Tricks for feeling good about a “toothy” smile?

Pro tip: I use my laptop webcam sometimes and weirdly, it’s way more forgiving than my phone. No clue why.

That’s actually a thing—phone cameras usually have wider lenses and more aggressive image processing, which can distort features, especially up close. Laptop cams tend to be lower-res and have less distortion, so your face looks more natural. If you want to stick with your phone, try using the rear camera (not the selfie one) and set it a bit farther away. It’s less convenient, but the proportions are way better. Lighting helps too—side lighting softens everything a bit.

I totally get the struggle with feeling self-conscious about a toothy smile on camera. I’ve noticed my teeth look way more prominent in phone selfies—almost cartoonish sometimes. One thing that helped me is just playing around with angles and lighting, like you mentioned. Also, after I started focusing more on keeping my teeth healthy (lots of water, regular brushing), I felt better showing them off, even if the camera exaggerates things a bit. Honestly, sometimes it’s just about getting used to seeing your own smile from those weird perspectives... it grows on you eventually.

Does anyone else feel like their smile looks totally different in the bathroom mirror versus a selfie? I keep wondering if it’s just the camera or if my teeth really are that... obvious. Is there a trick for not overthinking it? Sometimes I catch myself just hiding my teeth altogether, but then that feels weird too.

I get this all the time, honestly. In my bathroom mirror, I always feel like my smile looks softer, but the second I see a photo—especially with flash—my teeth seem to jump out way more than I expect. After getting a partial denture last year, I was hyper-aware of every angle. Funny thing is, when I asked my daughter about it, she said she didn’t notice anything odd at all. Sometimes the camera just exaggerates things... or maybe we just see ourselves differently than others do. If I overthink it, I end up looking stiff in pictures, so now I just try to focus on relaxing my jaw and not worrying about how “toothy” it looks. Easier said than done some days, though.

- Totally get the “camera exaggerates things” bit. It’s wild how a flash can turn a regular smile into a toothpaste ad.
- I’ve found that most people don’t notice what we obsess over. Like you said, your daughter didn’t see anything odd.
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If I overthink it, I end up looking stiff in pictures