Irish teeth

an langer

I hear that there will be major cut backs in dental treatment for school kids. This is unbelieveable.

There is nothing more disgusting than bad teeth, when they are not straight and white but crooked and yellow (smokers have gross yellow teeth, just thought i'd add that point haha).

Everyone needs braces for a healthy mouth and a beautiful smile. This adds to a person's confidence too. The best time for a child's first visit to the orthodontist is 7 and they will usually get their first brace around that age and their second brace around 11 or 13.

Irish people used to always have bad teeth for years and a lot of people still do especially older people. Please don't let us return to this old way.

We should be investing more into the promotion of braces especially among young people and NOT cutting back on free dental care.

It reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart doesn't want braces and is shown the 'British book of smiles' and thus begs the orthodontist to put the braces in haha and I doubt we want to be like the British with their bad teeth now do we? haha

As Ricky Gervais said in his recent film where he acted as a dentist, 'remember only floss the ones you want to keep'

O'Coonassa

Are you incredibly vain a dentist by any chance?

Maybe kids should get nose jobs too?

an langer

Straight teeth help an individual to effectively bite, chew and speak. Straight teeth contribute to healthy teeth and gums. Properly aligned teeth and jaws may alleviate or prevent physical health problems. Teeth that work better also tend to look better. An attractive smile is a pleasant “side effect” of orthodontic treatment.

You may be surprised to learn that straight teeth are less prone to decay and injury. Decay results when the bacteria in plaque (a colourless, sticky film composed of bacteria, food and saliva) feed on carbohydrates (sugar and starch) we eat or drink to produce acids that can cause cavities. Plaque can also increase the risk for periodontal (gum) disease. As for injuries to teeth, protruding upper teeth are more likely to be broken in an accident. When repositioned and aligned with other teeth, these teeth are most probably going to be at a decreased risk for fracture.

Untreated orthodontic problems may become worse. They may lead to tooth decay, gum disease, destruction of the bone that holds teeth in place, and chewing and digestive difficulties. Orthodontic problems can cause abnormal wear of tooth surfaces, inefficient chewing function, excessive stress on gum tissue and the bone that supports the teeth, or misalignment of the jaw joints, sometimes leading to chronic headaches or pain in the face or neck. Treatment by an orthodontist to correct a problem early may be less costly than the restorative dental care required to treat more serious problems that can develop in later years.

A nose job does not :P

Mr. Incognito

I hear that there will be major cut backs in dental treatment free government money for school kids dentists . This is unbelieveable.

Fixed that for you.

Most people don't need braces, or two.

Suck it up pal.

Nulty

I dont know about you but I'm just gonna grow new ones.:p




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401941.html

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/18216/

an langer

Mr. Incognito, yeah most people will need them. It's very rare people don't unless you're British and think crooked teeth are jolly good HAHA

Most commonly, people need braces to:
Straighten their teeth: teeth that are crooked or misaligned can cause problems with peoples’ bites and they way they chew and process their food. If a bite is off, it can lead to larger problems in the jaw and even cause headaches and backaches.
Bite correction: Many people have over bites, in which is when the upper jaw extends the teeth too far forward. There are also people with under bites, when the bottom teeth jut out farther than the upper teeth. Both of these bites are bad for the jaw as the bites can lead to tension in the jaw and will keep you from biting properly. Deep over bites and under bites (when the teeth bite into the tissue of the other side of the jaw) can also cause bone damage.
Cosmetic reasons: Some people don’t really need braces, but get them anyway because they want to improve the look of their smile. Many people think that only perfectly straight teeth are pretty and are willing to undergo the years of orthodontic work in order to have a “perfect” smile.
There are other reasons to get braces as well. Some of these reasons are:
1. You simply want to better chew your food. When your teeth are crooked, they might not bite or chew through your food correctly and this could lead to upset stomachs.
2. Breathing problems can develop as you get older and the roof of your mouth changes. If your teeth are straight and aligned properly, this can help keep the breathing problems at bay.

But then you can always grow more HAHA

jaffa20

HA HA

Not everyone needs braces

HA HA

Not everyone needs straight teeth or a pecfect smile

HA HA

Everyone needs to brush daily and eat well and take the odd trip to the dentist.

Jolly good!

oh and HAHA

an langer

oh HAHA

"Everyone needs to brush daily and eat well and take the odd trip to the dentist."

Brush daily? what about flossing? the odd trip? every 6 months!

If you are happy with not having straight teeth that's perfectly ok just dont wish that upon the young people of Ireland.

Sorry forgot....eh....."HAHA"

mickd

O'Coonassa wrote: »

Are you incredibly vain a dentist by any chance?

Maybe kids should get nose jobs too?

The stupidity of that comment is one reason why we are in the mess we are in

O'Coonassa

an langer wrote: »

Straight teeth help an individual to effectively bite, chew and speak. Straight teeth contribute to healthy teeth and gums. Properly aligned teeth and jaws may alleviate or prevent physical health problems. Teeth that work better also tend to look better. An attractive smile is a pleasant “side effect” of orthodontic treatment.

Sorry but I believe that six million years of evolution have sorted that out quite adequately, in most cases, without having to resort to cosmetic surgery. Gaps between teeth are entirely natural and not really harmful to health in the majority of cases.

Y2J_MUFC

an langer wrote: »

Irish people used to always have bad teeth for years

At least you aren't stereotyping.

an langer

Eh what can I say? I didn't know there were still people in this day and age that believed that braces were unnecessary or were the same as getting plastic surgery like a nose job? My my!!!

It's just part of growing up like getting your first car or going to college. Anyway, nearly everyone gets braces now when they are teenagers so not too worry I suppose. I just think it's quite costly on parents and sometimes they can't afford it so the cut backs annoyed me for their sake.

But when I read the 'evolution' comment and the comment that said most people don't need them I was really surprised. Maybe the HSE should start an educational compaign about this.

It's all about personal choice. Most young people will opt for braces as they understand the importance of them. The older generations probably will be against the notion in some cases but that's understandable. In times gone by, dental hygiene and oral health weren't much of an issue. It's good to see this changing though and that it has changed in our teenagers.

Mr. Incognito

I'm sure in your concern for the good people of Ireland's oral health means that now that the HSE isn't going to be paying you you'll have no problem fixing people's teeth for free eh.

I mean if it's sooooooo important.

Big_G

an langer wrote: »

Straight teeth help an individual to effectively bite, chew and speak. Straight teeth contribute to healthy teeth and gums. Properly aligned teeth and jaws may alleviate or prevent physical health problems. Teeth that work better also tend to look better. An attractive smile is a pleasant “side effect” of orthodontic treatment.

You may be surprised to learn that straight teeth are less prone to decay and injury. Decay results when the bacteria in plaque (a colourless, sticky film composed of bacteria, food and saliva) feed on carbohydrates (sugar and starch) we eat or drink to produce acids that can cause cavities. Plaque can also increase the risk for periodontal (gum) disease. As for injuries to teeth, protruding upper teeth are more likely to be broken in an accident. When repositioned and aligned with other teeth, these teeth are most probably going to be at a decreased risk for fracture.

Untreated orthodontic problems may become worse. They may lead to tooth decay, gum disease, destruction of the bone that holds teeth in place, and chewing and digestive difficulties. Orthodontic problems can cause abnormal wear of tooth surfaces, inefficient chewing function, excessive stress on gum tissue and the bone that supports the teeth, or misalignment of the jaw joints, sometimes leading to chronic headaches or pain in the face or neck. Treatment by an orthodontist to correct a problem early may be less costly than the restorative dental care required to treat more serious problems that can develop in later years.

A nose job does not :P

Safe to say that this person is not a dentist. Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. You can also say that orthodontic treatment causes all of the above examples. All I can say is do not feed the trolls.

an langer

Really? why do you think that? :eek:

My source is the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO).

vishal

all dental treatment is elective IMHO except for tooth extraction from pain/sepsis. you'll live without teeth.

if you believe a nice smile is a side effect of having a good occlusion than you are sadly mistaken. it is the reason they come to you.

orthodontics is a cosmetic procedure like any other e.g. tooth whitening, rhinoplasty, and many other forms of surgery. I am not saying there are not benefits however because people judge you on how you appear (unfortunate fact of live)

there are a lot of trolls on here recently

syklops

OP, you sound like a langer.

Braces are needed by a small number of kids. If the majority of children needed braces to grow straight healthy teeth, Human beings would have died out a long time ago.

Big_G

an langer wrote: »

Really? why do you think that? :eek:

My source is the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO).

A perfect example of misquotation and lack of understanding being applied to a moronic argument.
In the original article, orthodontic problems means just that. You cannot apply the statements to the average dentition without understanding what an orthondontic problem might be.
There is even controversy within the profession as to what might constitute a problem. There are studies to show that lack of motivation towards oral hygiene practices is a bigger contributor than malocclusion to gum problems.

Read up on the index of orthodontic treatment need if you want to learn something. It will tell you the difference between perceived need and actual need for treatment. There are very few orthodontic problems that will impact significantly on a persons health, well-being and quality of life. Despite what the AAO might say.

McCrack

It's clear when you read the OP posts that he/she has copied and pasted them, they are not the OP own words.

jaffa20

McCrack wrote: »

It's clear when you read the OP posts that he/she has copied and pasted them, they are not the OP own words.

Clearly

HAHA

jolly good

HAHA:D

taram

vishal wrote: »

all dental treatment is elective IMHO except for tooth extraction from pain/sepsis. you'll live without teeth.

if you believe a nice smile is a side effect of having a good occlusion than you are sadly mistaken. it is the reason they come to you.

orthodontics is a cosmetic procedure like any other e.g. tooth whitening, rhinoplasty, and many other forms of surgery. I am not saying there are not benefits however because people judge you on how you appear (unfortunate fact of live)

there are a lot of trolls on here recently

I disagree, my sister had a very bad bite to the point her speech was badly influenced, with braces her speech problem improved about 50%, which is what the HSE orthodontoics program should be catching and correcting. I do agree though that people are way too quick to get braces, met an orthodontist in the pub and he "suggested" I get my front teeth realinged, I used a spirit level on them the next day, they are PERFECT damn him :P

an langer

http://www.braces.org/pressroom-html/press/video/adults_braces.wmv

vishal

orthodontic texts say humans have an ability to adapt very quickly to a malocclusion (bad bite) so speech is rarely a problem

take for example when a dentist gives a patient a new denture or an orthodontic appliance. they talk very funny for a couple of days, they may even drool, but after that they get back to talking normally.

ortho and TMJ is also very controversial and many dentists disagree with each other.
the number of people who have very poor occlusions does not correlate well with the number of people with symptoms of TMJ. Many dentists feel is a bad bite in a susceptible individual only can cause TMJ not everybody with a bad bite.

vishal

also if you have no teeth, it badly effects their speech but that doesn't seem to affect some of them;)

an langer

Vishal thanks very much. Your points on temporomandibular joint disorder are very interesting!! I didn't know there was much controversy about it.

On another point, I do think that braces are important for a beautiful smile. Currently over 300,000 Canadian teenagers are wearing braces, I'd love to know what the figure is in Ireland. I think Ireland is coping on bit by bit. And gradually we are filling the gap (pardon the pun).

Oh yes I did indeed copy and paste that earlier point from the AAO and if anyone is interested you should visit www.braces.org. They have a great informative website for people of all ages considering orthodontic treatment.

Also, if you are thinking of getting braces go to Northern Ireland. You will save hundreds if not over a thousand euro.

vishal

an langer wrote: »

Vishal thanks very much. Your points on temporomandibular joint disorder are very interesting!! I didn't know there was much controversy about it.

On another point, I do think that braces are important for a beautiful smile. Currently over 300,000 Canadian teenagers are wearing braces, I'd love to know what the figure is in Ireland. I think Ireland is coping on bit by bit. And gradually we are filling the gap (pardon the pun).

Oh yes I did indeed copy and paste that earlier point from the AAO and if anyone is interested you should visit www.braces.org. They have a great informative website for people of all ages considering orthodontic treatment.

Also, if you are thinking of getting braces go to Northern Ireland. You will save hundreds if not over a thousand euro.

I agree, treatment often does result in a beautiful smile and profile.