The young lady in the video is approaching the end of treatment and looking forward to having her ceramic braces removed. They look to have created a fine smile, which matters, although there can be deeper effects.
Braces are not the root of all happiness, life is a little more complex, yet they can play a part. Self esteem, or body image are key factors in mental health at a young age and continue to be for many of us.
This is understandable, humans are a social species, born for interaction with each other. Useful to see if the principle is reflected in scientific studies.
Research Based Evidence
Highlighting a recent piece of research is worthwhile and this is representative. The objective was to determine the relationship between mental health, body image and orthodontic intervention, core results are in a table below:
The psychological tests used are a type where a lower score is better. Alongside physical health, they showed improvement in anxiety levels, sleep disorders, social function and in reducing depression.
Combining mean and statistical deviation analysis, the improvement in scores was 14%, with a 95% accuracy level. This is a greater improvement than a number of programs targeted at psychological health.
Alongside sound methodology in their own work, they passed on the outcome of related studies in different countries. These also tended to illustrate that orthodontic intervention had enhanced mental health.
There will always be varying results and the longer the time since treatment, the greater they could be, other factors may count. We still believe that the evidence points to one conclusion, which our team take seriously.
Importance For Orthodontics
Orthodontists tend to see patients on a recurrent basis, during stages of tooth change. They should recognise they are also seeing patients at different stages of psychological development.
Our staff have a key role to play, based on effective, two way communication. Orthodontics is not about selling braces, we need to listen, be aware, encourage and deal with any issues throughout treatment.
This helps to ensure treatment is completed and is integral to psychological benefit, positive feelings count at all times in the orthodontic process.
Orthodontists should never be too busy to listen and focus on picking up unspoken signals. Part of making orthodontics a science for each individual, with outcomes to please their body and mind.
