Is your diet contributing to your dental problems?

Researchers from Kent University believe that the modern diet may be contributing to the dental problem of overcrowded teeth.

Our diet, which predominantly features softer food, may be causing our jaws to develop differently leaving them smaller, wider and shorter than they used to be. Evolution has not yet compensated by producing less teeth, so for many people this leads to overcrowding. The majority of adults develop thirty-two teeth, but only have room in their jaws for twenty-eight.

The researchers from Kent analysed the jaws of a range of people from different areas and with varying racial backgrounds. The results proved their theory that people who ate a broader range of tougher foods were more likely to have longer and narrower jaws.  

Dr Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, lead researcher on this project, confirmed that the study indicated that the size of the jaws was largely dictated by eating habits. Other research which has focused on animals have confirmed that the jaw is highly adaptable and will change shape by up to 10%  in response to a change in diet.