In a perfect world, everybody would have pearly white teeth and a million-dollar smile. But the reality is that not everyone is blessed with perfect teeth. In fact, it’s estimated just 35% of adults have well-aligned teeth.

It not much of a stretch of the imagination then to wonder why the dental implant and prosthetic market makes billions of dollars every year. The bottom line is that many Americans are looking to restore their smiles and they’re willing to pay up for it.

There are plenty of heath benefits to having a good smile:

• It improves your mood
• It helps build confidence
• It can boost your immune system
• It can help you build better and strong relationships
• It can be a source of stress relief

Perhaps no time is more stressful to have misaligned teeth than childhood. After all, it’s perhaps too easy for kids to be picked on for looking different, even in the slightest of ways. Fortunately, an orthodontist can do a lot to restore a child’s confidence when it comes to teeth.

There are roughly four million Americans currently wearing braces and they do so because they are very beneficial:

• They help promote whiter teeth
• They help promote gum health
• They help prevent tooth decay
• They help improve digestion
• They help improve speech

There are a few disadvantages to wearing braces, including the social stigma of wearing them. But generally speaking, braces can help straighten teeth, align teeth and help kids avoid problems later in life. There are plenty of options too including Invisalign braces and Fast Braces.

If you’re a young child or young adult with teeth issues, a visit to an orthodontist is a must. An orthodontist works in a specialized field of dentistry that’s focused on reshaping teeth, aligning teeth and restoring smiles of all kinds.

Why do you need to visit an orthodontist? To benefit in the following ways:

• Better health: It’s recommended that people go to the dentist at least a couple of times a year for proper cleaning. You’ve probably heard all the friendly suggestions about brushing and flossing and cleaning.
  This can be hard to achieve however with misaligned teeth. Despite your best efforts to clean, having misaligned teeth can heighten a person’s risk of oral infections, cavities, getting food stuck in your teeth and any number of other issues. This is why an orthodontist visit is necessary. They can straighten your teeth, so that you can brush and floss and clean your teeth and ensure that they are properly cleaned.
• Proper alignment: As previously mentioned, there are a lot of folks who suffer from having misaligned teeth. As a kid, this may seem like nothing when you’re young. But as an adult this can have some serious problems and wreck some serious havoc on your teeth and gums. It can making eating painful, it can effect the overall structure of your face, it can lead to cracked or broken teeth and it can make you self-conscious about smiling among other things. Thankfully, an orthodontist can straighten your teeth and significantly reduce your risk of severe dental damage.
• Gaining confidence: When you’re young, there’s nothing worse than feeling self-conscious about having crooked teeth. When they’re young, kids will poke fun at other kids for just about anything. That can lead to severe bouts of low self-esteem to the point where kids don’t want to smile in pictures or they try to hide in the back of class photos or family photos.
  Whatever the reasons are for teeth issue, an orthodontist can work their magic and help restore a person’s smile and self-confidence. Simply put, when people of any age smile, they feel better both emotionally and physically. For kids, a trip to the orthodontist can restore their health, but it can also teach them the importance of oral maintenance.

The prospect of having to wear braces might cause some people, no matter their age, to balk. But there’s no denying their impact. Fast braces and clear braces these days are more comfortable and speed up tooth alignment while also giving folks better access to their teeth. So don’t hesitate to make an orthodontist appointment today.