My lower teeth have grown a lot more crooked over the last few years. This is a surprise. They were once perfectly straight, thanks to braces that stayed on throughout three ungainly middle school years.
I asked a few friends in midlife whether they had noticed the same thing, and some reported that they, too, had newly crooked lower teeth.
So I called Dr. Leila Jahangiri, chair of prosthodontics at New York University College of Dentistry, and asked her if this experience was common. It’s not unusual for teeth to “shift and drift” as you age, she said, and it tends to occur more in the bottom teeth than the top.
Not everyone’s teeth move as they age, she added, but if they do, common reasons include the loss of a tooth; gum disease, which can make teeth unstable; and wear on the teeth from things like grinding.
But my conversation with Dr. Jahangiri got me wondering: Are there other surprising ways we change as we get older? What’s considered normal, and what isn’t? I went to the experts.
Your voice may change.
As adults age, their vocal cords often become thinner and less supple, and they may not close as firmly, said Dr. Ted Mau, director of the voice center at UT Southwestern Medical Center. As a result, your voice can become weaker or raspier.
Age can affect men’s and women’s voices in different ways, Dr. Mau added. Some men may find that as they grow older, their voices go up in pitch, he said. “So for some men, while they used to have a deep, sonorous voice, their voice may not sound that deep and full as they age,” Dr. Mau said. Meanwhile, he said, hormonal changes in older women may cause their voices to lower.
If changes in your voice affect your well-being, or you have abrupt voice changes, such as sudden hoarseness that persists for more than several weeks, Dr. Mau recommends visiting an ear, nose and throat doctor.
You’ll shrink (and keep shrinking).
Most people get shorter as they age, starting around the age of 40. But research shows that men and women lose height differently: By age 70, men will lose an average of one inch, while women closer to two inches.
And after 80? The same research suggests that you’ll probably drop another inch.
There are several reasons we shrink as we get older, said Ardeshir Hashmi, a section chief of the Center for Geriatric Medicine at Cleveland Clinic.
With age, we lose bone and cartilage in the vertebrae of our spine, which can make us shorter, Dr. Hashmi said.
And the abdominal and lower-back muscles around the spine can weaken, he said, making it harder to hold the spine upright. Even the flattening of the arches of your feet over time can contribute to a loss of height, Dr. Hashmi added.
You may be able to slow things down in part by staying physically active and doing weight-bearing exercises that strengthen your core and stimulate bone growth, and by getting enough calcium and vitamin D in your diet, he said.
A significant loss in height can indicate osteoporosis or other conditions, Dr. Hashmi said. If you have noticed that you’ve shrunk by more than one inch in the last year or two, he said, see your doctor.
Your migraines may decrease.
Women are two to three times as likely to get migraines as men, and their spells are more frequent and last longer. But there’s some welcome news: Migraines can diminish after menopause.
“Most women report that their migraines get better,” said Seniha Nur Ozudogru, a neurologist at Penn Medicine. “They have reduced frequency, reduced severity, and they might not even have migraine attacks anymore.”
Womens’ symptoms may change for the better as well, Dr. Ozudogru added. With age, women may experience migraine without accompanying symptoms such a headache, aura or nausea, she said. In many cases, she explained, migraines are bothersome, rather than debilitating.
I take a wabi-sabi approach to my new smile. My voice has gotten a bit lower, too. I tell myself it’s mysteriously husky. It’s never too late, it turns out, to adopt a new persona.
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