Why It’s Important to Smile

You probably already have a general sense that smiling is nice and makes your world more pleasant. But you may not realize just how important it can be. Your smile can significantly improve your life in three essential areas.

Smile and Improve Your Mood and Attitude

Studies have shown that sometimes the body trains the mind, in other words, that our external behavior shapes our thoughts and feelings to match. That means smiling includes us toward happiness and a more positive outlook.

Smile and Fight Stress

It’s been shown that smiling reduces stress. It fights stress when the stressful event is actually occurring and also helps you recover afterwards. It helps you on both the mental and physical levels and may explain why coworkers so often assemble to unwind and socialize at a local watering hole at the end of a long day.

Smile and Enrich Your Social Life

We all know that a smile attracts us while frowns, scowls, and unhappy or unfriendly expressions in general incline us to keep our distance. So by smiling, you make it more likely that others will approach you, and when they do, you’re less likely to feel isolated and lonely and thus depressed.

When you smile, it’s even good for other people. You probably know the term “infectious smile.” It means that when you smile at others, it tends to get them smiling back and produces a beneficial change in their mood.

Your Smile: The Catch

The only potential problem is that if your smile is unattractive because of dental problems, it’s not likely to brighten your mood or prove to be an infectious smile after all. Smiling may well make you feel self-conscious if not actually ashamed and give others an unfavorable first impression of you, and if the dental problem produces bad breath, that compounds the problem.

Fortunately, you don’t have to settle for an unappealing smile. Whether the solution is tooth replacement, whitening, braces, or some other intervention, we at Kopp Dental can help. Contact us today for an appointment.