Can Having Your Teeth Straightened Improve Your Oral Hygiene?

When people think about having their teeth straightened, more often than not, their minds likely gravitate to the idea of a straight-looking smile, and perhaps an easier time eating and speaking, depending on the severity of their bite deficits. However, the benefits of braces and teeth straightening are only getting started at that point. If you're interested in doing the best that you can for your oral hygiene in an effort to keep your gums healthy and to maintain all of your teeth as you grow older, you might be surprised to learn that having your teeth straightened could help with this. Here's how!

Difficulty Flossing

One of the biggest problems that having crooked teeth can create for a person is making it harder for them to floss. Crooked teeth can also reduce the efficacy of your efforts of trying to floss.

As you might suspect, this is usually due to teeth being crowded together. When this happens, there isn't much space between each pair of teeth, making it harder to slide floss through. This not only makes it tougher to get rid of bacteria and plaque from between your teeth, but can also impact your ability to get your gums thoroughly clean, and debris out from under them.

Unfortunately, this can have a long-term impact on your teeth and gums, making them more likely to develop tooth decay and gum disease, respectively. However, the good news is that by having your teeth straightened, you'll open up more space in between each pair of teeth. This will make it easier to care for your gums and teeth at home by flossing.

Covered Teeth

Another thing to consider when teeth are overcrowded to the point of overlapping one another is that it becomes impossible to clean those areas of your teeth effectively. Getting floss between crowded teeth is one thing, but when two teeth slide past each other, those covered portions of each tooth are nearly impossible to clean, and won't be fully cleaned when doing something like using a normal toothbrush. This can lead to long-term risks of tooth decay that can't easily be remedied, even if you floss regularly. Once again, having your teeth straightened will remove this overlap and will let you clean the front and back of your teeth adequately, eliminating this added risk.

If you're tired of having crooked teeth, there's more than one good reason to get braces. Talk to an orthodontist to learn more about orthodontic treatment and how it can improve your oral health.