The power of a winning smile and the secret struggle of those who hide their best asset

It has been brought to my attention more then once that I do not smile often in my photos. And my regular readers know that I don’t smile in photos because I do not like my teeth or really even my smile itself. When it comes to good health and good teeth I did not get lucky. I will spare you here the story of my health issues, but if I could change one thing about myself (not including my health) it would be teeth/smile.

After your eyes, your smile is the next thing most people notice. And having a less then stellar smile may seem trivial to some, and maybe it is, but to those who are the not so proud owner of a less then stellar smile it can be a bit daunting at times to live in such an image focused culture.

living here in the states the struggle is real for those who are less well endowed when it comes to their teeth

Seriously look around. In The States it seems it is all about having a winning whiter then white smile. A friend of mine whose parents are from Ireland, spent some time living in Scotland and she said there she is considered fairly attractive but here in the states her smile is considered problematic, and she has had multiple dentists bring up the subject and try to talk her in to improving her smile.

So yes living here in the states the struggle is real for those who are less well endowed when it comes to their teeth. I have thought about laser whitening but due to nerve damage I sustained when I had a root canal done I am very leery about having this procedure done as it can make your teeth more sensitive.

And don’t even get me started on my sisters uber white, perfect Oprah Winfrey teeth

Then there are veneers and lumineers but they are very costly, and can be over ten thousand dollars, not exactly affordable. So here I am with my less then stellar, not even close to white teeth. Perhaps I could travel to another country and get veneers? I am currently using drugstore white stripes and my teeth are about 7-10% lighter (not whiter) which is also a struggle as they don’t fit well due to all my missing teeth and even as a child my teeth were not “white.”  And don’t even get me started on my sisters uber white, perfect Oprah Winfrey teeth.

Yes my fixation on my teeth my seem trivial. And there are much bigger problems for me to worry about, both in my own life and the world at large, but still it bothers me. The young woman in this photo is an activist who worked for Hilary Clinton. So it doesn’t bother me a bit that she has this gorgeous smile. And don’t you love this capture from Garance Dore? Such a beautiful photo. To read more about this inspiring woman head on over to Garencedore.com.

And how do you feel about your smile? Do you even think about it? And if you don’t like it how far would you go to improve it?

XOXO