Can relate about the mirror thing turning into a comedy routine. I remember trying to practice my smile before my daughter’s wedding, thinking I’d finally get comfortable with my “new” teeth (dentures, in my case). Instead, I ended up pulling faces and then just giving up and laughing at myself. Guess it’s better than stressing out about it.
I used to think the mirror was pointless, but over time I started using it more like a check-in—just to see if I looked like myself or if something was off. It didn’t fix my nerves, but it made me realize nobody else is inspecting my smile as closely as I am. Funny how we’re our own worst critics.
And 100% agree about dentists—having someone who actually talks to you like a person makes all the difference. My last dentist would always say, “You’ve come a long way,” even if it was just a tiny improvement. That helped me focus less on what I didn’t like and more on just living with my smile.
I guess the trick for me has been not taking it so seriously. If I can laugh at myself in the mirror, maybe that’s progress in its own way.
The mirror thing is so real. I keep thinking if I practice enough, maybe I’ll “fix” my smile, but mostly I just end up making weird faces and feeling more awkward. The self-critique spiral is tough—like you said, nobody else is zooming in on our teeth the way we do. It helps to hear that even people with dentures or other changes go through this too. I’m still working on not overanalyzing every little thing, but laughing at myself definitely takes the edge off. Maybe that’s progress?
I totally get what you mean about the mirror thing. I’ve caught myself making faces in the bathroom, trying to “train” my smile, but honestly, it just makes me feel more self-conscious sometimes. It’s wild how much we zoom in on stuff no one else notices. My sister has a pretty big gap between her front teeth and she used to cover her mouth when she laughed, but now she just owns it and I swear people think it’s cute.
Have you ever tried focusing less on the actual look and more on how you feel when you smile? Like, thinking about something funny or happy instead of whether your teeth are showing too much? I read somewhere that genuine smiles—like the ones that crinkle your eyes—are what people remember anyway. Maybe the trick is to care less about “fixing” it and more about enjoying those moments. Laughing at yourself definitely sounds like progress to me... at least it takes some pressure off, right?
I used to obsess over my “gummy” smile in every single photo—zooming in like some kind of forensic investigator. Eventually, I realized nobody else cared, and honestly, the people who did notice just remembered that I was having a good time. I swear, the best smiles are the ones where you’re actually cracking up at something dumb. My dentist once told me, “If your teeth are healthy, show them off.” Not exactly poetic but it stuck with me.
“I used to obsess over my ‘gummy’ smile in every single photo—zooming in like some kind of forensic investigator.”
I relate to this way too much. I spent years analyzing every picture, picking apart the angle of my lips and how much gum showed. Got braces in my late 20s mostly because I thought it would “fix” my smile. Honestly, it changed a few things, but I still see the same basic smile in the mirror.
What’s weird is that after all the orthodontic work, I started paying more attention to how people’s faces light up when they’re genuinely laughing. The “imperfections” aren’t what stand out at all. I do still catch myself doing the closed-mouth thing sometimes out of habit, but if my teeth are healthy and clean, I try to just let it go.
One thing that helped me was seeing progress pics during treatment—noticing small improvements and focusing on health over appearance. If anything, the detail-oriented part of me appreciates how much work goes into a real smile, even if it’s not “perfect.”
