This weekend, I learned from an Instagram post that there is a procedure to correct something known as a “gummy smile”.
And honestly, I’m pretty annoyed about this.
I mean, I thought hip dips were a dumb thing that someone made up for women to worry about.
(I’ve got hip dips, and I never, ever thought they were anything wrong to have. I didn’t even notice them!)
Then I was annoyed when I saw a model with my body type in the CoolSculpting advertisement with the “Never fear a mirror!” promise, as though it’s a given that my waist should be making me terrified of mirrors.
And when I read about a “procedure to correct” a gummy smile, as if it were some kind of birth defect, I definitely felt irritated.
In case you haven’t noticed, I have a smile that looks a lot like some of the Before photos in a Google image search.
And so do most of my kids.
The really weird thing is that the physical feature I have been most complimented on my entire life is…my smile.
Hmmm.
I am not annoyed for my own sake; I think my smile is great as-is, and I am not personally interested in getting $350 Botox shots every 3-4 months to freeze my upper lip muscles.
And I am spending no time at all stressing about my hip dips or my waist that could apparently use some CoolSculpting.
But I am frustrated for the sake of people who are really vulnerable to these sorts of ideas, such as teenage girls.
Most young teenage girls are often pretty lacking in the self-confidence department, especially when it comes to body image, and my goodness, I just hate that our culture is constantly throwing out, “You’re not good enough the way you are.” messages.
Of course, as a mom of teenage girls, I try to contradict this message both with my words and my own attitudes, but it’s an uphill battle in this culture.
So, I am annoyed.
What are you currently annoyed about?
(Or if you want to rant about the gummy smile procedure with me, I’m all ears. Ha.)
I am annoyed that since my dr. changed my thryroid medicine from 75 mcg every day to 50mcg one day and 75mcg the next (alternating days) I have to pay almost double the co-pays. It was $25.00 per month for 30 days of 75 mcg and now it is $20.55 for 15 days of 75 mcg and $20.55 for 15 days of 50 mcg. What a racket. Insurance will only cover 30 days at a time so it’s not like I can order a bottle of 30 of each dose and have it last two months. I talked to the pharmacist and she said the doctor may be able to write the RX differently, but otherwise, there was nothing she could do. I also can’t switch to the generic because I have some odd allergy to an additive in it. Uggh. Also, I am now annoyed by the gummy smile garbage. Yup, I have one too. Nope, it doesn’t bother me either. What’s next? Why can’t we embrace all the glorious differences that exist in the world?
Gummy smilers, unite! 🙂
I’m so sorry about the frustrations with your RX. Ugh.
Gums tend to recede with age. So if you have your gums “corrected” when you’re young, you might end up with all tooth/no gum when you’re old.
That is a very good point!
Luckily, I like my smile as-is, so I’m not even tempted.
I’m annoyed that women are still being sold haircolor as though they are fixing something broken about themselves. Haircolor is stinky, expensive, damaging, and fraudalent. My silver hair is shiny and pretty and me. You never notice men coloring their hair, and if you did, it would be weird. I can’t wait for the day that its weird for women, too.
Usually I cut my husband’s thick, curly hair but about once a year we have a professional do it so that I can have a sort of template to follow for another year. Anyway, last time it happened the stylist asked my husband if he ever considered dying his pure silver hair so he would look younger. It would cost “only” $80! “Hmm,” said my husband. “Does that include my chest and pubic hair, too?” That was the start of a lot of stammering and the end of the attempt at selling my husband another service.
Haha, oh dear, that must have been uncomfortable!
Oh my! Too funny!!!
Men get a little bit of the hair dying sales pitch (e.g. “No play for Mr. Grey”) but the hair treatments we’re sold on are about hair loss, not loss of color. Despite what Captain Picard, Bruce Willis and Stone Cold Steve Austin may have you think, it’s a devastating experience for most men, particularly for those of us who went through it before the age of 21.
Going grey can be dyed easily enough but for men’s hair loss there’s very little options outside of hair transplants and rogaine.
Ah yes, that’s a good point! Men are marketed a lot of crappy but expensive products that promise to prevent hair loss, and as I understand it, most don’t work.
Hair color is expensive, but if done correctly the other three adjectives are not necessarily true. My hair is very thin an unmanageable and the hair color gives it a sort of controlled damage so I can walk out the door looking like I have some hair. Nothing is broken with me……..just my hair!!! 😊 Plenty of men color their hair, they just don’t talk about it.
I think I don’t want to get started on this prompt today . . .:-)
Uh-oh, one of those days, ey?
I think you have a beautiful smile. I don’t like my own, really. It’s sort of as if it’s not gummy enough! I think my dentist said my lips are too small or something. If I try to make a big smile, like for a photo, it looks more like a weird grimace. I smile in pictures mostly with my mouth closed. But I can talk, eat, breath, etc. so not interested in procedures. I had a co-worker who did have such a gummy smile that it was a little, uh, remarkable. But clean teeth and a cheerful attitude count for way more than anything else. A hair stylist told me my forehead is too short! Never knew that and now sometimes obsess just a little. I know several ladies who have receding hairlines or big/long foreheads. And I always thought my nose was awful big when I was a kid, but grew into it. It’s just average. Funny what a difference a millimeter or two, and an attitude of dissatisfaction can make to different people.
I must have gotten some of the extra lip you needed! I’d share if I could. Ha.
Who decides what’s too short or too long for a forehead? Geez.
My 6yo daughter has a gummy smile. It’s enough that I’ve noticed and have hoped it’s something that she never gets bothered by. (This week she had a big green bruise in the middle of her forehead and she didn’t like being “different from everyone else”… in kindergarten. Sigh.) Her smile in her school picture this year isn’t gummy, but I can also tell that’s it’s not a real, full-on smile. I love the happy gummy ones. 🙂
It is SO DUMB the things that people decide we should all be worrying about. Augh.
And yes, happy gummy smiles are fantastic. 😉
That’s funny because I’ve actually wondered if there’s something wrong with me because my smile isn’t “gummy.” I feel like I see more “gummy” smiles that “non-gummy” smiles. I think whatever you are is just right.
That’s funny! I’m sure there’s someone out there who is willing to “correct” your non-gummy smile. 😉
But yes, gummy smiles are good and non-gummy smiles are also good. Smiles are ALL good.