Smile Quotations, Part 3.

The lips have the ultimate power over the smile.-Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

Everyone wants to look and smile like a movie star!-Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

Wear a smile - one size fits all.-Author Unknown

The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.-Thomas Paine

If I saw you hitchhiking, I’d smile and return your thumbs up, just for you doing such a great job of being a positive roadside influence.-Jarod Kintz

He taught me never to smile, which helps me when I visit disaster sites.-Emo Philips

A smile is happiness you'll find right under your nose. -Tom Wilson

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.-Dr. Seuss

A smile is the best way to get away with trouble even if it’s a fake one.- Masashi Kishimoto

A smile cures the wounding of a frown.-William Shakespeare

The shortest distance between two people is a smile.-Author unknown, modification of Victor Borge's "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."

I speak of peace, while covert enmity under the smile of safety wounds the world.-William Shakespeare

If you don't start out the day with a smile, it's not too late to start practicing for tomorrow. -Author Unknown

I never smile unless I mean it.-Donny Osmond

The secret weapon is right out front…your smile!-Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

Is a smile a question? Or is it the answer?-Lee Smith

All the statistics in the world can't measure the warmth of a smile.-Chris Hart

If you want to meet a woman, it's best just to smile and say hi.-Karen McDougal  

It’s okay! You want people to stare at your brilliant, magnetic, almost teasing smile!- Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

May you have many…emotion packed, wisdom gaining, poetically explained… smiles!

Your Newly Whitened Teeth Are Sensitive!... Now What?

So you paid good money to have your smile whitened and spiffed up, but now you're temperature sensitive when you eat or drink hot or cold items. That's the major downside to this otherwise beautifying procedure.

Some people may have so much sensitivity problems after whitening that they wished they didn't do it in the first place. Remember that whitening agents contain potentially irritating...bleach! These bleaching formulas actually go through the enamel and to the surface of the underlying dentin. There are small tubes in dentin that are normally blocked at the outer ends by minerals. Nerves endings from the dental pulp extend through the length of those tubules. Bleaching agents can remove the minerals which normally block and protect the nerve endings. Unprotected nerve endings are vulnerable to fluid movements in them, and these movements can set off pain receptors there. So the dentinal tubule ends need to be blocked or plugged again by adding minerals through the process of remineralization.

The sensitivity you may now be experiencing may only be temporary- one or two days or more, if it just started with the whitening treatments. If you are using an at-home bleaching kit and feel new sensitivity, use it less often, like every other day or so, to let the mouth heal and remineralize between applications. You may want to cut down on the time that the bleach is on your teeth, too. Overuse of whitening products (the “if some is good, more is better" type of thinking) is definitely not advised and may be the cause of the problems. If your sensitivity issues persist, you may want to take some mild pain medication until you can see your dentist. Oragel or UlraEZ desensitizing gels can give temporary relief from dental inflammatory pain but should not be overused. Fluoride varnish may be applied to the teeth to help.

There are things that you can do at home to alleviate the soreness of the teeth. A fluoride-containing rinse and toothpaste can be of great value. They can deliver a remineralizing punch to the teeth and lessen the irritation with twice-daily use. Regular use of store-bought sensitivity toothpaste that contains potassium nitrate or strontium chloride along with sodium fluoride should do the trick, too, but it may take some weeks for the relief to kick in. You may want to do things like drink cold or hot liquids through a straw to keep it off of the sensitive teeth.

Check with your dentist about the new Kor Whitening system, which is a leading-edge whitening product that maintains its superior bleaching potency by requiring constant refrigeration until use, and the product line employs superior desensitizing agents that don't interfere with whitening results.  

May you have many…smooth sailing, can’t touch this, sensitivity-free… smiles!

Watch Out! You Just Might Have Bad Breath Right Now If...

Now that you are paying attention, let's quickly get down to the causes of that embarrassing condition that can throw a wrench into your up-close, personal, and professional relationships. Sometimes we don't even know we might have bad breath (acclimation) unless it's strong enough to be self-noticeable. Also known as halitosis, the Dragon, oral BO, morning mouth, and stomatodysodia (to name a few), this dental malady shows itself when one exhales air that carries an offending smell. The fight against bad breath is a daily, life-long battle, and oral-hygiene companies make billions of dollars from consumers who want better breath.

Here's a way to check your self, right now!: close the lips and suck in the lips and cheeks tight against the teeth. Do you taste anything? And if you do, does that taste have a smell? Status check!

The American Dental Association says that half the population of the United States has halitosis at one time or another. And that half of that 50% group has chronic halitosis. So what can we do to eliminate the embarrassment of breathing out foul odors and risking our personal and professional relationships?

Well, by flossing, brushing, and rinsing (in that order) more, soon after eating preferably, you can minimize the effect of the residual smell of food you just ate on the breath. At least keep a toothbrush and toothpaste with you at work or at school to touch up. Add another dose of toothpaste halfway into your brushing session to suds things up well. Decomposing food hiding out between the teeth and under the gums can contribute to bad breath and give the bacteria there a lot to munch on. Experiments have shown that a major source of fetor oris (bad breath) is the sulfur-compounds-producing bacteria found on the dorsum or back of the tongue. VSCs or volitile sulfur compounds (which smell like rotten eggs) like hydrogen sulfide, allyl methyl sulfide, and dimethyl sulfide are produced by bacteria there. That area offers the bacteria there a warm, moist environment in which to grow and thrive. This area is covered by a hard-to-remove, thick mucous coating or biolfilm. Some of the food you eat gets into the biofilm and into the crevices of the tongue and provides nourishment to those microorganisms. The best way to reduce the bacteria on the tongue (which may make the tongue look like it has a white coating) is to clean the tongue thoroughly with a toothbrush or tongue scraper until radiates a clean, healthy near-pink color. Several dozen bacteria in the mouth out of more than 600 species found in the average mouth are thought to potentially cause the "Gas Face."

If you have cavities or gum problems (gingivitis, periodontitis), see your dentist (whom you should be seeing every six months anyway) and get treated. Some strong foods like garlic and onions are absorbed into the bloodstream and pass through the lungs, where the food gases are expelled through the breath until the body cleans it totally away in about 48 hours or less.

Even though the inner workings of the mouth cause of 90% of “ozostomia” occurrences, a large number of medical conditions in the body away from the mouth can cause "altered breath." They include, but are not limited to, acid reflex, diabetes, throat infections, tonsillitis (tonsilloliths), sinusitis, lung infections, bronchitis, gastritis, some cancers, liver and kidney problems, and foreign objects in the nose. Some medications can affect the breath, too, like antihistamines. Long-time smokers in many cases have gum disease and other problems that can cause oral odors. Alcohol consumption reflects back in the breath and may lessen one's motivational urgency to practice proper oral hygiene. Radiation and chemotherapy can lower salivary gland function, leading to dry mouth and possibly severe caries, along with oral stench.

Partial and full dentures must be regularly cleaned and maintained to prevent them from developing a funky smell. Use a denture cleaning tablet to clean chemically, or, to clean mechanically, use a denture brush, room-temperature water, and a dedicated denture cleaning paste (which can clean a denture better than toothpaste can).

Devices have been developed to check breath quality and to test for the presence of breath-aroma-related bacteria and their enzymes, like the portable halimeter, the hand-held gas chromatograph, the BANA test, and the β-galactosidase test.

Mouthwash, gum, mints, sprays and tongue lozenges can be employed to keep any smell temporarily at bay.

The International Society for Breath Odor Research (ISBOR) was formed in 1996 to research and understand all aspects of breath odors. Organoleptic measurements are made of the type and level of oral odors by trained experts who actually sniff and score the severity of breath levels and assess them on an intensity scale ranging from one to six.

The best approach to prevent almost-flame-throwing bad breath is to stay vigilant with the knowledge that if you don't adequately "touch up" after eating, you're taking your chances!

May you have many...no nose holding, you can get upclose, spring fresh…smiles!

What Your Smile Says About You.

First off, a well-aligned and well-maintained smile reveals that practicing good oral hygiene is a priority to you, along with the daily preparation of the face and rest of the body.

If you like to smile a lot, it could mean that you're basically a happy person, and see life in a positive way. It also adds to your longevity and attractiveness and can influence matters that involve the business, personal and romantic areas of your life. And when you smile, it can lighten the prevailing mood, and others may tend to smile along with you. It's an engaging and  interactive activity! Patients who have just completed esthetic dental work, and love their brand new smiles, feel more free, more confident, and empowered. They want to shine and show off their new social instruments...their grins!

There are degrees of smile , from no smile, with the lips together, to a partial smile, and then  the Duchenne smile, which is more full, spontaneous, and let-it-all-hang-out in character, and is accompanied by wrinkles on the skin below the eyes.

It's great if you have perfect smile. You're blessed!

But there are many medical and dental conditions and situations that prevent many from having great smiles. The lips should have healthy skin on them and should not be chapped, or have pimples or rashes, and should not have blemishes at the commissures. Vitamin deficiencies, especially of the B family of vitamins can evidence themselves by sores or inflammation problems on the gum and tongue surfaces, and at the corners of the mouth where the lips meet. Too much gum around the teeth (gingival hyperplasia) may have several causes. Allergic reactions can temporarily make the face and oral tissues swell up. Facial injuries that leave scars, cleft lip, Bell’s Palsy, and chronic mouth breathing, especially in kids can, can lessen facial esthetics and suboptimize the smile zone.

Piercings of the lips and tongue let others know that you have a rebellious streak, that you are following one the fads of a certain group, or that you want to use the piercings to enhance stimulation during intimate moments. A Monroe or Madonna piercing may let others know about your personal proclivities. It's a little comical that some people want to "show their individualism" by following what others do!

Chipped, missing, or crooked teeth can be repaired, replaced, or straightened, respectively.

Share your nice smile with the world to make it a happier place!

May you have many…cheerfully luminous, transparently true, bursting with hope… smiles!

You Can't Judge A Smile By Its Cover!

Pop and rock stars, smooth crooners, psychologists, and cultural anthropologists all try to explain, analyze, and wax poetic about this beautiful and universal facial feature, but there are so many reasons why people show this most enigmatic of expressions. How and why the emotions express themselves on the face is a white-hot topic in behavioral research, sometimes leaving more questions than answers.  

In 1862, a famous French neurologist Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne, MD, who also advanced electro therapy, noted that there are many reasons why a person smiles, and that there are many ways to smile. But he concluded that there was only one type of smile that was definitely associated with positive emotions. He wrote, “The emotion of frank joy is expressed on the face by the combined contraction of the zygomatic major muscle, and the orbicularis oculi. The first obeys the will, but the second is only put into play by the sweet emotions of the soul.” When the zygomatic major muscles contract to lift the corners of the lips for the general smile, and the pars lateralis portion of the orbicularis oculi muscle contracts to squint the eyes, this is called the “Duchenne marker” and is associated with true happiness or enjoyment.

In 1976, Ekman and Friesen , of the UCSF Medical School, established a Facial Action Coding System (FACS) clinical training system that attempted to reliably measure at least 3,000 visible facial actions. Other coding systems have been made to equate facial responses to emotional states.

Two distinctly different neuronal pathways for facial movements have been discovered and validated, one for voluntary, consciously-attempted smile movements starting from the motor cortex of the brain, and another for involuntary, emotion-based smile movements, which involves subcortical nuclei.

But people around the world may smile for different motives, even when they are embarrassed or angry. This observation probably led Landis, et al in 1924 to call the smile "a misleading and meaningless indicator of any particular inner state or emotion."

It's probably true that no one else knows what truly goes on in another person’s mind.Babies who are taught to smile, giggle, and laugh really are excited and happy. And some youngsters and adults smile for sincere, genuine reasons. Others may smile just to be polite, according to the perceived needs of the particular social interaction. So a smile can be an action or reaction, with situation-specific and cultural-specific considerations involved.

People may smile to mask ulterior motives. Look up Scientific America’s Nov 12, 2012 article, “Psychology Uncovers Sex Appeal of Dark Personalities.” How they use techniques involving the friendly and guard-lowering aspects of the smile to draw people in and get them to connect with the “dark triad’ concept will open your eyes!

This brings us back to the message that the singer Jerry Butler so melodically warned, “You can’t see behind smiling faces!”

May you have many …3D printed, not faking me out, conditionally loved... smiles!