with a thumb sucker?
Hi Emily, I know many thumb suckers who have straight teeth and many who never sucked their thumbs who are buck toothed so not entirely confident this theory stacks up against reality either.
Remember that the palate is mostly formed by 6 months of age so the diet of the mother while the baby is in the womb (particularly very early in the womb) is so very critical. While diet in childhood is very important for health, it doesn’t actually change the bone structure that much – although it does somewhat. My second child was born very flat footed and was so until he was 5 years old for example (I didn’t get onto traditional fats and sacred foods until I was a few months along with him in pregnancy) but he now has a beautiful foot structure and arch after having his entire childhood consuming fat soluble activators A, D, and K2.
I wish I would have known this when I was pregnant with my own kids. My mom raised us on processed crap and although my teeth are straight, I have buck teeth and they don’t line up correctly, so I have TMJ. I also have ALL my wisdom teeth and the dentists are always impressed.
We adopted a 10 month old from China 6 years ago. She has a narrow jaw and I believe her teeth will be crowded also. She was abandoned at birth (giving up babies in China is illegal but they make sure to put the babies where someone will find them) so she was raised in an orphanage getting fed formula. She is as smart as they come though, but not much hope in getting the jaw straightened out. She also sucks her thumb.
Is there anything to do with the teeth instead of braces. My son’s are crowded and I know that they will want to pull them.
For those of you that don’t know, Rami Nagel wrote a book about how he cured his daughters very bad teeth with Weston A. Price.
Look into orthotropics — the opposite of orthodontics — a natural way to widen the arches with mouth inserts fitted by a specialist (orthotropist??). There aren’t any near where I live but you may be lucky enough. Also I think it depends on how old you are whether orthotropics works as thoroughly. Just google it.
I had my palate widened when I was about 13 years old, and doing this enabled the dentist to pull all my teeth into place. They used a metal device that had a screw thing that was turned once a day, and it gradually widened my palate (it became very obvious as all of a sudden my once overlapping front teeth had a whopping great gap between them!). I am certain this was a much better way to deal with my crowded teeth than having any pulled (incidentally this was 25 years ago). Eventually I had my wisdom teeth removed, but the rest of my teeth fit nicely (and I have quite large teeth). I really wish I’d heard of WAP before my kids were born as I am sure that at least 1, if not 2 will need braces!!
Here is someone who could help: http://facefocused.com/indexb.html. My son and I are getting treatment from him. He does wonders! and focuses on the face and the whole body. This website has A LOT of information and videos! Please check it out!!
Oh and he NEVERS pulls out teeth…EVER!!! He does long distance consulting please check his website out before you go to another orthodontist! (facefocused.com)
here is a youtube video regarding his practice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fjCXJLwAutk
Mary, Do not pull any teeth when straightening! It is important that children like yours eat lots of mineral rich foods including cod liver oil and broths. Just like in healing a tooth one can help the bone too. I would check your child for mouth breathing. Weston Price talks about this in his book also. I believe the #1 thing you can do for your orofacial health is to nose breath. And it helps so many other health problems more than we can imagine. Orthotropics is wonderful. My son face was ruined by a orthodontist and he is seeing Dr Hang to recover from the long face syndrome and TMD and facial structure problems from the bone being prevented from growing by pushing the teeth back! to straighten them. They need to be brought forward as is done in orthotropics. This makes a beautiful face though that is not the goal but a side effect of proper movement of the teeth. However, before you go to the orthodontist find a myofunctional therapist. Go to myofunctionaltherapy.com to search for one in your area. Or go to my website and I will look one up for you if you send me an email. Orofacial Myofunctional therapy works with the muscles of the face and mouth to bring proper placement of tongue rest position, swallowing,and most important is airway. I do Buteyko Breathing for this then the myo. This should be done first to help the palate oral structures. Muscle can move teeth through bone as a muscle builder can strengthen the bone. Weston Price also found the bone was dense so nutrition is the #2 most important thing in my book. Hope this makes sense. Melinda RDH orofacial myofunctional therapist, Nutritional therapist and Buteyko prac.
Great info!!! Love the site…but “bucktooth”?! Its called an overbite. Lets use correct terminology…
I was a thumb sucker until I was 8 years old. Sad but very true. I have perfectly straight teeth and no jaw problems.
Modern medicine only pays attention to the symptom again. It definitely makes more sense that crooked teeth are due to malnutrition.
What Really Causes Crooked Teeth? http://t.co/ijD3LpYH