When most people think of orthodontic care, they think about getting straight teeth and a beautiful smile. But there are many benefits to orthodontic treatment that go deeper than the aesthetic results. Today we’ll talk about why orthodontic care is important for your health and how finding a great orthodontist can change your life for the better.
Prevent Cavities and Tooth Decay
One of the biggest benefits of aligning your teeth with orthodontic treatment is that straight teeth are easier to keep clean. When your teeth are crooked, there are more places for plaque to hide and build up. There are places that are difficult to reach with a toothbrush or even with floss. Over time, this buildup of plaque can cause cavities, gum inflammation, and gum disease.
When you visit your local TAO orthodontist, they come up with a treatment plan that will align your teeth and your jaw. They’ll also teach you how to brush and floss properly during your treatment to prevent cavities and gum disease.
After you finish treatment, your evenly-spaced, straight teeth will make it easier to practice proper oral hygiene. Preventing cavities and gum disease is crucial for being able to avoid tooth loss and dentures as you age.
Takeaways:
- Straight, evenly-spaced teeth are easier to brush and floss.
- Proper oral hygiene prevents cavities and gum disease.
- Preventing cavities and gum disease helps avoid dentures and tooth loss.
Relieve Jaw Pain and Tension
One of the purposes of orthodontic treatment is to correct alignment problems in the jaw, which often cause pain, tension, and sometimes TMJ disorders in adults.
Orthodontists look at the relationship between the upper and lower jaw, i.e. how they work together when talking, chewing, breathing, etc. Misaligned teeth and jaws can lead to tooth wear and tear, popping, grinding, clenching, and muscle tension.
Well-aligned jaws and a functional bite can relieve muscle tension in the jaws, which can also alleviate tension headaches.
Wisdom teeth can be another culprit for jaw pain and tension, because when they erupt they can cause crowding and misalignment. Orthodontic treatment can help by moving the teeth into a better position.
Takeaways:
- Misaligned teeth and jaws, as well as erupting wisdom teeth, can cause muscle tension and pain
- Proper alignment relieves tension and strain in the muscles
Improve Your Digestion
This is a lesser-known benefit of orthodontic treatment, but an important one nonetheless, especially considering how many people suffer from digestion-related conditions. We think of digestion happening in the gut, but in fact the very first step in the digestive process happens in our mouth when we chew our food.
Chewing serves two purposes. The first, and most obvious, is that chewing breaks your food down into smaller pieces that you can swallow and pass to your digestive tract. The second is that chewing stimulates the production of saliva, which contains digestive enzymes that further break down your food.
Without proper chewing, larger food particles enter your digestive tract, which can lead to bloating, constipation, gas, acid reflux, and other issues.
Misaligned teeth and jaws can make it difficult or impossible to thoroughly chew your food because the surfaces of your upper and lower teeth don’t meet properly when you bite down. Orthodontic treatment fixes these issues so you can chew efficiently and improve your digestion.
Takeaways:
- Chewing is the first step in the digestive process.
- Misaligned teeth and jaws can make proper chewing difficult or impossible.
- Orthodontic treatment helps the surfaces of your upper and lower teeth meet properly.
Get Better Sleep
Orthodontics can play a key role in reshaping and realigning the jaw to improve airflow, which can help treat sleep disordered breathing. Sleep apnea, snoring, and other issues are usually caused by some kind of obstruction in the airway. This could be because of reduced space from a high, narrow palate, a lower jaw jaw that is too far back, or malocclusion that interferes with proper tongue placement.
Braces, palatal expanders, and other orthodontic devices designed to improve tongue and jaw position, are part of the orthodontist’s toolkit for helping patients breathe better and sleep better at night.
Takeaways:
- Restricted airflow can cause sleep disordered breathing.
- Orthodontic treatment helps create space and promote proper tongue and jaw position for better airflow.
Improve Your Mental Health by Boosting Self-Esteem
Feeling self-conscious about your smile can affect your mood, your self-confidence, even your self-worth. After all, studies show it’s the very first thing we notice about someone when we meet them.
If you’re unhappy with your smile, it can make job interviews difficult or affect your romantic life, to name just a few. Low self-esteem can lead to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, even eating disorders.
Orthodontic treatment helps patients feel great about their smiles again, and that boost in self-esteem can lead to a more positive outlook on life, better relationships, and improved mental health.
Takeaways:
- Feeling self-conscious about your smile affects self-esteem.
- Low self-esteem can lead to mental health issues.
- Orthodontic treatment boosts self-esteem and improves mental health.
You can see that there are myriad benefits to orthodontic care beyond just a great smile. If you’re considering treatment, we can help you find an expert orthodontist near you in our online directory.
Make an appointment today and put yourself on the path to better health!
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