Saving face with Shields Orthodontics

Our team at Shields Orthodontics has some great news to report on this Good Friday! People with big, happy smiles may actually out-live those who don’t! That, according to a recent study conducted at Wayne State University in Michigan.

You see, Dr. Shields knew that positive emotion has been linked to both physical and mental health. But researchers at the university did something interesting: they used information from the Baseball Register to look at smiles of 230 players who began their baseball careers prior to 1950 and studied their smile intensity (wide smile, no smile or partial smile). The researchers then took into account other factors associated with life longevity, such as body mass index, career length and even college attendance.

The results? Researchers found that players who weren't smiling died at the average age of 72.9 years. Players with partial smiles lived to be at least 75. Those with big, wide smiles, however, lived on average to be 79.9 years old!

Our take-away from the new study? Smile now, smile often and you might just live longer! Have you perfected your smile by visiting Shields Orthodontics lately? If not, give us a call and have a great weekend!