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(diǎn)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(guó)科學(xué)家開展了一項(xiàng)歷時(shí)20年的研究，此項(xiàng)研究對(duì)矯正牙套對(duì)威爾士的300多名兒童產(chǎn)生的影響進(jìn)行了探究。研究表明，更加整齊的牙齒對(duì)這些孩子成年后的心理健康并沒有產(chǎn)生什么積極影響。 這些孩子長(zhǎng)大后，研究人員再次對(duì)他們進(jìn)行了訪問。其中沒有人后悔自己曾經(jīng)矯正過牙齒，而且大多數(shù)人對(duì)矯正的結(jié)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(qū)別。 英國(guó)曼徹斯特大學(xué)的正牙師威廉姆·肖教授說：“根據(jù)我們的研究，如果牙齒畸形不是很嚴(yán)重，就不會(huì)影響牙齒健康，所以即使不帶牙套，也不會(huì)影響他們的幸福感。” 每年全世界都有不計(jì)其數(shù)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(guó)，牙套的價(jià)格約為2000英鎊（合3915美金），如果問題嚴(yán)重些，價(jià)格還會(huì)更高。 此項(xiàng)調(diào)查在英國(guó)《心理衛(wèi)生》雜志上發(fā)表，參加此項(xiàng)調(diào)查的所有人都有比較嚴(yán)重的牙齒畸形問題。他們得到的正牙治療是由英國(guó)政府提供資金支持的國(guó)民保健服務(wù)機(jī)構(gòu)免費(fèi)提供的。 肖教授說：“我們可以得出這樣一個(gè)結(jié)論，在過去20年中，盡管人們的自豪感都有所增強(qiáng)，但這并非源于牙套的魔力。” （ 英語點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）