Here at The Center of Dental Professionals, we are celebrating “Boost Your Self-esteem Month,” and having a healthy smile can certainly have an impact on one’s self-esteem. But you don’t need to have low self-esteem for this post to be relevant to you, because all of us, even if we generally feel pretty good about ourselves, can benefit from maintaining a healthy smile.
For starters, I’d like to distinguish two different aspects of self-esteem. The first is having a feeling of self-worth, and the second is feeling confident in your own personal future. Having a healthy or unhealthy smile can influence both of these in different ways. For example, having bad teeth that no one can see might not embarrass you, but you may be worried about losing them down the road (lack of confidence), and having stained teeth might not get you in to see the dentist, but you may find yourself hiding your beautiful smile.
Allow me to make an analogy with cars. If you had a sweet looking Porsche that is starting to have transmission problems, and they are getting worse, you may not feel too good about driving it to Las Vegas even though it still looks fine. This is like that annoying twinge in your molar that you feel from time to time, reminding you of the impending root canal down the road. You try not to think about it, but is adds to your long list of anxieties and increases your daily stress.
On the flip side, if you had a super reliable sedan that runs perfectly, but has dents, rust, and faded paint, you might not use the valet parking at the big party. This is like the chipped, missing, or ugly teeth that many of us feel embarrassed about. Every time we want to smile, our joy is cut short by our need to hide it. I could go further and talk about how bad oral health can make our breath stink, etc, but I think you get the point.
Appearances aren’t everything, but no matter how other people see us, we need to have a healthy respect for ourselves. Our mouths and everything in them are part of us, and I personally find it hard to respect a tooth if it’s causing me pain, or if it’s distracting others from what I’m trying to say. Fortunately, we don’t need to buy a Porsche to feel good about our smiles.
The Center of Dental Professionals offers a full range of dental care, from under-the-hood repair and maintenance to more cosmetic needs, including restorations and whitening products. Imagine having the confidence to smile and live life without any concerns regarding your teeth and oral health. The little, every day stressors like concerns about our Oral Health can add up to cause us a lot of anxiety, so why wait? Give us a call, and we can help you achieve greater self-esteem and self-confidence by helping you to have a healthy smile.