The Negative Impact That An Unhealthy Smile Can Have On Us

When a part of our smile is affected negatively by a cavity, a missing tooth, or crooked teeth, it can have a number of different impacts on our quality of life. There are many types of things that can go wrong with our dental health, and these illnesses, injuries, and diseases can harm us both physically and mentally. Luckily, modern dentistry is incredibly advanced, and there are some fantastically effective treatments available to rectify these problems. However, preventative methods should be your first consideration to avoid the adverse effects of an unhealthy smile. Here are some of the ways in which these problems can affect you. 

Mental Health
Crooked teeth and gaps in our smiles can have a serious impact on the quality of our mental health. Not only that but things like bad breath can harm our mental health too. We become more aware of these problems when we face others, which can harm our confidence and stop us from wanting to socialize or deal with other people when at work. This is a common reason for people to get their teeth sorted, and luckily there are many ways in which a dentist can treat these problems and offer advice for handling problems like halitosis. Your dentist and your hygienist will likely offer you tips on how to brush and floss your teeth correctly to rectify certain issues like gum disease and bad breath and to prevent further problems with your teeth in the future, which can significantly improve your mental state too.

Quality Of Life
An unhealthy smile can be much more than an aesthetic problem. While these visual issues can make us less confident and hurt our self-esteem, crooked and broken teeth can also impact our quality of life. In particular, they can harm our ability to drink and eat and even our quality of speech too. Our teeth play a huge role in forming our words and our tongues and lips, and when you lose a tooth, this can change how you sound. Crooked teeth can do this as well, and using things like braces and aligners to improve your smile can help restore your confidence and allow you to get on with your life much more easily. In the event of a lost tooth, this can be treated using implants, bridges, and even veneers to replenish your smile and allow you to eat and drink like before. 

Further Health Problems
Certain problems like gum disease and tooth decay can also lead to more serious problems. If left untreated, cavities in your teeth can spread to others and also continue to get deeper until the nerves and pulp inside are exposed. This can cause severe pain, swelling, and discomfort. More often than not, this can lead to infection, which then requires serious treatment in the form of a root canal procedure. This is where the infected tissue is extracted from inside the tooth and replaced with something called gutta-percha, which is a plastic-like substance derived from the percha tree. This serves as a permanent filling, reducing the risk of further infection inside the tooth.