With the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in full swing, we thought it fitting within the social dentistry sphere to showcase some Olympic sized smiles.
Whether you’re a fan of Women’s Ice Hockey, Curling, or the Nordic Combined, the way in which the media is capturing the Sochi Olympics athlete’s smiles gives us all the opportunity to smile along with our favorites.
Because we all know smiles are contagious!
And who can’t help but smile while watching Curling?
Which Is Your Favorite Olympic Sochi Smile?
The amount and type of emotion a smile communicates is immediately recognizable, if not the country of origin of the particular athlete donning the actual Olympic smile…In the 1960s and ’70s, psychologists Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen showed that people all over the world use the same facial expressions to convey basic emotions.
Happiness, for instance, was nearly always associated with mouth turned up at the corners. You can read more about that slice of social dentistry here.
Some Olympic smiles transmit the relief and accomplishment of competing – and winning – at the highest levels.
Sage Kotsenburg – US Snowboarding
Others tell the years of training, sacrifice, and grit-your-teeth effort that now afford the warm glow of 4x Olympic medal glory…
Julia Mancuso – US Alpine Skiing
…or first time in 62 years podium posturing – which 5 out of 5 dentists do not recommend BTW…
US Bobsled Team – Bronze Medal Bite
More of the same gilded gaggle communicate all of the teamwork and passion it took to produce that gold medal winning smile.
Meryl Davis & Charlie White – US Ice Dancing
Lots of Sochi smiles are the results of the pure heart-racing enjoyment that winning the first gold medal for your country at the Olympics must provide!
Lizzy Yarnold – GB Skeleton
While others convey the dream-come-true pride and confidence of competing in the Olympic Games…and possibly medals to come.
Gracie Gold – US Figure Skating
And maybe not every dazzling Sochi smile is the result of an individual gold, silver, or bronze – however deserved it may be, sometimes it just feels good to cheer on a teammate and share a collective Olympic smile too!
Ashley Wagner – US Figure Skating
Whether its tear-jerking nothing left to give spirit of the Games podium topping triumphant subtlety…
Bodie Miller – US Alpine Skiing
…a just very happy to be here velcome to my country would you like some voodka gap-toothed grin…
Alex Ovechkin – Team Russia Hockey (he’s now smiling anymore…on the way to Siberia…)
…or simply just a happy-go-lucky (read: crazy) Skeleton slider’s sparkle…
Shelley Rudman – GB Skeleton
…whichever Sochi smile is your favorite, one thing is certain…the Olympics even make this dude crack a smile!
Vladimir Putin – Russian President (you think we’re gonna publish something bad about the former head of the KGB?)
Vote for your favorite and share some others we may have missed – on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
Be on the lookout for Part Deux of our #SocialDentistry series…and follow the hashtags on your favorite social media. With a few days of Olympic competition remaining, there’s more #SochiSmiles to come!
Image Credits: Probably AP & Getty Images on most, but this is where we found ’em.
Curling – The Washington Post
Sage Kotsenburg – CBS St. Louis
Julia Mancuso – NY Post
Meryl Davis & Charlie White – The Daily Mail Online
Lizzy Yarnold – The Telegraph
Gracie Gold – Daily Herald
Ashley Wagner – The Daily Mail Online
Bodie Miller – Gazette.com
Shelley Rudman – The Daily Mail Online
Alex Ovechkin – Centre Daily Times – JULIE JACOBSON — AP Photo
Vladimir Putin – CTVNews
