Did you know a HUGE 80% of women have admitted to feeling self-conscious about their smile?

If you answered in the affirmative for this, you’re clearly not alone! The majority of respondents said that they were most self-conscious when looking at photos of themselves, and it can be heightened if they have had any kind of reason. While self-consciousness doesn’t have to link to self-confidence, it can sometimes be connected with feelings of disappointment.

For some people, feeling self-conscious may be the result of realising that there was food in your teeth or braces when the photo was taken. While for others, their self-consciousness may be the result of teasing or bullying when younger. Whatever the reason feeling self-conscious because of something that might make you different, or stand out from the crowd can have lasting effects on us. After all, smiles say so many things without us ever speaking a word so we don’t want to feel awkward every time we smile.

You may already be undergoing orthodontic treatment, or perhaps you’ve been self-conscious about your smile all your life – whatever the situation, sometimes we just need a little help to remember that managing our self-consciousness and smile self-confidence is something we can get better at over time.  You might think that your smile is the most noticeable thing in photos right now, but over time you may grow to love it as your confidence also grows. Until then though, we’ve popped some tips together below to help you tackle your smile self-consciousness and build your smile self-confidence right now!

Brush away your smile self-consciousness!

Make brushing your teeth properly a regular habit. Not only will brushing your teeth regularly helps keep the build-up of tartar and discolouration at bay, but its always good oral health to brush after eating – especially if you have braces! It’s also particularly important if you’re a fan of black coffee or a 3pm cup of tea as the natural colours in these drinks will automatically discolour teeth. Including a midday or mid-afternoon sneaky tooth brushing after can help to minimise the discolouration that may take place if you were to constantly drink these types of dark coloured beverages all day.

Channel Zoolander and create your own Blue Steel move!

We know this sounds silly, but have you ever thought about practising your smile? While no one likes being called or thought of as vain if you spent a little time in the comfort of your own bathroom mirror learning and understanding how your facial muscles feel when you’re wearing your best smile you may find that you become more confident when the camera does come out for happy snaps.

Practise Smile Self Confidence with a little Mindfulness

While we all remember being told it’s what on the inside that counts, we also know that if you don’t feel confident, it’s hard to appear that way in public. While you can always speak with your Dentist or Orthodontist about your smile and what treatment options are available, it’s also important to remember that just because you don’t like your smile today, doesn’t mean that you won’t like it next months or next year. The best thing you can do is try to remember that this photo if just capturing a moment, and when you look back at them years down the track, you might surprise yourself to remember that it was the people pictured, and not your smile, that stirs your heart.

Learning how to be mindful, and “IN” a moment will mean that if anyone is capturing photos of you, they will be capturing you experiencing a moment in time which you will never be able to live again for the first time. As they say, if you want to stop time, take a photo. Why not ensure your photos show the moment in its entirety, instead of focusing on a smile element, like you not smiling exactly as you hoped?

Orthodontic Treatment doesn’t have to make you self conscious

We know this is a hard one – not only can it be uncomfortable to smile while braces are in place, but it can also feel awkward, especially if you’re the only one in your circle of friends who has braces. You can discuss your treatment options when the decision is made that braces would benefit your oral health.

There is a range of options available now that minimise the appearance of braces, so take your time to discover your options and you will find a treatment plan that is best suited to your personal needs. If you feel really self-conscious during treatment, it’s important to remember that your braces won’t be on forever. They are simply there to ensure you have the best oral health possible as you get older, and that sometimes includes a little compromise now for the future health of your teeth. Many of our ethos clients will tell you that although it seems like your braces are on FOREVER, it’s really such a short amount of time, and the results will have you smiling from ear to ear for a lifetime.

…and finally, Self Confidence comes from being YOU

Remember, self-confidence truly does come from within YOU and shouldn’t be controlled by those around you, although we know it’s impossible to block out everything we see on a daily basis. However, we encourage you – just like we’d encourage our own friends and family – to find hobbies you enjoy, friends who support you, and interests that allow you to develop new skills where you can grow your confidence as you get more experience.

Remember, liking who you are and what you do PLUS remembering the value you add to the world and the people around you can help build your Smile Self Confidence because you start to know that your smiles and those that are returned to you, are filled with genuine love, care, friendship and memories – and a smile that captured that moment, well, what could be more beautiful?