Crooked and Crowded Teeth Treatment in the New Orleans Area

Medically Reviewed by Dr. Allison Hamada

If your teeth are crooked, you have probably already decided you do not love them. The harder question is what to actually do about it, and whether it is even worth it as an adult. Those are the right things to be wondering, and they are exactly what Dr. Hamada sits down and answers at your free consultation.

At Hamada Orthodontics, we straighten crooked and crowded teeth for kids, teens, and adults throughout New Orleans, Metairie, Luling, and Destrehan, with braces and Invisalign aimed at two things at once: a smile you are happy to show off and a bite that actually works the way it should.

Where Dr. Hamada differs from most orthodontists is in where she starts. Before she looks at the couple of teeth that bug you in photos, she looks at why they got crooked in the first place, including how your jaw developed and how well you breathe. Trained at LSU and through her orthodontic residency at Columbia University, she has treated thousands of patients, and she has learned that crooked teeth are often the visible part of a bigger story.

Your orthodontist

Dr. Allison Hamada

She earned her dental degree at LSU and completed her orthodontic residency at Columbia University. Practicing since 2004, she has treated thousands of patients across the New Orleans area, and she looks at how the jaw developed and how you breathe, not just where the teeth ended up.

• LSU School of Dentistry
• Columbia University Residency
• Practicing since 2004
• Airway-focused care

You have been thinking about it for a while. So have a lot of our patients.

Almost nobody has perfectly aligned teeth, and plenty of people quietly live with some crowding for years before they do anything. See if one of these sounds like you:

• You had braces as a kid, skipped the retainer, and watched things drift back.
• You never had treatment, and your teeth slowly crowded as the years went on.
• You have wanted to fix it forever, and this is finally the year you stop putting it off.

Whichever one fits, you have not missed your window. A lot of the adults we treat at our Metairie, Luling, and Destrehan offices came in convinced they were too old for this, so if you have been telling yourself the same thing, you are in very good company. The thing those patients say most often afterward is that they wish they had started sooner.

Why teeth end up crooked in the first place

Teeth do not crowd at random. A big piece of it is genetics, but a lot of it comes down to how much room your jaw gave your teeth to come in. And that piece, the size and shape of the jaw, is where the story gets bigger than most people expect. The usual reasons:

• Not enough room. A narrow upper jaw or a small arch leaves teeth nowhere to go, so they overlap and twist to fit. Here is the part many people do not realize: that same narrow jaw also has less room behind it for the airway. The roof of your mouth is the floor of your nose, so a high, narrow palate often means tighter nasal passages too. The crowding you can see and the breathing you cannot often come from the same underdeveloped jaw.
• A bite that does not line up. When the upper and lower jaws meet unevenly, like with an overbite, underbite, or crossbite, teeth tend to tip and slide to compensate.
• Early childhood habits. Long-term thumb sucking, mouth breathing, and a low resting tongue posture can all shape how the jaw develops. When a child breathes through the mouth, the tongue drops away from the roof of the mouth, the palate does not get the gentle outward pressure it needs to widen, and the arch tends to narrow. Less room means more crowding, and the cycle feeds itself.
• Plain old time. Teeth migrate for life. Even a great result from childhood braces can crowd again, especially once the retainer stops getting worn.

The reason behind the crowding matters, because it shapes the fix. Two people with smiles that look almost identical can need very different plans. It is why Dr. Hamada works out what is causing the crowding, and whether your jaw and airway are part of it, before she recommends anything.

Crooked teeth are about more than looks

Most people do not hear this part until they are sitting in the chair. Straightening crooked teeth often does more than tidy up your photos.

Crowded, overlapping teeth are harder to keep clean, and over the years that raises the odds of cavities and gum trouble in the spots your brush and floss cannot reach. A bite that meets unevenly can wear some teeth down faster than others and leave your jaw working harder than it should, which is one of the threads that ties crooked teeth to jaw tension and TMJ discomfort.

And then there is the part you cannot see in the mirror at all. When crowding traces back to a narrow, underdeveloped jaw, that same structure can leave less room for breathing, which can show up as snoring, mouth breathing, or restless, unrefreshing sleep. Dr. Hamada is clear about where the lines are here: she does not diagnose or treat sleep apnea, which is a medical matter for a physician.

What she does is identify the skeletal and jaw deficiencies that can be a contributing factor to disordered breathing, and address that structure within orthodontic scope, coordinating with your doctor or an ENT when a medical question comes up.

That does not mean every crooked tooth is hiding a bigger problem. Plenty of people have a little crowding and nothing else going on, and that is completely fine. It just means it is worth having a trained set of eyes take a real look at the whole picture, which is the entire point of the free consultation.

“When I evaluate crooked teeth, I am not just looking at where the teeth ended up. I am looking at the jaw that supports them, and whether there was enough room for healthy development in the first place. The position of the teeth is often a clue to a bigger structural story, which is why I look at jaw growth and airway before I recommend treatment.” Dr. Allison Hamada

If a couple of those sound familiar, it is worth booking a look. Notice that several of them have nothing to do with how your teeth look. That is on purpose.

With kids especially, the signs that matter most often show up at night and at the breakfast table, not in the mirror, which is why we lead with symptoms rather than a calendar age. When a narrow jaw is part of the picture, waiting is not really a neutral choice.

Crooked teeth in children: when early treatment helps

The signs to watch for in a child usually are not the crooked teeth themselves. They are snoring, breathing through the mouth, grinding at night, restless sleep, or trouble focusing during the day. Crowding that shows up as the baby teeth give way to permanent ones, the years orthodontists call mixed dentition, is worth a look too. Those are the clues that the jaw may not be developing the width it needs, and the crowding is one symptom of that.

This is the part of orthodontics Dr. Hamada cares about most, because childhood is when the jaw is still growing and most responsive to guidance. While the bones are still developing, there is a window to encourage the upper jaw to widen, make room for teeth to come in straighter, and support the structures involved in nasal breathing along the way.

That window does not stay open forever, which is why we do not tell parents to simply wait and see. We would rather take an early look, often well before the traditional age, decide together whether anything needs doing now, and protect the option to act while it is easiest.

If you have noticed any of those nighttime signs in your child, our pages on growth and development guidance and braces for kids in Metairie walk through what early evaluation actually looks like.

Real patient, treated by Dr. Hamada

Before and after: crowding corrected

The same patient, start to finish. Crowded, overlapping front teeth brought into an even smile and a bite that lines up.

Individual results vary. Every case is different, and your consultation covers what is realistic for you.

Schedule your free consultation

How crooked teeth actually get fixed

It starts with figuring out why they got crooked and how much movement your case really needs. Lighter crowding can often be handled with clear aligners. More involved crowding or a bite problem usually calls for braces, which give Dr. Hamada more precise control over each tooth. And when the real issue is a jaw that never developed enough width, the most lasting fix is often to make room rather than just rearrange what is there.

That last point is where an airway-focused approach parts ways with the old playbook. The traditional answer to a crowded mouth was sometimes to remove teeth to create space. Dr. Hamada’s first question is different: is there a way to develop the arch and give the teeth the room they were always supposed to have? For growing kids, that can mean guiding jaw growth early.

For adults whose jaws have finished growing, palatal expansion can widen a narrow upper jaw without surgery, which makes room for teeth and supports the airway at the same time. Pulling teeth is sometimes still the right and safest call, and she will explain plainly if it is. The point is that it is a decision, not a reflex.

Whatever path you choose, treatment is more comfortable than it used to be. We use Pitts21 self-ligating brackets, a modern system that moves teeth with gentle, steady pressure and fewer of the tight adjustments you may remember. And if you are bracing for a worst-case scenario, the large majority of crooked-teeth cases are handled with braces or aligners alone, no surgery involved.

Now for the question on everyone’s mind: cost. Fees vary a lot from one person to the next, because what you need depends on your case, not on a sticker price, so we do not post ranges that would not apply to you anyway. What we will give you is a complete, personalized financial breakdown at your free consultation, with no surprises, plus flexible payment plans, and our team will check your insurance benefits for you.

If you want to understand what shapes the number before you come in, our guide on what braces cost in New Orleans walks through it.

Which option is right for you is a conversation for your visit, where Dr. Hamada looks at your teeth, your bite, and your airway, then gives you a recommendation, a timeline, and clear numbers before you commit to anything.

How long does crooked teeth treatment take?

Most crooked-teeth treatment runs somewhere between a few months and about two years. How long yours takes depends mostly on how crowded things are to begin with, since that sets how far your teeth need to move.

• Mild crowding, a few slightly overlapping teeth, often wraps up in roughly six months to a year, and these are the cases clear aligners tend to handle fastest.
• Moderate crowding usually lands somewhere around twelve to eighteen months, whether you go with braces or aligners.
• Heavier crowding, or a case that also involves developing the jaw, can run longer, since there is more to do than line up the front teeth.

Whichever camp you fall into, braces are adjusted about every six to eight weeks, and aligner check-ins land every several weeks. At your consultation, Dr. Hamada gives you a realistic timeline built around your actual teeth, not a generic estimate.

What results can you expect after crooked teeth treatment?

Most people picture one result: straighter teeth. You will get that. But the changes worth the effort tend to be the quieter ones that show up afterward:

• A smile you do not think twice about. The cosmetic result is real, and for a lot of people it is the reason they finally booked.
• Teeth that are easier to keep clean. Once teeth are no longer overlapping, your brush and floss can actually reach the surfaces that used to trap plaque, which protects against cavities and gum trouble over time.
• A bite that works. When the top and bottom teeth meet evenly, chewing improves and the load spreads across your teeth instead of grinding down a few of them.
• Less uneven wear and jaw strain. A bite that lines up asks less of your jaw, which can ease the tension and soreness that often rides along with a crooked bite.
• Jaw structure that may better support breathing. Where treatment involved developing or widening a narrow jaw, the added room benefits more than the teeth, since the same structure relates to the space available for breathing. Dr. Hamada keeps this within orthodontic scope, addressing the structure rather than treating any medical condition.

Dr. Hamada will walk you through the results that apply to your specific case at your consultation, so you know what you are working toward before anything starts.

If you or your child are nervous about coming in

Feeling unsure before a first visit is normal, and it does not change how the appointment goes. A few things tend to take the edge off:

• An evaluation is not a commitment to treatment. Plenty of people come in, get a clear answer, and leave with nothing to do yet. For kids especially, the result is often “this looks good for now, let’s check again in a while,” not braces next week.
• Nobody is going to make you feel bad for waiting. Whether it has been five years or thirty, the only question we care about is what makes sense now, not why you did not come sooner.
• The visit itself is gentle. There is no drilling and nothing sharp. A few quick X-rays and photos, Dr. Hamada looks things over, and the two of you talk it through.
• You see the numbers before you decide anything. The financial breakdown comes during the consultation, so there is no pressure to commit on the spot. You can take the plan home and sit with it.
• For a worried child, it helps them to hear that the first visit is just looking and talking, with no work done that day. Dr. Hamada sees nervous young patients all the time and explains things in words they actually follow.

If something specific is on your mind, tell us when you book and we will plan the visit around it.

Why an experienced orthodontist beats a mail-order aligner kit

Order-from-home aligner kits look tempting because they are cheap and you never have to leave the couch. The catch is what they skip. Those kits move teeth based on a mold you take yourself, with no doctor checking your bite, your gum health, or your jaw along the way. They can nudge the teeth that show when you smile, but they are not built to fix how your top and bottom teeth come together, and a tooth pushed the wrong way without supervision can affect your bite, your gums, or how well the result holds up.

There is one more thing a boxed kit cannot do, and it is the thing Dr. Hamada cares about most: it cannot look at your airway. No X-rays, no bite assessment, no check for whether a narrow jaw is quietly making breathing harder. With crooked teeth, the jaw is usually part of the story, and that is the piece a kit in the mail cannot see.

Why New Orleans area families choose Hamada Orthodontics

A few things set us apart for crooked-teeth treatment specifically:

• We treat the whole picture, not just the front teeth. Straightening is the goal, but Dr. Hamada also evaluates how your teeth meet, how your jaw is built, and how you breathe, because that is usually why teeth got crooked in the first place. This airway-centric approach is the difference between covering up a symptom and addressing the cause.
• Training that goes beyond teeth. Dr. Allison Hamada earned her dental degree at LSU and completed her orthodontic residency at Columbia University. She has been practicing since 2004 and has treated thousands of patients across the Greater New Orleans area.
• You see Dr. Hamada, every time. No rotating associates and no being handed off. She knows your case, tracks your progress, and makes every clinical decision herself.
• Three convenient locations. You get the same approach at our Metairie, Luling, or Destrehan office, whichever is the shorter drive from home, plus same-day starts for qualifying patients.
• A practice families come back to. Dr. Hamada’s patients leave consistently strong reviews on Google, and the thing that comes up again and again is how clearly she explains things and how thoroughly she looks. We would rather earn your trust than ask you to take our word for it.

What patients tell us

A lot of people walk in assuming their case is either too minor to bother with or too far gone to fix. Usually it is neither. Adults especially tell us they were a little nervous to start, then mention afterward how clearly Dr. Hamada explained everything, how she never rushed them, and how often she caught something they did not know to ask about.

“

My daughter needed maxillary expansion, and the difference it has made in her dental crowding as well as her breathing and snoring has been easily evident. Dr. Hamada uses new systems for expansion and bracketing that were so much easier and more effective than older orthodontic systems. As an ENT physician, I think she practices her profession in a thoughtful and dedicated way.

E

Emily B.

Parent and ENT physician · Google review

Crooked teeth treatment across the New Orleans area

Wherever you are in the metro, one of our three offices is probably a short drive. Our Metairie office is easy to reach from Old Metairie, Kenner, River Ridge, and Harahan.

Our Luling office serves families across St. Charles Parish, including Boutte, Hahnville, and Paradis. Our Destrehan office is convenient for St. Rose, Norco, and LaPlace. Same Dr. Hamada and the same airway-focused approach at all three, so you just pick whichever fits your week.

We routinely treat patients from Metairie, Kenner, River Ridge, Harahan, Destrehan, St. Rose, Norco, LaPlace, Luling, Boutte, Hahnville, and communities throughout the Greater New Orleans region.

Allison Hamada

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