An Attractive Healthy Smile

An Attractive Healthy Smile

An invaluable asset providing a lifetime of benefits

There is an abundance of information available that addresses the subject of how physical appearance affects happiness, self-esteem, and success.  In every society, esthetic appearance is important.  In different societies, cultures, and/or ethnic backgrounds, esthetic ideals or norms may vary; however, an individual who has esthetic characteristics that are similar to the norms has an advantage over an individual whose appearance does not conform to the norms for that society.

The aphorism: “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression,” has much validity; one’s appearance plays a pivotal role in the first impression phenomenon.  Without question a tremendous amount of emphasis is placed on physical appearance.  Evidence of this is that the cosmetic, hair styling, and clothing-fashion businesses constitute multi-billion dollar industries. Advertising overwhelmingly uses attractive people to promote products in commercials or magazine marketing efforts.  Why?  Because attractive people influence prospective customers to buy the products being promoted far more effectively than unattractive people. The implied sentiment is: “If I use that product, I will look or be like that attractive person.”

The overwhelming majority of people care and pay attention to how they look.

One clinical study found that an affinity for beauty is somewhat inherent; people are born with it.  This study observed babies’ interactions with attractive individuals whom the infants did not know and compared it with their interactions with unattractive individuals.  What they found is that babies responded more favorably, with more interest, had more positive interaction with the attractive individuals.

Another study involved pre-school and lower grade school teachers who were given photographs of children and asked the teachers for their impression about these children relative to their potential for learning, thoughts on what their behavior would be like, and assess what expectations they might have of these children.  Consistently, the children who were considered attractive received more favorable 1st impression reviews from the teachers and expectations were higher relative to intelligence and behavior.  What impact might this have on a child’s education experience?

Appearance is important.

There are many factors that contribute to a person’s overall physical appearance; body shape, size, posture, the hair, the eyes, the ears are some of the features that impact on one’s self image and the perception that others have.  However, the smile is the focal point that draws the most attention at the initial encounter.  And it is the alignment of the teeth that influences to a great degree the attractiveness of the smile.

But not only does a nice alignment of the teeth contribute dramatically to a person’s physical attractiveness; of equal or maybe even greater importance is its relationship to a person’s dental as well as overall health.  Nicely aligned teeth are much easier to clean and maintain in a healthy state; they are much less susceptible to decay and gum disease.  Gum disease is an infection and is the cause of the majority of tooth loss that occurs in adults.  But its adverse impact on a person’s general health may be more profound.  Researchers have determined that people with gum disease are almost twice as likely to suffer from coronary artery disease of the heart and are more likely to experience a heart attack than people without gum disease.  Gum disease has also been associated with a greater likelihood of having a stroke.

Orthodontics is the specialty of dentistry that addresses misaligned teeth and imbalanced bite relationships.  We feel very fortunate to be in a profession in which we are able to make such a major contribution to our patients that can have a life changing positive influence on their self esteem and how they are perceived by others as well as favorably impacting their dental and general health.

We are passionate about developing relationships with our patients, working with them to accomplish the goal of an attractive healthy smile, an invaluable asset providing a lifetime of benefits.