Everything You Need to Know Right Now About Your Smile

No matter where you go in the world, smiling is a sign of happiness, trust, and positivity. Smiling is one of the few forms of nonverbal communication that has the same meaning for people everywhere!

All smiles are beautiful, and we all deserve to smile with confidence. That’s why, at Tomasik Family Dental, one of our favorite things to do is provide crowns, implants, and orthodontic alternatives like Invisalign to give our patients the smiles of their dreams!

We miss our patients’ smiles, and we hope to see you soon! In the meantime, here are 10 amazing facts about smiling that are sure to make you grin.

1. Your smile is the most recognizable part of your face.

Believe it or not, your smile may be more recognizable than your eyes! Mouths and dental alignment are incredibly unique, and people love to remember others with a smile on their faces.

If you’re meeting someone for the second or third time and they’re having trouble placing how they know you, give them a smile!

2. A Smile improves first impressions.

First impressions are important, whether you’re applying for a job or meeting your partner’s parents for the first time. One of the best ways to guarantee a positive first impression is to smile! It gives us the appearance of confidence, happiness, and warmth that enables others to feel more open and interested.

3. Smiling boosts your immune system.

Do you feel a bit of a cold coming on? Then, turn to comedians because smiling and laughing really do make a great medicine! Both smiling and laughing send signals to our stress hormones that we’re feeling more relaxed. Reducing stress actually increases our ability to produce white blood cells, the antibody worker bees of the immune system!

4. Different smiles bear different meanings.

On occasion, we may smile when our nerves are getting the best of us. We may even fake a smile for someone who is being difficult and doesn’t realize it! Did you know all these smiles differ in appearance?

There are six different smiles that signal true feelings of happiness, conveying things like love, amusement, and even flirtation!

5. Your teeth affect the shape of your face.

The alignment of your teeth isn’t just revealed during a toothy smile. Things like overbites, underbites, and missing teeth can actually alter the shape of your face!

For example, if you are missing a tooth, restoring that tooth won’t just restore youth and function. It will also restore the fullness of your facial contours! And, it’s easier than you think.

We often hear patients say that they put off cosmetic dental procedures because they thought it would be inconvenient. The truth is the recovery time for most dental procedures is often both quick and painless!

6. Smiling is contagious.

We hear this phrase a lot, but what does it actually mean? Facial mimicry is the human instinct to mirror another person’s facial expression as a means of empathizing. Smiling is no exception!

When we see another person smile, we have a tendency to smile back without even thinking about it. This allows our brain and body to work together to understand, in a matter of milliseconds, what this other person is feeling and allow us to feel it, too!

Feeling a little skeptical? Try watching this video, and see if you can get through it without smiling!

7. Babies love to smile.

Some of our favorite smiles are baby smiles, and we’re in luck! Babies absolutely love to smile. Early smiling, from birth to about two months, tends to fall under the category of “automatic” smiling. This occurs when babies respond with a smile to something physically enjoyable, like falling asleep or getting out a good burp.

After two months or so, babies start performing the “social” smile. This occurs when they recognize Mom, Dad, or Grandma’s smile as something joyful and smile back as a way to express their own joy! Isn’t that one of the most delightful facts about smiling you’ve ever heard?

8. Smiling is good for your heart health.

Smiling doesn’t just reduce stress; it also lowers your blood pressure! A lot of those same hormones and neurotransmitters that cause a spike in your stress levels also weigh on your blood pressure, putting a strain on your heart.

When you find reasons to genuinely smile every day, you could actually elongate your lifespan by bringing some relief to your heart!

9. Not all facts about smiling are about the mouth; your eyes smile, too!

How do people catch a “forced” smile? By looking at the eyes of the smiler! A true, big smile doesn’t just lift the corners of our mouths; it causes our eyes to crinkle and shine. This is great news because it means you can convey a smile even when your mouth is covered—by a mask, perhaps!

10. Cracking a smile can change your day.

If you find yourself having a tough day, take a smile break. Video chat with a friend, watch an episode or two of your favorite sitcom, or read an essay by a humorist like David Sedaris or Nora Ephron. You may not start out in a smiling mood, but just a few minutes of smiling or laughing can turn your entire day around!

Smiling, even if it’s a little bit on the forced side, signals our brain to release endorphins. Endorphins are responsible for feelings of delight and even euphoria. What starts as a little smile could lead to a whole day of happy feelings!

Facts about your smile give us plenty of reasons to smile.

Who knew facts about smiling could actually give us reasons to smile? We certainly hope we put a smile on your face today and that you find many moments of joy in the coming weeks.

We may not be able to make regular appointments at the moment, but that’s no reason to frown! Keep brushing and flossing twice a day and keep an eye out for dental emergencies. If something goes awry, find our phone number on our appointment page and give us a call so we can get you set up for an emergency dental appointment!