These Are the Five Things Killing Your Smile

No. 4 is exercising

“A simple smile. That’s the start of opening your heart and being compassionate to others.” — Dalai Lama

A smile is one of the very first features we notice on anyone. And improving your love life, social life, as well as your chances of professional success are just a few of the many benefits of having a great smile.

I’m sure you’d agree that most of the attractive people you know just have that smile that “lights up the room.” But on the other end of the spectrum, there are also people who are dead scared of showing even a little teeth in public. As a matter of fact, this study shows that more than one-third of American adults are unhappy with their smile.

This is obviously due to factors ranging from bad dental health to the fear of just looking weird. If this is you though, you can cheer up because this article will certainly give you a reason to smile. Here, we’ll be taking a look at the five things you need to watch out for if you want to take your smile from mediocre to a Hollywood-esque level of radiance.

1. What You Put in Your Mouth.

Candy. Chocolate. Ice cream. Soda. These are just four examples of the many sugary treats which have more or less become staples in today’s homes.

The main issue with this is that apart from causing obesity and diabetes, each time you consume food and drinks with that much sugar, your teeth also suffers for it. This is because they become highly vulnerable to damage from sugar-produced acids in your mouth which can break down the surface of your teeth; causing tooth decay and thereby killing your smile.

This is not new information to most people. The problem is that despite knowledge of its many harmful effects, because of how highly addictive sugar can be, we are consuming it now more than at any other time in human history. And as you’ll soon find out, we’re paying more than just our money for it.

According to data from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a staggering 92% of Americans have had tooth decay and a lot of countries are not that far off, like Australia which has 90%.

I know you must have already been given the advice to watch what you eat a thousand times, but it really doesn’t have to be half as hard as most people make it seem.

You don’t need to just give it all up at once. Besides, only “eating clean” 24/7/365 is a very boring and unsustainable way of life that should never be prescribed to anyone — whether their goal is fitness or as in this case, staving off tooth decay. But if you do care about your dental health, and by extension, your smile, then at least start cutting down the sugar a little. For starters, you don’t really need to add 5 cubes of sugar to that bowl of cereal, do you?

2. Yellow Teeth.

There are few things more disenchanting than this.

Yellow teeth are strongly associated with bad oral hygiene, and that making your smile unattractive to others is a no brainer. Having bright white teeth, on the hand, is one of the most attractive features a person can have.

You’d be surprised by how much just having whiter teeth can change your looks.

This should really drive home the fact that you do need to have a regular oral routine (i.e brushing twice and flossing daily) and watch what you eat, as we’ve already talked about.

However, if you’ve already tried this for a while and your teeth are still not so bright, then you might want to invest a few dollars in a teeth whitening kit or use proven home remedies like brushing 2–3 times a week with baking soda. No matter which way you go though, just remember to be gentle on your teeth; you’re trying to slowly get the dirt off your teeth, not trying to beat it into submission.

3. Brushing Too Often.

You probably didn’t even know that was possible. This is one area where too much of a good thing can be really bad.

As kids, our parents try to hammer into us the importance of brushing our teeth regularly, but doing this too much can actually lead to the unforeseen consequence of eroding the outermost — and whitest — layer of your teeth in what is known as dental abrasion, thereby making them appear yellowish and also causing tooth sensitivity. So make sure you brush only twice a day, and for nothing more than 2–3 minutes.

If you’ve already brushed twice but you still feel like your mouth has some food particles in it, then you can chew some gum which will not only clean up your mouth but will also encourage the production of saliva, which is a natural antibacterial. Just make sure it is sugar-free gum; for obvious reasons.

4. Exercising.

Trust me, I was just as surprised as you are.

Social media is full of “influencers” telling you to exercise day in, day out; but while the benefits of exercising are truly innumerable, too much exercise can actually have a negative impact on your dental health as proven by this study published in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.

They looked at a group of endurance athletes in comparison to a group of non-exercisers and they found that the athletes had significantly more tooth enamel erosion. More so, the more they worked out, the higher their chances of getting cavities. This, once more, shows how too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

I’m not in any way suggesting that you should stop working out though (come on, I’m not gonna let you off the hook that easy); just ensure that you don’t grind your teeth when lifting heavy weights and also, reduce your intake of sports drinks which are notoriously packed with sugar.

5. You Just Don’t Know How to Smile.

Okay, fine, maybe that picture is a little exaggerative but you get the point. Some people, especially the shy ones, have a really creepy smile; not because they’re doomed to look that way whenever they smile but because they’re either smiling too wildly (making them look like a clown) or their smile is so forced that it seems like they’re fake smiling (making them look like serial killers).

If this is you, there’s a simple fix which requires nothing but a mirror and a few minutes of your day. I want you to place that mirror in front of you and practice what you feel is an ideal smile.

You may feel a little bit weird the first few times you do it but that’s alright. Just remember that the celebrities and politicians you see with picture-perfect smiles have definitely practiced it for ages.

It’s as easy as that.

You’ve probably fantasized about that movie moment where you let forth a smile and it’s so radiant that your teeth sparkle at the edges.

While that’s sadly out of your reach, you definitely can attain a smile that you can be proud of. But that will happen only if you start following the tips we’ve discussed and pay just a little more attention to your dental health.

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