A big, beautiful smile can take you far in your day-to-day activities and can even change your life. You can flash a smile and change the entire mood of a room. A big confident smile can help you land that dream job. A smile from you can give your child confidence and let him know he’s loved. And so much more — a smile is powerful, unique and priceless.

You can’t put a price tag on the power of a smile, but if your smile isn’t what it should be, you can invest in Invisalign, veneers, whitening treatments and other procedures to make it perfect. A beautiful smile isn’t always cheap — you can easily spend anywhere between $1,000 to $40,000 on perfecting your teeth! But it might be worth it, if doing so makes you feel confident enough to share your smile more often. Here’s why:

• People who smile are more productive. A 2010 study by a professor of economics at Warwick Business School in England found that employees who smile more often are significantly more productive. Try it today!
• Smiling improves your health. Studies show that when people smile, endorphins are released, making them feel happier and less stressed. The more you smile, the more relaxed you get. Surprisingly, the brain can’t tell the difference between a real and a fake smile, so if you feel like faking it, you’ll still get the benefits!
• Smiles can ease pain. Endorphins also act as natural pain killers. The added oxygen from smiling and laughing benefits your body while improving your immune system. In fact, smiling releases more white blood cells, which protect your body against infectious diseases. So ditch the sanitizer and smile more!
• Smiling makes you more creative. A 2013 study from the University of California, San Francisco, found that men who were happier had a more comprehensive approach to problems, improving their ability to think of more solutions than their peers who were more negative-minded. The researchers attributed this finding to the release of dopamine triggered by happiness because the neurotransmitter is involved in learning, processing and decision-making.

Your smile is your most prized possession and can add so much value to your life! But one of the quickest ways to ruin it is by grinding your teeth. If you suspect you have bruxism, or are grinding your teeth at night, please visit your dentist. When you grind your teeth regularly and aggressively for a long period of time, your smile could end up resembling a camel’s grill, with short stumps where teeth used to be. One way to protect your teeth is to wear a dental guard at night. Visit www.sleepright.com to learn about all the convenient, effective dental guard options so you can protect that beautiful smile that contributes so much to your life!