The state of your teeth may influence your success levels, claims new research from King’s College London.

The study showed that volunteers rated people with visible tooth decay or crowded teeth to be less clever, less popular and less well- adjusted.People with whitened teeth were rated as more attractive and successful.

Professor Tim Newton, who led the study, digitally amended smiles to show caries and asked volunteers to grade the images in terms of intelligence, attractiveness, popularity and career success.
He said: ‘Smiles with caries were downgraded, but volunteers didn’t identify the caries as the reason behind it. It was a subconscious decision.’

‘The difference in grading was more marked when the images were of women, suggesting that women are judged more strongly than men on their looks.

The study also showed that people’s expectations on what makes a beautiful smile have changed, to reflect the popular ‘Hollywood smile’.

Professor Newton said: ‘We are generally hit by whatever America does first and idealistic images mean that people today associate
perfectly straight, whitened teeth with beauty.

In addition, the research revealed that when people had been looking at images of attractive smiles, they were less likely to be satisfied with their own teeth.

Professor Newton said: ‘Idealistic images create a demand by making you feel uncomfortable with yourself. People feel less attractive after seeing them.’

It would be interesting, he added, to use a future study to discover how this subconscious smile bias influences our judgement.

‘If you had two identical CVs, but one person had a more attractive smile, would it affect who you gave the job to?’
Previous studies have shown than children perceived to be more attractive gain better marks and are given more attention in school.

Good-looking people are also less likely to be convicted in court and are half as likely to go to prison if convicted.

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