Deciding to get orthodontic care is a big step. It means that you’re taking charge of your smile and the health of your mouth. There are a lot of reasons to seek out the care of an orthodontist, no matter where they’re located.
Maybe you’re getting married next year and want to look better in the photos. Or maybe you have a job where your appearance matters, and you want to look as professional as possible. Getting a new smile could be as easy as typing “orthodontist near me” into Google.
Does it really matter if your orthodontist is close to you? As it turns out, it does. Here are 4 big reasons why finding a local orthodontist is essential to getting the right care (and the right smile).
A Better Smile
The first reason is easy. Your orthodontist is the person who is helping you get a better smile, making you a more confident and comfortable person. They’re providing you their years of education and experience to make you the person you want to be.
No matter where your orthodontist is located, the services they provide should be a comfort to you. Even though the process comes with some pain and discomfort, you shouldn’t blame your orthodontist for that.
The service itself is a great reason to love any orthodontist. But are there reasons to choose one that’s local to you? Turns out, there absolutely are.
Setting a Routine
If your orthodontist is far away, you’ll find yourself spreading out your routine appointments. This isn’t a good idea. The recommended amount of time between checkups is around 6 weeks and you should stick to it.
Keeping this schedule is one of the reasons it’s so important to find an orthodontist near you. There could be wires and brackets that are bent or about to snap that you don’t even know about. You may need to get a cleaning or special work done and wouldn’t even know it without these regular checkups.
Establishing a series of regular visits and examinations will help you maintain your equipment and stay on top of potential disasters. Having your orthodontist nearby makes this so much easier.
Emergencies
Of course, you can’t plan for everything. Maybe you just had to have that piece of gum, or maybe you left your Invisalign retainer lying around and now you can’t find it. If you have an emergency, you’ll be thankful that you chose a local orthodontist to take care of you quickly.
I myself had special equipment put in for the alignment of my jaw. For all of middle school, my mouth was filled with metal. Once, when this apparatus broke during school, I was in pain for the rest of the day. Thankfully, the orthodontist that set me up with my bear trap mouth was close to the school and available for walk-in or emergency appointments.
You may think that you can stay on top of your orthodontic appliances by yourself, but you want the support of a local orthodontist. You want to know that if disaster strikes, you have someone you know nearby who can get you fixed up.
This isn’t just because you want to get fixed quickly, but because you want to stay safe too. The number one cause of accidents is distractions and there’s nothing more distracting than a mouth full of painful, bent, or broken orthodontic appliances.
To avoid driving in pain and potentially making a bad situation way worse, find an orthodontist closer to you.
Familiarity
On the best of days, dental or orthodontic work can be scary. Not having a good rapport with your doctor can prevent you from wanting to see them. It can make your visits more painful than they have to be.
For me especially, visiting any doctor is stressful. This is true for a lot of people. If it’s true for you, seeking out the care of a local orthodontist can way reduce the pressure of driving to see them and increase the possibility that you’ll have a friendly dynamic with them.
If you have a local orthodontist, you have a much better chance of sharing something in common with them. You may know some of the same people or be familiar with the same restaurants and schools.
You may even see this person outside of the office, on the way to work or at a town event (depending on where you live). Becoming familiar with your doctor in a social context can make visits so much less nerve-wracking. This can only happen if you find an orthodontist that’s close to you.
The Takeaway
It’s wrong to hate the person that’s providing you the care you need to stay healthy and looking great. Yet it’s a mistake that many of us make. Since orthodontic care is commonly associated with discomfort and pain, it’s easy to dislike the person administering it to us.
However, there are many reasons to love your orthodontist, no matter how local they are. They’re helping you become the person you want to be, after all, to be more confident at work, in the bedroom, or just in front of the mirror every morning.
Choosing an orthodontist local to you gives you even more reasons to love them. By keeping close, you can stay on top of your appointments and avoid unnecessary pain and injury. When accidents do happen, you’ll be able to get to your doctor quickly and avoid further injury.
Plus, if they’re from the same town or city as you, you probably have a lot in common. We all want our doctors to seem like our friends and choosing one that’s local to you is the best way to do that. Finding one is as easy as a Google search (for instance, “orthodontist Pennsylvania” or “Invisalign in Pennsylvania”).
Choose a local orthodontist for the same great smile with all the added benefits of comfort and familiarity that come with sticking close to your area.
