Abnormal eruption is when a tooth emerges through gum tissue in the wrong place.
Crowding occurs when there's not enough space for teeth to fit normally within the jaws because teeth are too big or the jaws are too small.
Orthodontic treatment may include removing teeth and/or expanding the arches to make room for teeth to be properly aligned.
Excessive spacing, or irregular gaps between teeth, can occur due to many reasons. It may be due to teeth being small as compared to jaw size, habits like tongue thrusting/thumb sucking or due to loss of tooth/teeth.
Overbite (deep bite) is characterized by upper front teeth that bite too far down (deeply) over the lower teeth, sometimes covering the lower teeth completely and forcing the lower teeth to bite into the roof of the mouth (palate).
Open bite occurs when back opposing teeth meet but upper and lower opposing front (anterior) teeth do not meet, creating an abnormal gap. Leading causes are "tongue thrusting" (also called infantile swallowing pattern) and prolonged thumb sucking.
Overjet (protrusion) involves upper front teeth that extend too far forward or lower teeth that don't extend forward enough.
This may be due to an imbalance in the development of the upper and lower jaws, missing lower teeth and/or improper alignment of molars and can be exacerbated by thumb sucking or tongue thrusting.
Crossbite - typically results from the misalignment of the upper and lower jaws, causing one or more upper teeth to bite on the inside of lower teeth.
