If you’re unhappy with crooked teeth, you might be considering braces or other orthodontic treatments to straighten them. But you might be tempted to put it off. After all, your teeth have been crooked all your life, why would another month or year matter? Especially since you’re never too old for orthodontic treatment.
Actually, there are many good reasons why you shouldn’t wait to get your teeth straightened. Here are a few reasons why now is the best time to straighten your teeth.
Better Oral Health
Braces are ultimately good for your oral health, but in the short term, they can be stressful on your mouth. Difficulty cleaning your mouth with braces on can increase your risk of gum disease in the short term. This is true even with Invisalign, although it’s easier to clean teeth.
Why does this make now a better time to get your teeth straightened? Oral health tends to decline with age–the older you are, the higher your risk of gum disease. This means that you’re more likely to have better health and fewer problems related to braces if you get your braces now.
Better Bone Health
Another important factor in your orthodontic success is how healthy your bones are. After all, moving teeth depends on your body remodeling the bone around your teeth. This is an ability that diminishes with age. Many people experience low bone density, osteoporosis, as they get older. Medications for osteoporosis can slow tooth movement because they interfere with your body’s ability to remove bone. However, serious complications related to braces while taking bisphosphonates are exceedingly rare.
These concerns mean that it’s better to get your orthodontic treatment while your bones are healthy, too.
Your Teeth Are Drifting
Assuming that you can wait to get your braces is based on the assumption that waiting won’t affect the position of your teeth. This usually isn’t the case. If your teeth are crooked, crowded, rotated, or tilted, they’re actually more likely to get worse over time. The forces that caused them to become crooked are still at work, pushing them further out of alignment. The longer you wait, the more they’re going to be out of alignment. And that means that if you wait, you’re setting yourself up to spend more time in braces.
That means that getting your braces now doesn’t just mean you start sooner, it means you’ll finish faster, a double benefit.
More Time to Enjoy the Benefits
And, of course, the sooner you get your teeth straightened, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of having straighter teeth. We already mentioned that in the long term your oral health will benefit from straighter teeth. The sooner you get straight teeth, the more time you will have for your mouth to heal and you can avoid the consequences of crooked teeth.
In addition, having straighter teeth can help you in your personal and professional relationships. An attractive smile is cited by both men and women as the number one thing they’re looking for in a potential date, and many people say that crooked teeth is a reason why they might not go on a second date with someone. From the standpoint of hiring managers, having straight teeth makes you a better candidate, and makes it more likely that you’ll be offered a higher salary.
Why would you want to wait on enjoying these benefits? Now is when you can make the most of a beautiful, straight smile. A better smile can help you build a better life.
It’s Easier Than Ever to Get Straight Teeth in Orange County
If you’re in Orange County considering your options for getting your teeth straightened, do you know about all the new developments for achieving the smile you desire? Of course, traditional braces are still an option, but there are also approaches like Invisalign that let you get your teeth straightened without metal wires and brackets. Plus, Six Month Smiles helps you straighten your teeth faster if you have only minor cosmetic issues.
And no matter what type of orthodontic treatment you choose, we can help you achieve results faster, with less discomfort thanks to AcceleDent. Our dentists are highly trained in orthodontic procedures, and we’ve been delivering quality dental care in Irvine for more than 30 years.
To start straightening your teeth in Orange County, please call (949) 551-5902 today for an appointment with a cosmetic dentist at Rice Dentistry in Irvine.
