I understand that you are not alone in your opinion re dry food. I used to give my cats a combination of dry and wet. However, I have done quite a bit of research on this topic and believe that wet food is by far preferable.
Here is another excellent piece (in addition to the one I cited earlier) on this issue supporting wet food:
The Truth About Dry Cat Food
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I'm not at all sure I buy the premise that cats or any carnivores don't have enough instincts to drink as much water as they need. . . .Of course wet food will have more water content, but eating food is not the only way to get water into the system. The other way is quite natural and easy.
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I think you may overestimate the amount of such self-regulation. The cat won't literally die of thirst but it may take in less water than optimal. From the Bernard article:
"Cats evolved as desert creatures and are well adapted (still!) to survive in a dry climate, if fed their natural food. Cats are not thirst driven like dogs and are able to survive on less water than dogs. . . .When fed a dry food diet (which has less than 10 percent moisture), unless they drink a lot of water, which most cats do not, they are in a constant state of dehydration. Moreover, although a cat consuming a dry food diet does drink more water than a cat consuming a canned food diet, in the end, when water from all sources is added together — what's in their diet plus what they drink — the cat consumes approximately HALF the amount of water compared with a cat eating canned foods."
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As to food that is tougher to eat helping clean teeth, that's self-evident.
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From Bernard:
"Contrary to what most people have been told by their veterinarian, dry food does not clean teeth! When a cat chews dry food, it shatters into small pieces. In order to promote effective cleansing of tooth and gums, the food must remain in contact with the teeth and gums for a period of time. Nothing is going to provide effective abrasive cleansing than chunks of raw meat."
Plus, there is the whole excess carbohydrates in dry food that can lead to getting obese and other problems.