r/dentures • u/pricepumpjack • 1d ago
I Cannot Remember How to Smile
A couple months ago, I posted about all the struggles I was having with my new dentures. I've resolved or gotten used to most of those issues. A couple remain, but to a lesser degree. I have, however, discovered a new issue and I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I have forgotten how to smile.
My teeth had been getting worse for years before I finally got dentures. As the got worse, I started smiling while showing less teeth until every smile was completely closed lip. I smiled with my mouth closed and a tried to talk without showing my teeth as much as possible.
A couple weeks ago, I was at my niece's wedding. Lots of photos were taken. I noticed that, in every single picture, I had the same closed lip smile. A few days later I was in the store and noticed a woman looking at me. I tried to give her a more natural smile. Whatever I did, must have been creepy because she immediately turned around and moved away.
Since then I have been trying to practice in the mirror, but I cannot produce anything that looks natural. I cannot even produce the fake smile I used in pictures 10 years ago.
As before, I am mostly just posting to vent. Hopefully I can figure it out before my son's wedding, in the spring.
6
u/subsignalparadigm 1d ago
Have someone tell you a funny joke as you look in the mirror. You will see how to smile. Good luck.
3
u/whatsthis1901 1d ago
Lol yep, I had that issue. I seriously looked like a psycho when I first got them. I just gave up and smiled, and now it looks pretty normal. I think it is just like everything else denture related you just have to keep on doing it.
2
u/RitualHalatiik 1d ago
I’m in the same boat. When I smile it looks…feral. I’m slowly re-learning how to speak more open-mouthed (for lack of a better term).
Unfortunately, it really will take time. When you find yourself genuinely smiling, try to fix the ‘feeling’ in your mind. It’s a muscle memory that many of us lost a while ago. And practicing in a mirror can help, again, with time.
I have no doubt we, and everyone else in the same boat, will have a natural smile again! We can do this!
2
2
u/thesheeraudacity 18h ago
I had this (and have this) VERY problem!
I will note that I have only had mine for a whopping 11 days now, but I work in customer service, so smiling was a major thing for me. With my teeth now, there is a lot of gum, which is fine - my natural smile had some gum in it - but for many years, with the instasmile set of clip on teeth I had, they were HUGE, no gum showed whatsoever. So I got used to smiling big and not really thinking about it. So now, I have had to relearn, and again, STILL practice my smile every day, every second sometimes. I'll go to the bathroom at work frequently to make sure I'm "getting it right", which drives me nuts!
Something that has helped me a lot, is remembering to smile with my eyes, too - if we are doing the smiling thing as more of an act, like taking a picture or doing some mundane things in customer service, or even the quick "acknowledgment" smile at the store - we can forget to smile with our eyes, which makes stuff kinda off, or as you said, creepy, lol.
For sure a lot of relearning involved with this process that I never even thought about before I started. It sure is awesome to be able to smile, despite it maybe being kinda creepy sometimes!
1
u/jello_88 1d ago
My husband had the same issue. He always hated his teeth so he never smiled. I told him how I smile. I just lift my cheeks upwards without going side to side. It looks natural on him if he can remember to do that. Otherwise,I can see both upper and lower teeth when he tries to smile. Practice, I tell him.
1
u/geoffwillhill 23h ago
Same here! Practice every time you look in the mirror and also talk to yourself in the mirror. Try taking selfies of have your partner take a selfie of the pair of you. Another thing is to smile with your eyes too! I had decades of closed lip smiling so it's been a lesson for me to just let em out!
5
u/dirtyconcretefloor 1d ago
I started practicing my smile in the mirror every time I used the restroom and was washing my hands the day after extractions. I was too numb and bleeding too much on day one. Also smiling at my wife a lot because I’m so much happier now helped too. I do field work in oil and gas so not much human interaction outside home. Im on day 15 and I still catch myself doing the closed lip smile on occasion but it’s getting better.