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Toothbinch t1_javsoyn wrote

Reply to comment by big65 in If teeth are mounted in sockets in the jaw bone, how do braces move them around? Do the sockets move with them? by MyCodesCumpie-ling

Bone is constantly being broken down and remade so that it can adapt to the forces we put on it with our muscles and it doesn’t get too brittle

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Tym370 t1_jazqgli wrote

So then how does a root canal affect the tooth/jaw relationship?

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Toothbinch t1_jb0e942 wrote

The root canal won’t affect the tooth/jaw relationship.

A root canal takes out the nerve via the hole that it sits in in the center of the tooth and running down the center of the roots. It is then replaced with an anti-bacterial rubber substance and closed up with a filling and most of the time a crown/cap as well.

Outside of the root there are those little periodontal ligaments that attach the tooth to the bone, and those are still alive after a root canal. Think of them as strings and when we get braces/chew/put force on the strings it tightens them on one side of the tooth and loosens them on the other. Where the right strings are, the body knows to lay down more bone because the current bone needs to be stronger to stand up to all the force, but where the loose strings are the body knows to get rid of some bones because it’s being essentially useless in this area where it’s not taking much of any forces. The body is doing its best to adapt to the pushes and pulls that is put on it. This is true of all bones- if you work out a certain muscle the corresponding bone will get stronger/denser in the places it interacts with that muscle.

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