PEGGED TEETH- MEANING, CAUSES AND TREATMENT

All of us would love to have a gleaming smile on our face. It usually a result of crystal white beaming teeth. But what will happen when the teeth have a cone-shape and are significantly smaller than average, there might not be that attraction as compared to normal. It is known as a pegged teeth. These types of teeth are a type of a dental disorder, microdontia, that is a developmental disturbance of teeth and happens generally due to congenital reasons. Sometimes pegged teeth are also referred to as Dracula teeth. These types of teeth are tapered in shape and usually occur in the lateral incisors.

The presence of pegged teeth may address a congenital defect or an underlying disease. It occurs sometimes when the second tooth on either side of the two front teeth doesn’t develop correctly and appears smaller and pointier compared to the other permanent teeth. People having peg laterals often feel self-conscious especially when they have smaller or misshapen teeth. Even in some cases, pegged teeth can be baby teeth which have never been replaced by permanent teeth. In other cases, it can be a hereditary condition when the tooth is noticeably pointy and cone-shaped.

To get an ideal bite with the front teeth, it is mandatory that half a dozen upper and lower front teeth should be in proportion to each other. Peg laterals are responsible to throw off this proportion. Like, if someone has an ideal bite, he or she will be left with spaces around the peg lateral(s). One of the best ways to correct this condition is to restore the adequate proportion of the upper to lower teeth along with upper front teeth’s proportion to each other.