Benefits of Treatment
The Importance of Physical Appearance
What is beautiful? Standards of beauty vary from culture to culture, but most people place a premium on well-balanced facial features, especially in the region of the mouth. The mouth is a focus of attention because we consistently use it to communicate and express our feelings.
People are keenly aware of how teeth look, although this awareness may be unconscious. In a study of 75 children, ages 9 to 14, each child was shown facial drawings that varied from protruding “buck” teeth, to retruding lower jaws, to ideal occlusions where the teeth were shown to meet properly. Each child was asked to select the drawing that looked most like him or herself and, invariably, the picture of the child with the ideal “bite” or smile was chosen.
In addition to improving the health of a patient’s teeth, orthodontics can be very helpful in boosting self-esteem. Orthodontic treatment gives a person a sense of control because it provides the patient with an opportunity to participate in the improvement of his or her appearance. Self-confidence often increases noticeably even before treatment is completed.
An improved appearance through orthodontic treatment can greatly enhance one’s self-esteem. An enhanced self-esteem improves the quality of life itself.
Additional Benefits Include:
- A more attractive smile
- Reduced appearance-consciousness during critical developmental years
- Better function of the teeth
- Possible increase in self-confidence and interpersonal effectiveness
- Increased cleanliness of the teeth
- Improved force distribution and wear patterns of the teeth
- Guided facial growth, creating a more attractive profile
- Better long-term health of teeth and gums
- Reduced odds that a patient will need future jaw or facial surgery
- A way of guiding permanent teeth into more favorable positions
- Reduced risk of injury to protruded front teeth
- Potential to shorten the treatment time required for comprehensive braces
- No need to replace missing teeth
- Aid in optimizing other dental treatment
- Less strain on the muscles/jaw joints