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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
How I Healed My Child’s Cavity
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
Let’s not forget ankyloglossia (tongue tie) as a potential cause of crooked teeth.
I have 4 kids. They were all breast fed for their first year and ate healthy home cooked food based on the wisdom of the time which included wheat, vegetable oils and conventional dairy products. Three out of 4 ended up with perfectly straight teeth. Out of these three one sucked her thumb until she was 9 years old. After she stopped her teeth straightened themselves spontaneously. All four of my kids have no cavities thus far (aged 13-20). The oldest does not take particularly good care of his teeth either. The fourth child has needed considerable orthodontic treatment. Same diet as the others. I have a good set of teeth and never had any orthodontics. The kids’ father had lots of orthodontic treatment for the same issues as my fourth child. My conclusion: genetics have a lot to do with the shape of your mouth and jaw.
My mom had crooked and overcrowded teeth before she saw the orthodontist in her late 30s who pulled out some of her teeth and put in braces. She made sure I didn’t get them by pulling out most of my baby teeth once they started moving. I hated it so much and didn’t understand back then why she was so persistent on doing this even when she showed me her teeth. Can anyone confirm if this practice really works or not? My teeth are straight so I never had to get braces.
This is fascinating stuff. Now that I’ve read this and thought about it- here is my own story/ proof. My daughter by age 6 showed crooked teeth. Several years ago (gradually while learning) we made many improvements to our nutrition. Cutting out all reduced fats, adding coconut oils and more grass fed butters and olive oil. Switching to raw dairy, ridding processed foods and eating a very nutrient dense diet. Making bone broths and adding probiotic drinks. Last year we noticed her teeth had become completely straight on her own! Despite both her parents having had braces…. This seemed impossible and we weren’t sure how it had happened, until now! Not to mention zero cavities despite denying the toxic suggested fluoride treatments… It is never too late! This story is proof, she is now 10 and no need for braces. Crazy awesome, thanks for your research and wisdom
Natasha, that is so cool!! 🙂 How rewarding for you as a parent to see proof that the efforts you made have paid off. 🙂 Thanks for the encouraging story!
Thank you for sharing your story!
It gives me a lot of hope and I try to recover myself, my husband and my 2 daughters from a long line of bad health.
What a timely post! My first born just lost her first 2 teeth, and as I was looking yesterday at her first adult tooth just starting to poke up, I had this moment of panic. Knowing how important proper nutrition is to teeth, I suddenly felt like, “This is it. Have I done enough??We’ll see if the last 6 years of effort have been in vain, we’ll see if these teeth grow in straight.” All 3 of my girls (6, 5 and 3) have beautiful little baby teeth, but I can’t help but worry that they seem to be pretty snug in their little mouths. I probably eat and feed my family the most WAP-ish of everyone I know. And yet, there are people I know who hardly give nutrition a second thought, the kind of people who think that avocados are bad for you because they have so much fat in them, whose children have these nice round heads, broad faces, and wide palates. I can’t help but feel a little frustrated and bewildered by it. Doesn’t it seem like genetics has to be involved somewhat? Or maybe not genetics as much as, the affects of past generations on present ones. Like, sometimes I feel like, “What’s the use?? We’re the weirdos who feed our kids so carefully, but our kids still get sick, they still have crooked teeth…” but our hope is that the effort we are putting into feeding our kids right will not only help them to be healthier, but will build them up to be able to pass on stronger and better genes to the next generation. Like, the faces getting more narrow over the generations as the nutrition decilned, but the opposite. Can we start seeing the faces getting broader and healthier again, from one generation to the next, because of how we feed our children now?? Hm… I hope some of that will make some sense to someone. 😉
Breast feeding is always good. It also is the beginning of the swallow and using the tongue so the tongue position will develop well unlike bottles and sippy cup which lower the tongue position. I don’t think we are talking about anything they wrote about in the article haha I got off track anyway! Hard foods are not the answer to straight teeth. and really they talked more about bone growth which hard foods do not help either! Today we have mouth breathers which changes the picture in creating healthy mouths. I am researching and learning about baby led weaning. It is not hard food just letting the baby eat instead of spoon feeding.. interesting.
What about the role of breastfeeding (especially “extended” or full-term breastfeeding)? Breastfeeding should have been mentioned in the article because it helps in 2 ways: 1) Best nutrition during infant and toddler years, and 2) Breastfeeding past 12 months actually helps develop the jaw properly so the teeth can come in straight. 😀
@Hallelujah I got a bad cavity after my first child was born .. similar to what you were told that a cavity per child was “normal”. SHortly after that I adopted a traditional diet and did not have any further cavities with 2 more children.
I love all your blog posts on teeth. I planned to write a post myself but it ended up being a series of links to yours…