Getting Teeth Straightened Helps with More Than Just Aesthetics

Have you been thinking about your teeth lately? You may have been watching a movie or a TV show, and marveled at the beautiful white straight teeth you saw on the screen. You might think that will never be your mouth, and your teeth will never be that straight. However, there are reasons you may want to think about getting your teeth straightened. Straight teeth can help your mouth and your entire body stay healthy. Here are some reasons why you need to think about straightening your teeth.

Why Do I Need Straight Teeth?

Your teeth may be crooked for all kinds of reasons. You may have inherited your crooked teeth from one of your parents. If you sucked your thumb or a pacifier when you were younger, your teeth may come in crooked as well. You can have crooked teeth due to an accident or an injury. Wearing braces to fix your crooked teeth can help you in more ways than just improving your social media posts.

Orthodontics Really Benefit Your Mouth

Crooked teeth can cause all sorts of problems for your mouth. First, crooked teeth may be due to a problem with your bite. Many people suffer from bite problems. You might have an overbite, an underbite or a crossbite. All of these problems need to be corrected. If you leave the bite problems without correcting them, it can lead to issues with your jaw, and your jaw joint. You could even suffer from an inflammation of your jaw joints, which can be extremely painful.

Another issue that crooked teeth can cause is with brushing and flossing. If your teeth are crooked, it can be difficult to brush and floss properly. There may be some areas of your crooked teeth that you just can’t get to in order to brush and floss. When teeth aren’t cleaned properly, you can develop tooth decay and gum disease. This can lead to cavities, and additional trips to the dentist. Straight teeth are easier to clean.

Research has shown that when crooked teeth are straightened, the patient is receiving regular dental care. The best way that you can take care of your teeth is to visit the dentist twice a year. Your dentist checks for problems in your mouth, and fixes them before they become huge problems. For example, if you develop a cavity in one of your teeth, and you are regularly visiting your dentist, the dentist will be able to spot the problem and quickly fix the cavity while it is small. If you go years between dental visits, that small cavity grows larger. The larger your cavity is, the more diseased your tooth gets over time. You could end up spending a lot of money on a root canal, and you could even lose teeth.

Your gums suffer as well. Gum disease is one of the leading reasons people lose their teeth. Over time, and without regular dental care, your gums can become infected. Your dentist can clean the infection out, but you will need more intensive follow up visits to keep your gums as clean as possible. Fixing your crooked teeth can lead to years of improved dental health.

Straightening Your Teeth Helps Protect Your Body

You may not have thought about this, but when your teeth are straight, and you are regularly visiting your dentist, you are also protecting your body. That’s because when there is an infection in your mouth, your body suffers as well. Researchers have found that tooth decay and gum disease leads to infections in your mouth. Not only can your teeth and gums become infected, but the infection can spread to your jawbones, your throat, and be carried by your blood throughout your body.

These infections can cause all kinds of issues in your body. Tooth and gum disease can aggravate your diabetes, if you are diabetic. It makes it more difficult to control your blood sugar. Also, if you have a rampant infection in your mouth, it makes you more likely to suffer from heart disease. Your blood pressure may be elevated, which leads to a higher risk for heart attack and stroke. Tooth decay and gum disease have also been linked to memory problems in older adults.

There’s no time like the present to think about straightening your teeth. Why not begin the process by looking for an orthodontist in your area? Go in for a consultation, and let them talk to you about the best ways you can keep healthy by straightening your teeth through or thodonture. That way, not only will your teeth be straight, but you’ll be healthier as well.