This might be a better question for /r/askscience or a similar subreddit. There is growing evidence that changes in our diet are possibly leading to many orthodontia problems in modern humans, rather than poor genes that have always been causing problems.
Basically, as our foods have grown softer our jaws have less stimulation to grow. Even medieval diets involve tougher foods that require more chewing than our diets now.
Source: http://phys.org/news/2011-11-shift-ancient-diet-modern-orthodontic.html