The Perfect Smile

"Prunes!" This declaration probably doesn't mean anything to you, but it's pretty well-known in the field of photography. Did you know that, long before they were saying 'cheese!' photographic subjects were told to 'say prunes!' It's true! Back in the 1800s (circa 1830 to as late as 1900), those having their portraits taken were told to say the word 'prunes' as a fairly standard practice in order to elicit the kind of 'smile' (or perhaps more accurate, un-smile) for their pictures. Have you seen any of those photos from the 1800s? People all look so grim, don't they?! You've probably wondered when seeing those old pictures why everyone was so unhappy back then. The truth is they weren't necessarily unhappy; that was just the norm, or perhaps even the vogue, when having your picture taken. The idea of an actual smile, let alone showing your pearly whites, was pretty much forbidden in photos. As a matter of fact, it was really only kids and drunks who were known to smile much in pictures. Those dark, grimacing photos didn't exactly

contain the kind of smiles any dentist would be proud to say belonged to their clients, eh?

Fast forward just a few decades. Somewhere back in the early-to-mid 1900s, when having their pictures taken, folks started saying 'cheese!' Nobody really knows where this began or who started it, but photographic subjects ever since have been encouraged to... smile! Thankfully, those old grim, non-smiling portraits of the past are no longer en vogue. Today, we like smiles; we like a lot of them; and we like them to be big! Just think about how the concept of the 'perfect smile' has changed over the centuries.

Years ago, the famous (or perhaps 'infamous') so-called smile of the Mona Lisa was considered beautiful. That closed-mouthed portrait, however brilliant it is artistically, isn't exactly the best concept of what we'd call the perfect smile these days, is it? No. Today, the idea of the perfect smile is quite different. In fact, one famous painting even has Jesus not just smiling, but with a wide open mouth laughing. Now, that's a much better picture than a grimacing face, isn't it?

And what about another famous art work, this one painted in 1930 by artist Grant Wood... American Gothic? It's the depiction of two American farmers, a man holding a pitchfork standing next to a woman. The two stand in front of their quaint house... and their smiles? Well, they're non-existent. So were they happy? No one, except the couple and perhaps even the artist, knows for sure. But why would a couple stand to have their portrait painted without smiling? Would you? The fact remains that, way back when, for many folks having their pictures taken or the portraits painted, the perfect smile still involved a closed mouth that showed no teeth. But why would all these people in all those old photos, pictures, and portraits want to keep their mouths closed, even when they were 'smiling'? Perhaps it was because their teeth were nothing to smile about.

Thank goodness today we see the perfect smile as something much different. In fact, for the past several decades, the picture of the perfect smile has pretty much remained the same. It's a picture of someone who's got their mouth wide open; has beautiful, pearly white teeth; seems as happy as they can be... and it shows. Think about some of the most infamous smiles of the past 30 or 40 years. Some of the most famous smiles of the 1970s and 1980s belonged to folks who had gorgeous white teeth that showed the vibrancy of their lives and the happiness they were feeling at the time. For instance, back in the 1970s, some of the

most famous smiles came from singers Donny and Marie Osmond et all. Any portrait of the Osmond Family showed some of the most perfect smiles ever. Another famous smile of the recent past was the iconic photo of actress Farrah Fawcett. Now that was a smile! Today, actress Julia Roberts has one of the most famous and infectious smiles around. With beautiful white teeth and an ear-to-ear beam that goes on for days, it's pretty hard to look at one of her smiling photos without smiling yourself.

Of course, even in just the past few decades smiles themselves have changed. Take for instance the smiley face. Back in the 1970s when this iconic character was first introduced, the smiley face had a great grin... with a closed mouth. Move ahead a few decades, and today's smiley face often has a mouth wide open and shows lots of attractive white teeth! Why? Because the idea of the perfect smile has changed, even from just a couple decades ago. These days, if you've got those beautiful, vibrant pearly whites, you're expected to show them off... and you want to! The perfect smile, as we think of it today, is about inner happiness and sparkling teeth, and that confidence to show them off.

Today, the image of the perfect smile is nothing like it was all those years ago. In fact, giant smiles that show lots of beautiful teeth are a sign that life is good and there's no reason to grimace. So what about that perfect smile? When we look at pictures of people who

are supposed to be happy, if they're not showing their teeth in those smiles, there's always a bit of wonder about why. Oftentimes, if we see photos of folks who are supposed to be happy but their pictures show close-mouthed, tight-lipped smiles, we can't help but ask, "Why aren't you smiling?" Yes, today, the concept of the 'perfect smile' is about a happy life that shows on the outside... with a wide open grin that displays beautiful white, healthy, vibrant teeth... the kind a top dentist can be proud to say they contributed to!