Intuitively, we know that good posture helps our backs, necks, and so on. But not as many people know that good posture can improve your oral health as well! It’s true. Proper posture promotes a healthy smile and can help prevent potential problems with your jaw and teeth.

Your Posture in Class and at Home Could be Placing Harmful Pressure on Your Jaw

Whether it be in class, at home on the couch, or in the car, slouching has enormous effects on our oral health. Simply put, slouching causes the jaw to move forward while the skull sits further back on the spine. This causes misalignment.

Over time, the effects of this stressful position start to build up, stressing our jaw joints and the associated muscles. With time, this could cause muscle damage and/or damage to our teeth themselves.

To prevent these harmful effects, we must keep posture in mind all throughout the day, no matter where we are. It may be annoying to keep straightening our backs every time we feel ourselves slip, but there are a few tips and tricks that can help.

Tips for Better Posture

• Lift your chest, pull your shoulder blades back and down
• Keep your stomach muscles tight.
• When standing, everything from head to toe should line up—ears to shoulders, hips to knees, and knees to ankles.
• If sitting, your ears should line up with your hips.

Keeping all of these tips in mind can help you develop better oral health. They can even become part of a comprehensive oral hygiene routine. After all, you don’t want to miss out on any troubleshooting opportunities when you’re talking about your valuable smile.

And keep in mind, oral hygiene doesn’t have to be a go-it-alone experience. If you have any questions, contact our experienced dentists at our Fort Dix Army Base location. We’re always here to help.

Posture is Especially Important for People in Braces

When you’re in braces, every aspect of oral health counts. Since the whole point of a pair of braces is to align your teeth and produce a healthy, beautiful smile, you’ll want to do everything you can to keep yourself aligned.

If posture is not controlled and its effects are allowed to run rampant, it could even affect your treatment. Stand up straight. Your smile depends on it!

How to Fix Bad Posture Habits

We understand that getting rid of old habits can be an incredibly challenging experience. Many people who try to fix their posture report pain and an inability to keep themselves focused on alignment.

But don’t give up.

Some say that it takes 30 days to break a bad habit. While this may not seem like long, the days get longer, and the weeks can feel like an eternity when you’re attempting something new and challenging. And fixing your posture is definitely new and challenging.

Try enlisting a friend’s support in breaking your bad habit. Getting a friend to point out when you’re slouching can help you keep focused on your goals by splitting some of the labor. They might even want to try fixing their posture with you- in which case, you can support one another.

If you’re having a lot of trouble getting rid of that old habit, talk to your dentist. Many people may not know this, but since posture affects oral health, there are ways dentists can help you with it. Contact an orthodontist in central NJ to figure out if anything can be done for your posture problems.

Signs of Poor Posture

The longer a posture problem goes on, the more likely it is to start affecting your dental health. That’s why dentists are so concerned with eliminating posture problems as part of comprehensive oral health routines.

Back Pain

Since your back is so poorly aligned when you slouch, you will likely start experiencing back pain. Back pain can come from several different sources, but it shouldn’t be overlooked as a possible effect of poor posture.

If you’re feeling back pain, you may want to look into fixing your posture. IT could lead to oral health issues down the road and might even impair treatment with braces.

Headaches

While many people nowadays complain of constant stress headaches, they may not realize that stress might be only half of what contributes to their pain. Poor posture, along with causing back problems, can turn into headaches as time goes on.

Poor posture can cause tension in your neck, back, and shoulders. Tension in these muscles can lead to tension headaches, which may persist all day and throughout the week, distracting you from important work and responsibilities.

While headaches may not always be a sign of bad posture, they can help you to identify whether or not you have a problem.

Potbelly

Here is yet another sign of bad posture that you probably hadn’t considered before. Many people complain that they can’t get rid of potbellies, no matter how much they diet and exercise. What they don’t know is that poor posture can cause a potbelly.

A potbelly may be the worst of your problems. The same postural issue that causes your belly to stick out can cause your skull and jaw to contort unnaturally, which may reduce the effectiveness of treatment by braces. 

For the sake of our wallets, we want to fix these problems and help our braces do the work we want them to do.

All in All

All in all, poor posture has enormous effects on your oral health and can impair your treatment if you’re currently in braces. Since everyone wants to get out of braces and into a healthy smile as quickly as possible, it benefits patients to watch their posture, wherever they are. If you need help fixing your posture and developing an oral health routine, make sure to contact the experts at Bordentown Braces. We’re available for consultations on braces and overall oral health. We care about our patients and want to get them on track to a better smile.