Dental health is one of those areas of well being not everyone thinks about as often as they should. The twice-yearly visits to the dentist are necessary to keep your mouth healthy and provide the opportunity for early detection of issues that could be serious. Orthodontics amplify these benefits.
When your mouth isn’t healthy, other parts of your body can suffer too, not to mention your teeth, gums, and jaw.
Your regular cleanings are just the first step to a totally healthy mouth. For some, it’s orthodontics that really make long-term differences.
What orthodontic treatments actually do
Not for those looking for a quick fix when it comes to their mouth, orthodontics require time and effort. It’s about more than affixing braces, making aligners, or moulding a retainer. As the right hardware or materials are created for your mouth, you must participate in the process too. You have to wear the gear as instructed and follow all the additional directions, including:
- Watching what you eat and drink
- Avoiding sugary beverages
- Flossing and brushing as instructed
- Arriving to appointments on time
- Wearing your aligners are prescribed by your clinician
Orthodontic treatments don’t work without the buy-in of both the dentist and the patient.
The process is also complex because it’s more than just your teeth shifting in your mouth. The jaw, facial bones, and even soft tissue in your mouth moves right along with your teeth. When complete, you’ve got teeth that are straight and properly aligned, but they were never working alone. By the end, everything fits together as it always should have, like pieces of a puzzle.
Getting teeth straight
It’s not always for visual reasons that you should want straight teeth. While they do improve your smile, having teeth that are properly aligned and straight are also easier to clean and maintain. When teeth are out of whack, there’s a higher risk for abnormal wearing of tooth enamel. If this happens for long enough, it can lead to some extensive, and costly, dental procedures, some of which are far more than any orthodontic treatment will cost.
Getting your teeth properly aligned can also make it easier to bite, chew, and speak. You’ll not only feel more confident, with a better and brighter smile, but you could easily improve your entire quality of life.
When to consider orthodontics
The signs that your mouth is telling you to get an orthodontic treatment extend beyond crooked or overcrowded teeth. Your teeth do make a persuasive argument, but you also want to watch for these factors:
- Difficulty chewing or biting
- Mouth breathing
- Thumb sucking or other oral habits
- Speech difficulty
- Facial imbalance
- Teeth grinding
- Inability to comfortably close your lips
Even if your jaw doesn’t feel right because it shifts, makes sounds, or sticks out too far or not enough means it’s time to talk orthodontics.
Your dentist is the first person to go to with questions about your teeth. Sharing these signs with them will start the right conversation to put your oral health first. What you discuss may lead to a consultation with an orthodontist. It may mean braces or aligners. Either way, you’ll know you’re doing what’s right for your mouth, which only benefits your overall health.
It’s not all metal and wires anymore
Should the topic of braces come up when you start thinking about orthodontics, don’t panic. It’s not always about metal brackets, wires, and rubber bands anymore. Today’s technology has taken orthodontics far and smile transformations are now possible without all the hardware and special visits to an orthodontist.
When you’re talking about options with your dentist, ask about aligners. This virtually invisible way to correct misaligned or crooked teeth is a removable alternative to braces. Instead of having braces to tighten that you can never take out of your mouth, aligners work in stages. As your teeth shift, you get a new aligner.
Aligners are offered through various mediums these days, and there’s significant due diligence required when making a choice about your smile. An innovative approach to convenient and flexible orthodontic treatment, perfected by On Demand Orthodontist (ODO), is changing the game. Working with your dentist directly, we can limit your appointment count to four visits or less on most cases without sacrificing the quality of the results.
If you’re in need of a smile-makeover, make sure you ask your dentist to look into working with ODO. It could change your experience as you straighten your teeth and perfect your smile.
