Quality of life is something everyone deserves. Whether it’s having adequate food and shelter or feeling confident about ourselves and having good self-esteem, having a good quality of life is what we all aspire to.
But sometimes, having a good quality of life can be difficult when your smile is suffering. From a lack of confidence to pain and difficulty speaking and chewing, your quality of life can be greatly diminished when your dental situation is not ideal.
That’s why we have cosmetic dentistry. Cosmetic dentistry not only improves your looks, but it also improves your quality of life. Here’s how.
Improved Quality of Life: Improved Confidence
When you improve your smile, you improve your self-esteem. That’s not just an opinion, either. Studies have shown that when you smile, you not only look better, but you feel better, too. Smiling releases chemicals in the brain that make us feel better and happier. Even if you aren’t happy when you smile, just the act of smiling can improve your mood. Smiling will also make you seem more approachable, which, in dating, business, and life in general, will help self-esteem, naturally drawing people to you!
Improved Quality of Life: Youthful Appearance
When we think of a youthful smile, we think of a set of bright, pearly-white teeth. If your teeth are stained from years of smoking, eating staining foods, or consuming staining beverages, your smile could be aging you.
Cosmetic dentistry can help you reverse the hands of time, so to speak, by helping to create a whiter, brighter smile. Porcelain or composite veneers are an excellent way to whiten the teeth, and they can even cover minor imperfections such as chips, cracks, or slightly crooked or uneven teeth. This will make you smile, and by default, you’ll look more youthful!
Improved Quality of Life: Better Bite
Do you experience pain when chewing? Do you have crooked or crowded teeth? Cosmetic dentistry can help. Braces are an excellent way to straighten the teeth and align the bite, eliminating discomfort while chewing, speaking, and smiling. Naturally, a less painful mouth improves your quality of life because you look and feel better physically, helping improve your self-esteem and increasing your comfort level.
Improved Quality of Life: Clearer Speech
If your bite makes speaking or pronouncing words difficult, you can benefit from cosmetic dentistry. Often, braces can help with this issue by realigning the teeth and facilitating proper tongue placement. They can also eliminate pain, making it easier to speak.
Improved Quality of Life: So Long, TMD
If you suffer from temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD), you can benefit from solutions from Dr. Mingus. A plan that includes many different methods may be prescribed, or your solution could be as simple as a mandibular orthotic that repositions your jaw naturally. Either way, your quality of life will improve when your jaw is feeling better.
Improved Quality of Life: A Healthier Diet
When your teeth hurt, you may avoid certain foods or types of foods, such as crunchy or chewy things. This may eliminate some healthy options from your diet, including fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts. If you are a fan of these foods, you may feel discouraged that you can’t enjoy them anymore. If you need to add more of these options to your diet, it can be frustrating to feel like you can only eat unhealthy food because it’s easier to chew.
Cosmetic dentistry can help. When you reconstruct your mouth, you may be able to once again enjoy the foods that you once had to skip due to pain when you chewed. Replacing missing teeth with crowns, a bridge or dentures can help with biting and chewing, as can some orthodontic procedures.
Improved Quality of Life: Bone and Jaw Integrity
When you lose adult teeth, you leave your gums and jaw bone vulnerable to degradation, meaning you can lose both gum tissue and jaw bone in the gaps where teeth are missing. You can even lose neighboring teeth.
Conversely, when you replace those teeth with a dental implant, bridge or dentures, you not only improve the appearance of your smile, but you also improve the health and well-being of your mouth. This decreases the risk of bone degradation and improves your quality of life!
Improved Quality of Life: The Bottom Line
As you can see, cosmetic dentistry isn’t just cosmetic. It can improve self-esteem, eliminate pain and even prevent future damage.
Contact Dr. Mingus for a consultation today to learn more about your cosmetic dentistry options and how we can help you improve your quality of life!