A girl shows her braces in an undated file photo. Straightening children's crooked teeth with braces may improve their smile but it is no guarantee of happiness and improved self esteem. A 20-year study by scientists in Britain that looked at the impact of braces on more than 300 children in Wales showed that having straighter teeth had little positive impact on their psychological health later in life. When they were questioned as adults, none of them regretted having had their teeth improved and most were satisfied with the way they looked. But there was no difference in their psychological wellbeing when compared to other people who have never had braces. "On the basis of our research if there are irregularities, and especially if they are not severe, then there will be no harm to dental health and it wouldn't change their life happiness in the future if they don't wear braces," said Professor William Shaw, an orthodontist at the University of Manchester in England. Each year countless children around the globe receive orthodontic treatment to align their teeth or correct other irregularities. Parents can spend a small fortune on their children's dental work. In Britain, braces can cost 2,000 pounds ($3,915) or more depending on the severity of the problem. All the people questioned in the study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology had quite significant dental irregularities and had received braces free through Britain's state-funded National Health Service (NHS). "It can be concluded that, although in general participants' self-esteem increased over the 20-year period, it was not as a result of receiving braces," Shaw said. 點擊查看更多雙語新聞 (AP)

用牙套來矯正孩子們不夠整齊的牙齒，也許可以讓他們的笑容更加燦爛，但不一定能使他們更加快樂、更具自豪感。 英國科學家開展了一項歷時20年的研究，此項研究對矯正牙套對威爾士的300多名兒童產生的影響進行了探究。研究表明，更加整齊的牙齒對這些孩子成年后的心理健康并沒有產生什么積極影響。 這些孩子長大后，研究人員再次對他們進行了訪問。其中沒有人后悔自己曾經矯正過牙齒，而且大多數人對矯正的結果也很滿意。但在心理幸福感方面，他們與未矯正過牙齒的人相比并沒有什么區別。 英國曼徹斯特大學的正牙師威廉姆·肖教授說：“根據我們的研究，如果牙齒畸形不是很嚴重，就不會影響牙齒健康，所以即使不帶牙套，也不會影響他們的幸福感。” 每年全世界都有不計其數的兒童接受正牙治療，以使牙齒變得更加整齊或是矯正畸形。 父母在孩子的正牙治療上還得小花上一筆。在英國，牙套的價格約為2000英鎊（合3915美金），如果問題嚴重些，價格還會更高。 此項調查在英國《心理衛生》雜志上發表，參加此項調查的所有人都有比較嚴重的牙齒畸形問題。他們得到的正牙治療是由英國政府提供資金支持的國民保健服務機構免費提供的。 肖教授說：“我們可以得出這樣一個結論，在過去20年中，盡管人們的自豪感都有所增強，但這并非源于牙套的魔力。” （ 英語點津姍姍編輯）