Run, Don'T Walk, To Your Nearest Orthodontist!

The benefits of receiving orthodontic treatment to straighten the teeth and jaws are many. With a great smile, you can celebrate and reaffirm your dentally-perfect self-image every time you look in the mirror!

A gorgeous grin truly is an eye magnet. People like to see, and sometimes even stare at, a really nice smile. It’s a proven fact that attractive people have a better chance at experiencing professional successes in life: getting that dream job, that coveted promotion, or acceptance into that prestigious university. One’s personal and romantic lives can also be positively impacted. A wonderful smile sets the tone for a pleasingly esthetic face which is not too unlike the cherry on top of a succulent banana split!

From a physical standpoint, teeth that bite well together are highly efficient in cutting and grinding food, which helps to take the strain off of the digestive system, by maximizing the surface area of the food. Straight teeth allow for more efficient food flow patterns during mastication and can minimize food traps where chewed food can collect.  The teeth are also much easier to brush and especially floss when they are not bunched up.  Crooked teeth can harbor food between them, and can set the stage for cavity formation, gingivitis, periodontal problems, and possible tooth loss over time. Teeth that are out of line can show abnormal wear on them. The gums and the bone around misaligned teeth can suffer from excessive and misdirected forces, leading to occlusal trauma. If the upper and lower jaws do not complement each other, an unbalanced bite occurs, which can lead to chronic headaches, spasms of the jaw muscles, TMJ problems, and neck pain.

Eighty percent of the patients that orthodontists treat are under 21 years of age. As a matter of fact, it is recommended that children see an orthodontist by the age of seven to see if any future correction may be necessary and at what approximate age it should be done. In many cases, it is easier to correct skeletal problems and guide the developing teeth and jaws into their proper positions early in life than to adjust them later when the patient is an adult and more skeletally set. Deviated swallowing patterns  and speech and enunciation abnormalities can be addressed.

Orthodontic treatment may take one to three years on average. Traditional braces are still the norm, but clear-tray-based braces like Invisalign  and Simplify are getting very popular, especially with adult patients who don’t want their braces to be conspicuous.

May you have many…don’t trip on the catwalk… smiles!

































Tags:
The Dentist Who Loves You Back
The Second Life Dentist
The World's Best Dental Adventure Blog
Dentistry And Second Life
Second Life-Dental Blog
Fairy Tales Of The Mouth
A Thousand And One Dental Bites
Dental Comic Book
My Mouth Made Me Do It
The Biggest and Baddest Dentist in History
The Dental Blog That You Can Read To Your Kids