It’s important to have a healthy smile for both your physical and mental health
I think the physical health is a little bit more obvious. The mental health is maybe not as obvious but we find… For instance, a particular patient, we always thought he was a little bit angry, not a happy camper, never would talk to anyone, would, you know, never look at anyone, would go right back and… He said, you know, “I haven’t dated in a long time. My teeth are horrible looking.” But, he didn’t want even my dental assistant to hear that. So, we put a plan together to give him the smile that he really wanted.
Our staff was literally blown away and didn’t really recognize him, not just because he had a beautiful smile all of a sudden. It was because he was a whole different person. He came in engaging with people, smiling at people, talking to people, and it’s funny but not only did he end up dating but wasn’t too long afterward, I got invited to a wedding. When I see him today, he dresses completely differently. He used to wear a lot of his t-shirts from work with those little holes in it from, like, welding, I believe. But, now he’s in his Tommy Bahamas, and, you know, you can tell he’s engaging with people. It’s changed his life.
And I really believe that many people out there hide themselves because they don’t feel like they can engage because they’re so unhappy with something about their smile. And, it’s not always a super costly thing. There are oftentimes things we can do that don’t cost a lot of money, that we can make significant improvements in their smile, and I believe potentially change their lives.