What Makes a Great Smile?

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
— Mother Teresa

The Pan Am and Other Interesting Smiles

Smiles light up our face, attract others to us and can even help us live longer. When we talk about someone’s face lighting up with a smile, we mean that they display a genuine smile.

Psychologists and scientists have been studying smiles for years, and their research has shed a lot of light on how and why we smile…and what make a fabulous smile.

The Duchenne Smile

The French neurologist, Duchenne de Boulogne, studied facial expressions. He observed that a genuine smile involves not just the mouth, but also the cheeks and eyes. Researchers call a real smile a Duchenne Smile.

The Pan Am Smile

The Pan Am smile was named after the Pan American World Airlines flight attendants who were encouraged to give their passengers big, bright, smiles… whether they were happy to see them or not. It was a polite, but fake smile.

Pan Am went out of business in 1991. Just saying.

The Yearbook Study

Researched from the University of California, Berkeley, studied the smiles of more than 100 women in their 1960 yearbook.

They followed up with the women for 30 years, and found that those who had  a Duchenne smile in their yearbook picture had more satisfying marriages and a greater sense of well-being about their lives than the fake and non-smilers.

Baseball Cards, Smiles and Longevity

A 2010 study look at the smiles on the faces on the baseball cards of 150 Major League players from the 1952 season, who had died as of June 2009.

The results:

• Players who didn’t smile lived 70 years, on average.
• Players who smiled a little lived 72 years, on average.
• Players who had big, Duchenne smiles, lived 80 years, on average.

So, it’s possible that putting a smile on your face may give you an extra decade of life.

Spot the Fake Smile

See how good you are at spotting a fake smile:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/

Smiling Feels Good

A study of college students were asked to smile. Their brain waves were measured. The results showed that even if their smiles were fake, smiling stimulated the same brain waves that make us feel good.

So, whether we feel like smiling or not, just smiling makes us feel happy.

Getting a Great Smile

Chipped, broken, discolored or missing teeth stop many of us from smiling. Instead of letting our joy show, we feel ashamed to break out in a big grin.

Dr. Stone has dedicated his practice to helping his patients get beautiful smiles. Whether it’s a small chip on a single tooth or damage on every tooth, Dr. Stone can find a solution.

For a complimentary consultation, Make an Appointment for a smile that makes you, and everyone around you, feel good.