Studies show that poor oral health has been linked to a number of health conditions including cancer of the bowel, breast, mouth and pancreas, dementia, diabetes, endocarditis, erectile dysfunction, pneumonia, psoriasis and stroke, as well as pregnancy complications. How healthy your mouth is, is directly related to your overall general health. So there’s no doubt your smile plays a large part in the ‘first impressions’ window of opportunity and, whatever the occasion, you should make sure yours speaks volumes about you, your outlook – and your health. Much further down the list were attributes such as hair colour, shoes and accents. Respondents also rated people less favourably if they had crooked, stained or missing teeth. Importantly these results are similar across demographics since 52% of adults older than 50 and 45% of the 18-49 respondents were most likely to remember an attractive smile after they’re introduced to someone for the first time. Clothing was further down the list with 9%. The spoken word was most memorable to only 25% of adult respondents. These attributes certainly come into play in a 21st-century world where many of us now ‘meet’ online – whether via photos posted on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn or when using video chat apps such as Skype.Īccording to a survey conducted by Kelton Global on behalf of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (2013) 48% of adults think an attractive smile is most memorable in forming first impressions. Certain physical features universally mean certain things – large eyes are associated with attractiveness, masculine facial features with social dominance and a big smile with approachability. They demonstrated that most people will draw conclusions about personality type from the first simple ‘hello’, basing their assessment on the speech tones and modulation.įace-to-face we are remarkably consistent about what we consider when forming an opinion of others – and facial features are key. Psychologists from the Universities of Glasgow, Scotland and Princeton, US, went a step further.
What are the factors taken into account in those first few seconds?
Most of us make our initial assessment of others in the first 5 to 6 seconds to form first impression. Whether it’s a social gathering, a first date or a job interview, it’s human nature to make snap judgments when we first meet people.
Research confirms what we all instinctively know – first impressions count.