Smiling seems like a simple gesture, but it relaxes our muscles, invigorates our moods, and makes us look approachable. Sadly, many people don’t like to smile because they’re embarrassed by their teeth.
Having misshapen, discolored, or missing teeth can seriously put a hamper on someone’s confidence. A smile makeover from a prosthodontist in Columbus can restore oral function and help you smile more, which offers several benefits to your overall health and daily life.
In this guide, we’ll explain why.
Does Disliking Your Teeth Affect Your Smile?
Although smiling seems like an easy gesture, it’s not an easy thing for everyone to do. In fact, many Americans don’t like their smiles at all. In 2012, the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) conducted a study, interviewing 1,000 US adults ages 18 and older.
Their results were pretty shocking:
- One-third of Americans don’t feel content with their current smile.
- 36% of people dissatisfied with the appearance of their teeth believe that improving it could give them a better social life.
- 22% think that a better smile would also improve their love life.
- Furthermore, 14% believe that unattractive teeth lead them to miss out on better job opportunities.
- Younger people don’t have it easy either. 48% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 said they had untagged themselves in a Facebook photo because they did not like their smile’s appearance.
As you can see, being unhappy with your smile seems to be the norm. Social media platforms are filled with attractive people, which has led many to be more conscious about their physical aspects and the things they don’t like about them.
But can disliking your smile really hamper your social, love, and work life?
Benefits of Smiling
Be it due to embarrassment, anxiety, or fear of rejection, people who don’t like their teeth tend to avoid smiling. Unknowingly, they’re rescinding the possibility of experiencing many unique benefits.
Let’s go over some of them.
1. Ease Tension
Finding yourself in a stressful situation or moment in life can permeate your entire being. Stress can make you miss sleep, experience more tension, and feel overwhelmed.
In these situations, smiling (even if it’s fake) can help you recover your cheerful expression while also helping you release that tension. Smiles reduce stress by generating positive emotions within you.
Some professionals even equate the smile’s rejuvenating effect to getting a good night's sleep.
2. Smiling Is Contagious
Smiling can elevate your mood while influencing those around you. That’s because research suggests that smiles are contagious.
Humans are social creatures, so our brains are wired to pay attention and respond to others’ expressions. Smiling is no exception. Your brain automatically notices when someone smiles and unconsciously imitates them.
That’s why we tend to feel happier around kids. Children smile 400 times a day on average, 20 times more than adults. And by doing so, they encourage us to imitate them.
This is also why you can immediately notice if someone’s smile is fake. Real and fake smiles affect different areas of the face. For example, genuine smiles often involve the eyes, as well.
After seeing an expression, your brain is wired to mimic it automatically—and when you do, you instantly realize whether it is fake or real based on the muscles in your face that are activated.
3. Smiling Elevates Mood
Another perk of smiling is that it makes you feel happy—literally. Smiling activates pathways in our brain that influence our emotional state and stimulate our reward mechanisms.
By adopting a happy facial expression, you "trick" your mind into entering a state of happiness. This works whether or not your smile is genuine. In fact, recent research has concluded that smiling can be as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds of sterling in cash, which equates to $25,000.
4. Better Blood Circulation
Smiling also has a beneficial impact on your blood pressure. Laughter has been proven to lower blood pressure after an initial increase in heart rate.
5. Smiling Boosts the Immune System
Smiling can also boost your immune system. When you smile, you release neuropeptides that improve neural communication and neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin.
- Serotonin influences immune cell responses, helps prevent diseases caused by immune hyperactivity, and activates a multitude of 5-HT receptors found on the surface of immune cells.
- Dopamine plays an important role in neural-immune communication, suppressing or enhancing functional activities of the immune effector cells.
6. Smiling Reduces Pain
Besides having an important role in your body’s immune system, endorphins and serotonin are natural painkillers. These brain chemicals elevate your mood while relaxing your body and reducing physical pain.
7. Improve Relationships
The universal symbol of friendliness is a smile. Smiling makes us more likely to draw attention and showcase a comfortable atmosphere.
Smiling helps strengthen bonds and build long-lasting connections in existing relationships because we’re more likely to remember positive interactions. If you’re in a fight, smiling helps diffuse tensions and avoid misunderstandings.
In fact, new research by Queen's University Belfast shows that smiles can even restore trust in relationships after someone has been uncooperative or untrustworthy.
8. Improve Productivity in Work
Smiling invigorates us while simultaneously suppressing negative emotions, which is crucial in boosting productivity. After all, no one can dedicate themselves to their fullest in a stressful or depressing environment.
Smiles provide links to pleasant experiences and improve interpersonal relationships. When you're in good spirits, you tend to be more productive.
9. Smiling Helps You Live Longer
Perhaps, the strongest argument in favor of smiling is that it may extend your life. According to two different studies, genuine, passionate smiling has been linked to longevity.
- The yearbook study followed the lives of women who had the nicest smiles in yearbook pictures. These women had happier marriages, fewer misfortunes, and lived longer.
- The baseball card study analyzed men in baseball cards. Those with the biggest smiles lived seven years longer than those without.
Naturally, the information above merely demonstrates a correlation. It can be argued that people smile in pictures because they have simpler lives and not the other way around. However, the study also demonstrates that upholding a cheerful, upbeat attitude might be a crucial component of leading a healthy lifestyle.
10. Smiling Can Be Learned
Not liking your teeth’s appearance can have some serious consequences for your daily life, as it stops you from smiling and makes you feel self-conscious about doing so. Even after getting a smile restoration, it may be hard to stop hiding your teeth.
However, maybe the most important aspect of smiling is that it can be learned. Some ways to recover your smile are:
- Imagine a situation that brings you joy before meeting with someone.
- Practice smiling in front of the mirror.
- Imagine yourself going through the day and smiling a lot.
- Imagine yourself smiling at strangers in the streets and laughing loudly at jokes.
Find a Prosthodontist in Columbus to Help You Smile More
Smiles are contagious and therapeutic. They make you look inviting and invigorating, and they can motivate others to reciprocate your positive feelings, be it in a casual setting or professional sphere.
Because we believe in the positive effects of smiles at Spectrum Dental & Prosthodontics, we’re committed to helping patients recover theirs. If that’s something you’re interested in, give us a call!
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