0 The Power of a Lovely Smile

A very close friend of mine is a dentist who accepted one of the dental scholarships being offered in her college and attended two dental schools (not being happy with her first choice due to personal reasons). She was also eligible for one of the medical scholarships offered but refused, since it was to a Medical College in the UAE, and, instead, graduated with honors from one of the best school for dentistry in the country. She has always talked about how a nice smile can really change certain things about a person's life, and how important such things are.

Without being vain, I can honestly say that I have been complimented many times upon my smile and it has often worked to my advantage, by getting me better service in shops and restaurants. My teeth are not the greatest but apparently my smile lights up my face and makes other people happy to see it. We are always taught that a smile costs nothing but this is not always correct since sometimes it does cost a lot of effort to smile at someone when you are not in the mood. However, the best results are achieved at this point as, just by smiling, you can improve both your own and somebody else's mood.

Many people believe that a smile is easier to do than a smile since less muscles are required- 14 for a smile and 17 for a frown, but new research show that smiling uses 12 muscles and frowning only 11- making smiling a better exercise for your face! There is an old English saying; "turn that frown upside down" and it basically means telling someone to go from being sad or angry to being happy. It is not used so much these days as the answer will probably be to "mind your own business," but when we were growing up we used to hear it all the time from teachers, shopkeepers and even total strangers whom you met.

When meeting someone for the first time we base our impressions on many things, mostly physical, and one of these is the way a person smiles at you. A genuine smile which reaches their eyes will make you feel good and trusting whereas a forced smile will automatically put you on the defensive and decide that maybe something is not right. Similarly, a smile showing bad teeth or halitosis will be off-putting and give you an unfavorable impression. Having a regular oral hygiene routine is essential and this includes six-monthly dental visits for regular check-ups and proper cleaning. In-between visits it is important that you brush thoroughly for two minutes morning and evening, as well as flossing everyday.

A lovely smile is also important for your own self image and makes you feel more confident, since knowing that you look good will free your mind to concentrate on the matter in hand rather than worrying if you have spinach stuck in your teeth!

A visit to my dentist the week before had resulted in root canal treatment and although it was not the dentist's fault, that is whom I cursed all week.