Dental problems and ethnics

Crooked teeth and crooked jaws can occur in people of all background and all communities. There exist 

numerous and different features and different traits as to how teeth are overlapped and how jaws are 

not aligned when it comes to racial differences. For instance, people from Asian descent exhibit more 

proclined incisors relative to their Caucasian counterparts, which have less prominent lips and more 

prominent chins than people of African descent.

A strong influence of heredity on facial features is obvious at a glance—it is easy to recognize family 

tendencies in the tilt of the nose, the shape of the jaw, and the look of the smile. Certain types of 

malocclusion run in families. The Hapsburg jaw, the prognathic mandible (lower jaw too forward) of this 

European royal family, is the best known example, but dentists routinely see repeated instances of 

similar malocclusions in parents and their offspring.  There are obviously inherited influences on the 

jaws and teeth.  

For much of the twentieth century, thoughts about how malocclusion could be 

produced by inherited characteristics focused on two major possibilities. The first would be an inherited 

disproportion between the size of the teeth and the size of the jaws, which would produce crowding or 

“crowded teeth” or spacing. The second would be an inherited disproportion between the size or shape 

of the upper and lower jaws, which would cause upper to lower jaw not biting together in a proper 

position, one being too much forward or backward relative to the other. The more independently these 

characteristics are determined, the more likely that disproportions could be inherited. A child could 

inherit relatively large teeth but a jaw too small to accommodate them, for instance, or a large upper 

jaw and a small lower one. 

Different human groups have developed impressive variations in facial proportions, dental crowding, 

crooked teeth and jaw relationships. Canada and the United States have one of the world's highest rates 

of malocclusion. 

The influence of inherited tendencies is particularly strong for mandibular prognathism (lower jaw that 

is too much forward). Knowing the type of growth associated with different genetic patterns could help 

greatly with both the type and timing of orthodontic and surgical treatment. 

Our orthodontist at Orthomontreal Inc, Dr Thanh-De Nguyen and his team have a strong and over 16 

years of experience in treating an extremely wide range of dental and orthodontic  problems, such as 

crooked teeth and jaws, of numerous and different biological origins, and will help you achieve the smile 

and function you deserve.