In the United States alone, orthodontics is a $1.84 billion industry. It isn’t hard to see why: a beautiful smile is one of the best traits you can have, and straight teeth are just as vital as clean teeth if you want to achieve that.
Straight teeth don’t just improve your appearance, though. Having a perfectly straight smile can also improve your health.
1. Happier Demeanor and Better Self-Esteem
Advertisements always suggest that improving your appearance will lead to better self-esteem. What sets straight teeth apart from other adjustments is that this suggestion is scientifically proven. People with perfect, straight teeth tend to smile more often, and smiling more surprisingly does improve your mood and self-esteem. These further lead to less stress and higher focus.
2. Better Breath
Two of the main causes of bad breath are tooth decay and leftover food particles. Getting your teeth straightened fixes both of these problems. Misaligned teeth rub against each other, causing the enamel to erode at a quicker rate. They also create gaps that increase the likelihood of getting food stuck in your teeth.
3. Healthier Teeth and Gums
As previously mentioned, teeth that need straightening can seriously destroy the enamel, leading to a higher risk of tooth decay. They can also negatively affect the gums by creating pockets between crooked teeth that collect bacteria. Straight teeth eliminate the likelihood of both potential health problems.
4. Clearer Speech
In the same way that having a perfectly straight smile will increase your self-esteem, being able to speak more clearly will increase your confidence. Fortunately, these are related, so getting your teeth straightened will give you both of these benefits.
5. Reduced Likelihood of Dental Surgery
Crooked, overlapping teeth and overbites can cause create dangerous conditions for the jaw. Often, these conditions require surgery in order to be corrected. Getting your teeth straightened drastically reduces this necessity.
6. Better Digestion
Teeth play a vital role in the digestion process. Their primary purpose is to chew the food that your stomach and intestines process to create energy. It stands to reason, then, that chewing more thoroughly will lead to better digestive health. One of the quickest ways to ensure this is to straighten up your smile.
7. Reduced Risk of Heart and Respiratory Diseases
Both the Mayo Clinic and the American Dental Association say that having a straight smile reduces the risk of stroke, catching pneumonia, or contracting heart disease. Neither group is sure what the correlation is yet, but the results are unquestionable.
How to Get Straight Teeth
Braces remain the most effective method for getting perfectly straight teeth. Orthodontists offer more options than the traditional metal braces of even last decade, though. There are also ceramic braces, which are colored to match the tooth’s pigment to make them less noticeable, and self-ligating braces, which use clips instead of wires to seal brackets to the teeth.
For those who want braces on their own terms without anyone noticing them, there are also Invisalign braces. These invisible, removable braces are significantly easier to clean and unlikely to break or stain, making them great for both children and adults.
If you live in the Yuba City area of California and want to know more about how to get your teeth straight, visit our contact page here.