How Smiling Affects Your Health and Happiness

Everyone is able to smile. By two months old, most babies are able to smile at the people who make them happy. Your smile can convey many emotions: happiness, friendliness, contentment, and gratitude. There’s a lot more to smiling though than just conveying what you’re feeling. There are many case studies that suggest that your smile can actually affect your overall health and your happiness.

Science Behind Smiling

The simple act of smiling will activate neural messaging in your brain and when you smile, the neurotransmitters that make you feel good are then released. These transmitters are endorphins, oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. Dopamine is also known as the feel-good hormone that will keep you motivated and help you enjoy life. Serotonin is what helps you feel important. Endorphins allow you to overcome pain and stress. Oxytocin allows you to form strong bonds, trust, and friendships with other people. All of the transmitters are important to helping you feel joy and happiness. The health benefits are:

  • It lowers blood pressure.
  • It strengthens immune systems.
  • It helps with pain.
  • It increases your life span.
  • It improves your mood.
  • It provides stress relief.
  • It decreases depression.

Correcting Your Smile

Some people don’t smile enough because of missing, crooked, discolored, or broken teeth. Having a poor smile can hurt your self-confidence and negatively impact your life. Luckily, a family dentist in Sugarland can help you with your smile so you regain all the health benefits of having a smile you’re proud of.

A dentist in 77478 can help you with many different problems including fixing discolorations on your teeth with teeth whitening, by replacing missing teeth, by correcting misshaped or misaligned teeth, and so much more.

Finding a family dentist near you can be an overwhelming experience, so remember to keep a few things in mind when you’re looking for the perfect dentist. They should be someone with experience and training and someone that keeps up with the latest technology. They should also be someone that’s ready and capable of making suggestions to help improve the health and appearance of your smile. They should encourage good oral hygiene, and finally, they should make you feel comfortable and at home in their office.

Protect Your Child’s Smile with Mouth Guards

Children who are involved with sports are at much greater risk of accidentally breaking or damaging their teeth and gums. You should always encourage your young athlete to use a sports mouth guard in Sugar Land, TX.  They are custom fitted mouth guards that are becoming more popular every day as it is a great option for protecting teeth.  How does the guard work though?  It will spread out the force of an impact, helping to minimize injury to teeth and gums. It is fairly common for athletes who are involved in football, basketball, and more.

Mouth Guards Near You:

There are three types of mouthguards available for your child to make use of.  The first one is a stock mouth guard, but they are not the best for protecting teeth. This is because they are a one-size fits all guard that is not customized for your child’s mouth.

Another type would be the boil and bite option. This is sometimes called a thermoplastic guard. You boil the guard in water and then have the child bite down to create a semi-fitted guard feel. This is better than a stock guard because it’s at least somewhat fitted to your child’s particular mouth.

The best and third option is a custom fitted sports mouth guard. They do not affect speech or breathing. It is the best in terms of comfortability, and most dentists will recommend it over the other two.

Why Custom Guards?

There is a strong advantage with custom sports mouth guards, and that is because it is entirely designed to protect your child’s teeth against damage.  It can protect against chips or cracks. They can be great for professional athletes, but they are also designed to use for children who are participating in sports such as football and hockey.

Since they are designed for your child’s mouth, there is less chance of them coming out or apart during sports activities. They are also less likely to bother your child’s gums when they use them, especially if they have sensitive gums. They last a long time too, and can keep protecting your child’s mouth throughout their entire school sports career.