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People often think that cosmetic dentistry can only make you look more attractive. While it’s certainly true that cosmetic dentistry will improve the appearance of your smile, your appearance can actually make a big difference in other judgments people make about you and your character.
And sometimes those judgments can have very serious consequences in your life.
Cosmetic dentistry is about more than improving your appearance, it’s about improving your odds of living a better life.
The Impact of a Gummy Smile
The serious impact your smile can have on your life is shown by a recent study on a simple procedure: improving the appearance of a gummy smile. For this study, several patients who had gummy smiles were evaluated. They had smiling photographs taken, showing their typical display of gum tissue. Then these photographs were altered on a computer to extend the teeth similar to what might be achieved with a gum recontouring procedure.
Then the photos of the unmodified and modified images were shown to raters who were asked to evaluate the attractiveness of the smiles as well as whether a person was:
- Friendly
- Intelligent
- Trustworthy
- Self-confident
The raters consistently judged the photos with digital gum recontouring as being higher for all five characteristics. Although some of the raters were dental professionals and some were laypeople, there was no statistical difference between the two groups.
These initial impressions that people get from your smile are crucial, because people are capable of perceiving our smile faster and from farther than they will hear or understand our words. Before we complete our first sentence, people have already made judgments on the basis of our smile. And it’s these judgments that are likely to govern the impression people get of us: more people say they remember a person’s smile after a first meeting than a person’s clothes, smell, or words.
Bearing the Consequences of a Bad First Impression
So how much of an impact will that first impression have? A lot, if you make a bad one. Research shows that it’s hard to shake a bad impression once you’ve made one. And that impression can have an impact on many different aspects of your life.
When it comes to dating, an attractive smile is the most desired characteristic in a potential date. And when it comes to hiring, people with attractive smiles will be given a job over someone with similar skills 58% of the time, 61% of the time if it’s a forward-facing job.
And the consequences can be just as severe if you find yourself on the wrong side of the law. Jurors are less likely to be forgiving to someone they consider unattractive, handing down harsher sentences on less attractive men.
How Can Your Gummy Smile Be Improved?
But don’t worry. If you’re unhappy with the appearance of a gummy smile, we have the solution. Actually, we have several solutions, depending on the cause of your gummy smile.
The simplest solution to a gummy smile is laser gum recontouring. This works to remove some of the excess gums so you can display more of your pearly whites.
However, if your teeth are actually too small, we can build them up with dental crowns or porcelain veneers, depending on which is right for the placement of your teeth.
Are you tired of living behind your gummy smile? You can step out of the shade and into the light of a beautifully proportioned new smile. Please call (907) 349-0022 today for an appointment with an Anchorage cosmetic dentist at Excellence in Dentistry today.
