If you’ve ever looked at a portrait painting from the Baroque or Renaissance period, chances are you didn’t see any teeth. You’d be hard pressed to find a model that smiled with their teeth. It just wasn’t done. Why wasn’t it done? Because most people lost their teeth in adulthood and many never had a pleasing smile, to begin with.

In our modern day world, having an attractive smile is viewed as something that is very important. The Mona Liza look went out a long time ago. According to an AACD survey, almost every adult (99.7%) felt that it is socially important to have and maintain a healthy smile. Three out of four adults surveyed believe that a healthy smile is connected to the success of their careers, and 96% of people surveyed believe that a quality smile makes a person more attractive to the opposite sex. Have we come a long way, or what?

Now, obviously, people’s teeth didn’t just grow in better over the centuries. So, these lovely smiles have to come from someplace. So, the next time you see someone of the opposite sex whom you want to impress or if you’ve got a dream job you want to score, it might be time to realize you need a dentist.

General dental care can go a long way toward keeping your natural smile in great shape. But, if you need something more to get you feeling confident about your smile, you might want to pay a visit to a cosmetic dentist. Cosmetic dentistry goes beyond regular upkeep of your teeth and gums and gives you the kind of smile you’ve always dreamed about having. You’ll be swelling with confidence when your cosmetic dentist completes work on your choppers, turning your hundred-watt smile into a million-watt social magnet.

Of course, the dentist can only set you on your way to a great, long-lasting smile. In the end, you have to maintain it. Luckily, there are hundreds of different products available to keep our mouths healthy and happy. In America, we spend over $1.4 billion annually on teeth whitening products alone. We brush, we floss, we gargle, and we endure braces in order to put our best teeth forward. But sometimes all of that isn’t enough. Sometimes we need to look to the experts to give us the smile we desire. The smile that can put us over the top at work or score that first day with the guy in the next cubicle.

A cosmetic dentist might just be the one you are looking for when it comes to putting your teeth in order, getting them to behave the way you want them to. A cosmetic dentist can give you all the confidence a healthy smile can provide. After all, your smile is the one thing that stays the most attractive as you age. Make sure you take care of it.