Smile muscle exercises

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#1 Post by **John37** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 3:34 am

It occurred to me that since I used to smile less when my teeth were crooked, that maybe the muscles that make my mouth smile are weak from not using them enough. And if they are weak, then I won't smile as much and as easily as I should now that my teeth are straighter. I thought maybe if I practiced smiling more or doing some exercises to work those smile muscles that I would have the strength to smile more. Is this a crazy idea or what?

I've seen some web pages talking about facial exercises to help with smiling and toning up the facial muscles, and they say it can help make the lips look fuller and prevent that sunken cheeks look. And in the threads about the sunken face after braces or extractions, maybe part of the effect is from not smiling and the facial muscles losing their tone.

Anyone here do facial or smiling exercises or hear of this?

#2 Post by **TheNewEmperor** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:56 pm

This whole 'sunken' issue seems to be linked to people who have teeth extracted and/or natural ageing. You can build up strength in your face muscles by normal eating etc but certainly they are not going to be built up a la a bicep to give you a 'full' look to your face.

The only way to give a 'fuller' appearance to the face is by putting on weight (which you can't spot increase...so your butt is likely to grow too) and doing something to the bone structure underneath. For instance...I have an underbite and I've found that the braces 'plump' my mouth so it looks normal...hopefully the teeth will shift so that this effect will be permanent although I expect a degree of 'deflation' once the braces come off.

Ageing in the face is all about the skin continuing to grow (it's true! our skin keeps growing all our life!) while we loose puppy fat off our face and collagen production goes into decline (so the skin doesn't have that wonderful elacsticity).

One of my HUGE bugbears is 'face yoga' which the women's mags regularly tout for anti-aging. it is a load of rubbish...think about it, manipulating your face is going to increase wrinkles...certainly not prevent them.

#3 Post by **purpleteeth** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:01 am

I was always a smiler before braces, as the cosmetic issue of my teeth was minimal - my braces are for my painful jaw stuff...

Anyhow, I notice I practice my smile a lot more in braces than I ever did before! I love to smile now and it has stretched out because of the physical brackets, elastics, and just the work done on my teeth.

Right now, I have elastics up front and my smile looks funny again -- but it doesn't seem to stop me... I love smiling and I am much more confident with my smile now than I ever was before without the braces. My teeth look great and my smile is fuller, so I just show off my investment

#4 Post by **John37** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:52 pm

TheNewEmperor wrote:Ageing in the face is all about the skin continuing to grow (it's true! our skin keeps growing all our life!) while we loose puppy fat off our face and collagen production goes into decline (so the skin doesn't have that wonderful elacsticity).

One of my HUGE bugbears is 'face yoga' which the women's mags regularly tout for anti-aging. it is a load of rubbish...think about it, manipulating your face is going to increase wrinkles...certainly not prevent them.

I don't entirely agree. The skin on the entire body will sag as we get older, but good toned muscle underneath can prevent that at least a little. Same thing with the face. Having good muscle tone will prevent some sagging. Look at Jack Lalanne in his 90's and his face looks pretty tight still, not like he's 30, but still better than most 90 year olds. I saw a video of him on youtube doing face exercises talking about how many muscles we have in our faces. So I guess he's one believer.

#5 Post by **TheNewEmperor** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:40 am

we'll have to agree to disagree.

paula begoun sets out the reasoning much better than I can at: http://www.cosmeticscop.com/learn/art.asp?ID=260

#6 Post by **John37** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:32 pm

TheNewEmperor wrote:we'll have to agree to disagree.

paula begoun sets out the reasoning much better than I can at: http://www.cosmeticscop.com/learn/art.asp?ID=260

Well, she says there is no research that show these stretches or exercises work, but there probably isn't much research in this area period. I agree that stretching the skin far may not be good. And my main point wasn't about reshaping the face by doing exercises.

My main thing was that when I try to smile for more than 10 seconds my face gets tired and I want to stop smiling. It's kind of like when your legs get tired you want to sit down. I was wondering if doing exercises would increase my face muscle endurance to make it easier to smile more often and longer. I sometimes feel to tired to smile.

#7 Post by **chef** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:34 am

The more you smile, the more you exercise your smile. It's that simple.

#8 Post by **crystalct1** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:45 pm

I smile all the time now that I have my braces. I used to smile, but differently. Whenever I would smile big, it seemed to accentuate my gaps in my top teeth and hated the way my top gums looked so I would smile in a way that hid the top half of my top teeth and showed most of my bottom teeth, since they were better looking.

Now, I smile real big! I am so proud of my braces. Just wait until they come off.

#9 Post by **John37** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 10:07 pm

crystalct1 wrote:I smile all the time now that I have my braces. I used to smile, but differently. Whenever I would smile big, it seemed to accentuate my gaps in my top teeth and hated the way my top gums looked so I would smile in a way that hid the top half of my top teeth and showed most of my bottom teeth, since they were better looking.

Now, I smile real big! I am so proud of my braces. Just wait until they come off.

That's awesome. I think I did the same thing.

I can't keep my smile for more than about 30 seconds without my facial muscles getting tired. And when I tried that they were sore the next day. So I will keep doing a few exercises (when I remember to) and see if it helps me smile more and smile the correct way.

#10 Post by **Lola** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:25 pm

REcently I think my smile is worse

Obviously my teeth are straighter after 6 months in braces, but my mouth only stretches outwards not up at the corners when I smile. It could be the braces, hopefully not the extractions that cause this- that ok since they'll come off!!
I was practicing smiling to see what I'd look like afterwards and even my partner found my mouth shape odd, so I know its not in my head. I remain optimistic though- there's still a lot of work to go yet!!!

#11 Post by **artroxu** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:00 am

I was always a grinner before I had braces. The only time I deliberately didn't show teeth was in pictures. So I guess my face is used to working those muscles so they don't get tired. I don't know for sure if that's the reason. I'm not at all an expert. *shrugs* I don't smile any less now that I have braces. If anything the brackets force me to smile more.

#12 Post by **purpleteeth** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:09 pm

I smile differently now that I have braces. I have to physically move my mouth more than I did before for normal talking, chewing, and smiling. I noticed a change after my adjustment this week... I have to smile differently in order to my lips around my brackets and new chains.