A Carefree Sort of Smile
This is the season! This is the time of year that brings food, cheer, and dozens of digital cameras. There are family dinners, friends reuniting, and winter wardrobes full of ugly Christmas sweaters that demand to be modeled off for the social networks of your preference.
While all of these exciting prospects are bringing good cheer to many, we know that not everyone has the same response. For many people, the holiday season is just another time of year to hide their smile. One crooked tooth can be the difference between a happy, joyful smile, and a tight-lipped grudging smirk for the aunt who won’t put away her new Nikon.
Be Considerate
Working in an orthodontist’s office can make you very aware of the sensitivity required when discussing another person’s smile. If they are at all uncomfortable with showing their smile, we should never try to push them too hard into smiling for the camera. Even if we don’t see anything to be ashamed of, it would be wrong of us to tell a person that they are wrong or stupid for holding a different opinion. That does not help. It hurts.
A lot of insecurity is shackled with hopelessness. They may have the idea that things will not and cannot get better. When it comes to the smile, we know better. It is the orthodontist’s job to help people have healthier, happier looking smiles every day.
Bring Them Hope
If you have a friend or family member who is self-conscious about their smile, be tactful, and ask them if they have ever thought about visiting an orthodontist. What holds them back? If they don’t wish to discuss it, perhaps it would be better to leave it alone, but if they trust you enough to share their concerns, then be ready to listen.
Support them. If you went through an orthodontic treatment yourself, you can tell them how you felt before you visited the orthodontist, and how you felt afterwards. Share the feeling of smiling without a care. Encourage them just to visit us. They can ask all the questions they like, and we will do our best to answer.
Seeing the smiles of our loved ones is the absolute best part of the holiday season. Giving someone the desire to smile for years afterward could be the greatest gift of all.
