The Surprising Oral Health Benefits of Modern Orthodontic Treatment

Modern orthodontics not only makes your smile look better, but it can improve your oral health in several ways.

Image by Mauro1984 from Pixabay 

You know that modern orthodontic treatment can be excellent for how your smile looks. However, orthodontic treatment does much more than that. There are numerous oral health benefits of treatment, too. 

Some people do not go through with necessary orthodontic treatment because they feel it is vain to do so or that it is cosmetic only. However, you shouldn’t ignore orthodontic problems, like crowded or misaligned teeth, chewing problems, or shifts in how the jaw comes together. When the causes of these problems go untreated, they worsen, causing oral health issues like cavities, gum disease, and wear and tear on tooth enamel.

You might not realize that oral health provides insight into your overall health. Often, bacteria associated with disease in the oral tissues are found in other parts of the body, like the heart and brain. Moreover, gum disease and other oral health problems increase your body’s inflammation load, which can decrease or prevent its defenses from attending to different conditions in the body. Therefore, doing what you can to keep your oral health in tip-top shape is essential to your overall health. 

The Many Oral Health Benefits of Modern Orthodontic Treatment

When you undergo orthodontic treatment, you have many oral health benefits, too. It improves your smile and facial structure, which is excellent. However, it also ensures that your teeth function properly when chewing and speaking. Plus, teeth that are aligned and come together correctly help prevent tooth decay and gum disease because keeping them clean is more manageable. Moreover, fixing your orthodontic problems now is usually more cost effective than the subsequent treatment necessary after they worsen and get more extensive—and expensive. 

You might be surprised to learn that modern orthodontic treatment can ease pain. Patients with a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder might have pain as a side effect of their condition. Some symptoms could include jaw tenderness and pain while chewing or aching around the ears or facial area. Getting the teeth in proper alignment can relieve some of these symptoms, allowing the joint to heal. However, other treatments might be necessary in some cases to alleviate the problem. Regardless of the type of treatment you need, getting treatment for a TMJ disorder is essential. 

Science Supports Undertaking Modern Orthodontic Treatment, Too

In addition, some patients experience improved quality of life due to orthodontic treatments. For example, research from the Journal of Dentistry of Tehran University of Medical Sciences suggests that malocclusion, the technical term for crowded or misaligned teeth, can affect a patient’s social life and self-confidence. However, through the responses of 302 patients, some who underwent treatment and some who didn’t, the researchers discovered that patients who had treatment were almost two times less likely to have “complicated” situations regarding their oral health-related quality of life. 

What You Can Do to Optimize Your Treatment Outcomes

You can do a few things to optimize the oral health benefits of your modern orthodontic treatment. First, we want to see you are your scheduled appointment to allow us to adjust our efforts or ensure that our treatment is proceeding according to plan. Also, we want to hear from you in between scheduled appointments to respond to any problems you encounter, so they don’t adversely affect what we are trying to achieve with treatment. You can also improve your diet by avoiding added sugar in foods and drinks. In addition, keeping up with your home care is essential to prevent decay in the teeth we are aligning. 

We get it. When we talk about improving your smile, you might think that’s all that modern orthodontic treatment can do. However, when you see all the benefits to your oral and overall health, it is clear that there are many reasons why you should seriously consider moving forward with treatment. 

So, why not find out what orthodontic treatment can do for you?

Call Bloom SMILE STUDIO office in GARDEN GROVE to schedule your free consultation today at 714-430-8454.

Bloom SMILE STUDIO in Long Beach has a long history of improving our patient’s smiles. We provide modern orthodontic treatments delivered with old-fashioned excellence in patient experience. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Sources:

Why Orthodontics? | American Association of Orthodontists (2023). Available at: https://aaoinfo.org/resources/why-orthodontics/ (Accessed: 14 February 2023).

What Is Orthodontics? (2023). Available at: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/24285-orthodontics (Accessed: 14 February 2023).

Navabi N, Farnudi H, Rafiei H, Arashlow MT. Orthodontic treatment and the oral health-related quality of life of patients. J Dent (Tehran). 2012;9(3):247-254.