can you spot a fake smile?

Ask the experts about smiling and a physiologist will say........

The zygomatic major muscle contracts and tugs the lips upward, the orbicularis oculi eye muscle squeezes the outside corners into the shape of a crow’s foot.

Whilst a psychiatrist will say……

An emotional expression of elation manifested through Duchenne facial features.

We say 'smiling gives you instant pay back'. Try it on the next person you see but be sure it’s a true smile as just like fake news, fake smiles are easily spotted.

You would think smiling involves the showing of shiny white teeth but again the expert says it’s a friendly form of communication expressed through the contraction of facial muscles. Smiling is unavoidable and happens when one is elated and it does not necessarily involve the showing of teeth. But if that is so true then why do people hate to smile when they are unhappy with their teeth? It appears smiling is a personal conscious decision more likely to be taken when we are happy with our teeth and having shiny white teeth helps a lot. Crooked, broken, missing or discoloured teeth consciously inhibit us from smiling even though most of the time it does not involve showing them. Put it to the test yourself, just check out all the true smiles you get today and count how many of them showed their teeth. Do not be surprised if none of them flashed their teeth, shiny white of not, and yet we all connect smiling and teeth together.

We all heard of stories of people covering their mouths to talk, smile and laugh simply because a dental cap has come off and they do not want to inflict their gappy meme teeth on their friends and family; people have even been known to miss dates and important appointments due to gappy teeth. Just have quick look on Youtube under 'gappy teeth' and there are hundreds of home fix remedies most are not recommended but it does illustrate the lengths people go to just to have a great straight white teeth to go with their smile. There are though also many tried and tested home use remedies which can help in fixing a loose dental cap or removing stubborn dental stain and even help to save a dislodged tooth as a result of a mouth injury. One such range of dental remedies is available under the Dr. Denti lable.

One possible reason smiling and teeth are linked together is smiling is often a pre-sequel to laughing where the showing of teeth is unavoidable and in extreme cases uncontrollable. It is this possible loss of self control where teeth are shown regardless they are shiny white, crooked or missing that makes some people consciously try to inhibit their smile and when that conscious control is lost they resort to covering their mouth.

So it seems a true smile can not be faked or hidden instead just smile and experience the whole world smiling back at you.