At Hello Ortho, we are all about creating beautiful smiles. If you’re shy about letting your joy shine through because your teeth aren’t perfect, braces – invisible or nearly so – will remedy that. From the start of treatment, you’ll never be inhibited from smiling again.

Why do we make such a big deal out of smiling? Straightening your teeth may be necessary for optimum oral health, but one of the most rewarding results of orthodontic treatment is, simply, encouraging your smile. Just the act of smiling – genuinely grinning – confers some surprising benefits to your overall well-being.

Here are seven of them:

1. You’ll not only look happier, you really will be. The act of moving your face muscles into a smile tells the brain to release endorphins – chemicals that make you happier. The smile doesn’t have to be real, either. If you’re blue, put on a fake smile and those endorphins will be stimulated to improve your mood naturally.

2. You may live longer. Smiling has been shown to reduce stress, lower heart rate and blood pressure, and strengthen the immune system by producing white blood cells that help fight illness. One correlation study of facial photographs found that smiling subjects had lived an average of seven years longer than grim-faced ones.

3. You will make other people happier. Smiling is contagious. The old saying is true: When you smile, the world smiles with you. Smile at others and they tend to smile back – and then the benefits of smiling are conferred on them, too. Smiling together also helps people bond.

4. You’ll be more attractive. This doesn’t have to do with the shape of your face or the size of your nose but with how others perceive you. A classic 1990 study in the European Journal of Social Psychology showed that people who are smiling are judged more attractive than people who are not smiling. In 2013, a study comparing computerized facial images concluded that less attractive but smiling faces were considered more attractive than the same or prettier faces without smiles.

5. You may feel less pain. Here are those endorphins again, along with serotonin – these two chemicals, released when you smile, work together to reduce the sensation of pain. In what must be the ultimate test, the ScienceNetLinks website reports that people who smiled while getting a needle – even when the smile was forced – said they experienced up to 40% less pain than people who didn’t smile.

6. You will be more productive. It’s been shown that people work harder on tasks after a few minutes of smiling or laughing. A smile also helps you appear more confident and self-assured, which may lead to more promotions and raises. So don’t be afraid to “whistle while you work!”

7. Don’t stop with smiling – once in a while, give into a full belly laugh. Laughing has physical benefits as well as psychological ones. A full laugh expands the lungs, stretches muscles and brings oxygen to your cells. It also helps you release bottled-up emotions. Don’t let embarrassment about your teeth keep you from your fullest enjoyment of life.

If you’re interested in braces, our office offers options that are both attractive and functional. You’ll be pleased with how quickly your new smile will take shape – and pleased with the rewards your perfect smile will bring.