Let’s face it; the way you look is more important today than it has ever been.  This is due to the increased exposure that our appearance has to everyone around us because of social media and other forms of e-communication (not to mention selfies!!!).  We constantly see each other’s faces on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.  This puts a lot of pressure on us to look good and feel confident about our appearance.

Most people think about their bodies when they think of improving their looks and building confidence.  Workouts and diets are usually on everyone’s mind (especially early in the year, New Year, New Me!).  This makes a lot of sense living down here in my hometown of Miami Lakes, Florida, where we have year-round “beach weather,” wear fewer clothes than most other places, and have a population of beautiful people worldwide.

However, as much as I agree that taking care of the body with diet and exercise helps us look and feel good, we should all take a realistic look at ourselves and determine if we are happy with our smile.  Yes, that’s right, your smile can also make you look and feel good and doesn’t require you to join a new gym or give up carbs!

A Smile is a positive expression!

You must understand that your smile is your most basic but powerful form of positive expression.  Our smile is linked to the same brain nerve centers as feelings of joy and happiness.  When we are happy, we smile.  When we look at the people we love, we smile. Your smile makes you feel better and looks better on the outside.  Studies have found that when you smile, you decrease stress-enhancing hormones and increase positive mood-enhancing hormones (endorphins).  It even lowers your blood pressure!

Smiling is a natural reaction to joy and happiness, which is very influential. Numerous scientific studies have established that a sincere smile is attractive to others. Other studies have found a solid connection between enjoying good health, longevity, and smiling.  Essentially, the act of smiling, genuine or false, can have immediate and long-lasting benefits on the health and welfare of a person.

How does your smile make you look more attractive to other people?

Your smile is most often one of the two things that someone else notices when they first look at you.  Whether you like it or not, if your smile is not up to par, you are sending out negative signals to someone looking at you.  This has to do with the way our brain works.  We are constantly scanning the world. We look for imperfections and search for symmetry.  The human body should be perfectly symmetrical (remember high school biology and bilateral symmetry).  If you draw a straight line vertically down the human body, you should have equally spaced body parts on both sides (eyes, ears, arms, legs, etc.).  Your smile works the same way.  You should be able to draw a line down the middle of your face, and it should intersect the center of your central teeth (top and bottom).  If it does not, you have a misalignment of your teeth, which could be for several reasons, including missing teeth, misaligned or crooked teeth, or possibly a misalignment of your bite or jaw. A misalignment of your teeth makes your appearance asymmetrical, which is unpleasing to the eye.  This type of misalignment can not only cause other people to look at you differently, but it can also cause you to have functional issues with your teeth and not be able to clean them properly, which can create much more significant health issues (not to mention bad breath, plaque build-up, and other problems).

How can your smile make you feel more attractive?

The power of the smile is not limited to looking more attractive to other people but also transfers to feeling beautiful from within you.  When we smile, we feel better because we release endorphins, but we also boost confidence when we know that our smile looks excellent.  Your smile is with you in every situation you are in every day for the rest of your life: school, graduation, college, work, dates, job interviews, meeting new people, weddings, etc.  Shouldn’t you feel 100% confident that when the situation you are in makes you smile, you will put the best version of yourself forward? If you do not feel confident in your smile, you should get an evaluation from an orthodontist in Hialeah and have them give you an assessment and explain your options to get your smile looking and feeling great.  Or, you can live the rest of your life making excuses for not liking your smile and not living to your full potential.  You decide.