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More and More Adults Getting Wired with Braces by Jenny McCoy

Braces aren't just for teenagers anymore.

With adults accounting for 20 percent of U.S. orthodontic patients, it's apparent that many adults are now taking care of dental problems that were either overlooked or postponed during childhood.

According to the American Association of Orthodontists, more than 1 million adults are currently undergoing orthodontic treatment. The number of adult orthodontic patients has risen 33.5 percent in the past decade.

Reasons Adults are Getting Wired

A healthy, straight smile is often seen as an indicator of good overall health. This conception has led many adults to straighten their smiles even when it's not absolutely necessary.

Braces can be used to fix many dental problems, including:

* Spacing * Over bite * Cross bite * Under bite * Crooked Teeth * Crowding

In recent years, the options for orthodontic patients have increased, allowing patients to choose between several orthodontic treatment methods. Some methods allow patients to reduce visibility of their braces and the length of time they spend in them.

New, clear orthodontic treatment options are especially attractive to adult patients because they allow them to get the same benefit without sporting the metal and rubber bands often associated with the awkward years of adolescence.

Increase in adult patients makes life easier for orthodontists

The new wave of adults getting braces may decrease stress for orthodontists.

Everyone remembers the kids with braces who secretly indulged in popcorn and candy after their mothers dropped them off at the movie theatre. Luckily for orthodontists, an increase in adult patients will likely reduce the number of guilty patients coming in early to fix self-induced problems caused by abandoning eating restrictions.

Whereas younger orthodontic patients are usually plopped into the orthodontist's chair by their parents, adults who enter the orthodontist office bring a different mentality. For adults, this is often a procedure they have wanted to have done for many years, so they are more willing to follow rules in order to get the best benefit from their treatment, and their money.

Reducing the cost of braces

Braces cost upwards of $4,000 depending on which orthodontic treatment method is chosen. While some dental insurance companies cover the full cost of orthodontics, many only cover a portion of the cost.

For those who want braces but are either without dental insurance or need help in addition to their dental insurance coverage, a discount dental plan can help alleviate costs.

DentalPlans.com is the industry's leading provider of discount dental plans and select plans from the company's offering of more than 30 regional and national plans offer discount on specialty services such as braces.

About the Author

Jenny McCoy is a copywriter for DentalPlans.com

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Discount dental plans in California

Dental Coverage May Apply to Unusual Issues With Teeth by Matt Lockard

Individual dental plans available from your California Health Insurance Agent might apply to saber tooth cat syndrome.

Jack Daniels of Malibu Beach had loved to surf until the accident. The blonde-haired twenty-something possessed a marvelous physique and received plenty of covert glances from beautiful women on the beach every time he went surfing, but it was the surfing he loved. The glorious pursuit of aqueous perfection gave him goose bumps. He worried about sharks and barracudas and miscellaneous garbage tossed into the waves by careless jerks aboard pleasure craft, but it was the obvious that initially did him in.

One afternoon he grabbed his board and strolled out into the Pacific in moderate surf. Excited, as he was about to catch a wave, he smacked his face down abruptly with his mouth slightly ajar onto his red, white, and blue surfboard. His "problem tooth" snagged, the peculiar incisor sinking into the polyurethane a half inch deep, wedging solid. "With my head stuck like that," Jack later told the television crew, "it was a miracle I didn't drown."

He vowed never to surf again while that tooth was in the gob. As a boy of thirteen, his mother had taken him to a dentist for the first and last time. "Open your mouth kid," ordered the dentist, "Call me Seymour." Jack was shy, but opened, only to have the insensitive dentist remark a little too loudly, "Oh boy. This kid has saber tooth syndrome. It's still a baby tooth, but …"

Jack had learned not to smile. He was a good-looking teenager, but when he'd open his mouth and people saw it - they looked away. Now, the lonely ex-surfer had to do something about it. But what? He didn't have dental insurance. Jack finally worked up the courage to call a California Health Insurance agent, Mr. Louis B. Snaggle. "Hello. I don't know if you can help me. I have s-s-s-aber tooth c-aaaa-t syndrome," Jack managed.

"How long is it?" the friendly agent asked. Jack told him.

"Come right over. We can get you covered," Mr. Snaggle reassured him.

A minor dental procedure later, Jack was back surfing. He didn't see the garbage floating in the seawater until it was too late.

About the Author

Matt Lockard - California Health Insurance agency offers health insurance plans for individuals, families, and children. Also available are California Medicare Supplement policies. Go to http://mattsinsurance4ca.com to get an instant health insurance quote.