Smiling, it's our favorite!

If the eyes are the window to your soul, then what is your smile? Many would say your smile tells about your personality…whether you have a whimsical care free spirited smile, a not so sure smirk or a confident beaming grin, it all makes you who you are. It is a fact that smiling can and does change our moods, our feelings and our actions, according to researchers at National Geographic.

Dale Carnegie once said, “the expression one wears on one’s face is far more important than the clothes one wears on one’s back.”

There is so much interesting, intriguing and fun research on smiling, it would make you smile…LOL. Ron Gutman, proved to have some amazing findings, lets check out a few:

• By measuring the smiles in photographs, the researchers were able to predict: how fulfilling and long lasting their marriages would be, how highly they would score on standardized tests of well-being and general happiness, and how inspiring they would be to others. The widest smilers consistently ranked highest in all of the above.

• Surprisingly, we’re actually born smiling.  Smiling is not just a universal means of communicating; it’s also a frequent one. In fact, those with the greatest superpowers are actually children, who smile as many as 400 times per day!

• Have you ever wondered why being around children who smile frequently makes you smile more often? People’s smiles actually suppress the control we usually have over our facial muscles, compelling us to smile. They also showed that it’s very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles.

• Why? Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious and we have a subconscious innate drive to smile when we see one. This occurs even among strangers when we have no intention to connect or affiliate with the other person.

• Smiling stimulates our brain’s reward mechanisms in a way that even chocolate, a well-regarded pleasure-inducer, cannot match.  

• And unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling has documented therapeutic effects and has been associated with: reduced stress hormone levels (like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine), increased health and mood enhancing hormone levels (like endorphins), and lowered blood pressure.  

• If that’s not enough, smiling also makes us look good in the eyes of others. A recent Penn State University study confirmed that when we smile we not only appear more likeable and courteous, but we’re actually perceived to be more competent.

At Agenter Orthodontics we are honored to help create your amazing smile! Each of our patients are unique and so is their smile. We are committed to providing the top level of orthodontic care and for you to have an incredible experience every time you’re in our office. The evidence is in the smiles we’ve created and the lives we’ve touched. That is what it means when Agenter Orthodontics says better smiles, better community.