How to evaluate your smile
Hold a full-face mirror about 12 inches from your face
Carefully study your smile then ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you like your smile?
- Do you like the shape of your teeth?
- Do you like the shade of your teeth?
- Do you like the way your teeth bite together?
- Do you have any missing teeth?
- Are all your teeth straight?
- Are any teeth chipped or hidden?
- Are any old fillings becoming dark or stained?
- What would you like to change most?
- Ideally, how would you like to look?
- Do you smile as often as you would like to?
The smile doesn’t stop at the front. Do you have dark fillings in the side teeth that look grey, or worse, black when you smile? If you have replacement teeth, do they look natural, too white, or fake?
Can you give a big smile in pictures taken of you? Many, many people are inhibited from smiling this way. Do you avoid having pictures taken of you because you don’t like how they look? Tired of saying, “I look really bad in photos” or “I’m not photogenic?” when in truth you’d really like to be photographed?
One of the ways other people evaluate your age is based on how much “tooth” you show when you smile. If you show little, or worse, no teeth, the mental calculation others make is “little or no teeth equals old”. It isn’t done consciously but nevertheless it still happens. We can make you look younger, by showing more teeth when you smile.
Often the problem with a smile isn’t with your teeth, but with your gums. Showing too much gum or too little can really spoil a smile.
We have gum solutions that can make a real difference by reducing or adding to the amount of gum that shows.
You may not even know what you don’t like about your smile. David Cashel can help you work it out.