Teeth are a bigger deal than you may think. Oral health plays a big part in your every day life whether you realize it or not. If you visit your family dentist at least twice a year as is recommended, general dentistry is not wasted on you but you may realize some things about yourself and how you act through this article.
Believe it or not, studies done in general dentistry have found that less than a quarter of the population brush their teeth after a meal. Only about half of the population brushes their teeth twice a day and less than a quarter floss once a day, which are the recommended amounts. Everyone wants white teeth but not very many people want to dedicate the time needed to get them. Hence most of the population buying teeth whitening products that eat away at the enamel and eventually destroy their teeth. Regular visits to the dentist and a little brushing and flossing could’ve gone a long way.
Smiling for Photographs
There are three types of people in the world when it comes to photographs. Those that smile showing their teeth, those that smile hiding their teeth and those that do not smile at all. Well, I suppose nowadays there is a fourth category: those that make weird duck faces. If you show your teeth when you smile for photographs, either you take care of your teeth and are proud of them or you simply don’t care what other people think. Both reasons are good but the first is better as far as general dentistry goes. If you do not show your teeth when you smile, ask yourself is it because you are ashamed of your teeth? If so, what can you do about it?
Smiling for Marketing
There have actually been studies done on how to best convince a person of something, whether it be a product or a belief system or something else entirely. The best way to convince someone to think the way that you think is to smile at them. Of course, it needs to be a genuine smile. If you leer at someone, it’s going to freak them out and cause them to leave before being convinced of anything but if you are generally happy and smile, it’s a great sales tactic. Other people want to see that your product makes you happy and smile subconsciously shows them that.
Smiling for Flirting
Smiling is the only physical feature that most people agree stays the most attractive even as we age. There are different kinds of smiles that say different things. Eye contact and a mutual smile shows two people that their interest is reciprocated. Imagine if you saw someone that you thought was good looking and smiled at them and they just stared back at you, you probably wouldn’t feel the liberty to approach them. But a well timed, amused smile may be just the invite you need to get to know someone a little better.
Smiling for Happiness
There is something about a genuine smile from a happy person that can change the course of an entire day for someone. Life can be hard and many people go through it sad or lonely. But it could just take the cashier at the grocery store giving them a heartfelt smile or the waitress at lunch looking into their eyes and smiling warmly to make them feel like things are not as bad as they think. There are studies done that say if you were feeling down, force yourself to smile and it will release an endorphin into your bloodstream that will make you feel happier. Of course, in order for that to work, you have to really smile; a smile from your heart in a genuine effort to make yourself feel better.
As you can see, smiling is important to the human race. This is just one of many reasons why dental care should be a crucial and non negotiable part of our day to day lives. Don’t take general dentistry for granted; it could be the one thing that changes your life.