LONDON, June 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
At 42 business woman Jill Boyce had believed that braces were only for teenagers; she was under the impression that her age meant she had missed her chance to have the straight teeth she secretly craved, and more importantly felt that a mouthful of metal would be very awkward for her with business associates and colleagues acutely aware she was undergoing orthodontic treatment. However, a new dentist made her aware of the Invisalign system - which because it is virtually invisible, is an extremely discreet way to straighten teeth.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150603/748103 )
Akin to contact lenses compared with glasses
Invisalign is a contemporary tooth straightening system which works by repositioning teeth discreetly, little by little, using a series of removable 'aligners' which are made from clear plastic, so no one can see them - akin to contact lenses compared with glasses. These are custom made to move each individual's teeth and are changed in two-weekly increments to encourage them to move towards their revised position
Telling only family and a couple of close friends, Jill was able to continue with her career and personal life as normal, and importantly without colleagues detecting that she was having treatment! Apart from regular visits to the practice as the Invisalign aligners gradually and precisely moved her teeth towards their pre-determined position, the only other noticeable change to her lifestyle was her reduced snacking, as aligners must be removed for eating (which Jill maintains was a real advantage for her!). Interestingly, those who had not been informed of Jill's dental journey remained unaware throughout the months of her treatment.
As Jill neared the end of her treatment she became increasingly aware of how her confidence had grown as a result of her improving smile and how much more relaxed she was about showing her teeth. This encouraged her to rise to new challenges which previously she would have shied away from. The greatest of these came in the form of a one hour video recorded presentation Jill was asked to deliver to 300 colleagues. Previously, she would not have been comfortable in front of an audience for fear that people would see her misaligned teeth, but knowing she was 99 percent complete with her treatment gave Jill the added confidence she needed. Where previously she would have been distracted by a camera focussing on her misaligned teeth, she was now able to concentrate on delivering a polished presentation without worrying about her appearance - or anyone knowing she was wearing her Invisalign aligners!
"I only wish I had gone ahead and had Invisalign earlier in my life. I notice now when looking back over old photographs how I covered my teeth when I smiled. People have commented how I smile so much more now! Invisalign has truly changed my life and I am passionate that people know it is for everyone, age is not a reason not to have straight teeth!"
For more information about how Invisalign could help with your career prospects please visit http://www.invisalign.co.uk
A series of studies relating to the career benefits of improving one's appearance
1. Tall people get paid more money: A 2004 study by Timothy Judge at the University of Florida found that for every inch of height, a tall worker can expect to earn an extra $789 per year. That means two equally skilled co-workers would have a pay differential of nearly $5,000 per year, simply because of a 6-inch height differential, according to the study.
2. Fat people get paid less: Obese workers (those who have a Body Mass Index of more than 30) are paid less than normal-weight co-workers at a rate of $8,666 a year for obese women, and $4,772 a year for obese men, according to a George Washington University study that cited data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in 2004. And other studies indicate obese women are even more likely to be discriminated against when it comes to pay, hiring and raises.
3. Blondes get paid more: A 2010 study from the Queensland University of Technology studied 13,000 Caucasian women and found blondes earn greater than seven percent more than female employees with any other hair color. The study said the pay bump is equivalent to the boost an employee would generally see from one entire year of additional education.
4. Workers who work-out get paid more: According to a study in the Journal of Labor Research, workers who exercise regularly earn nine percent more on average than employees who don't work out. The study from Cleveland State University claims people who exercise three or more times a week earn an average of $80 a week more than their slothful coworkers.
5. Women who wear make-up make more: Not only do people judge beauty based on how much makeup a woman is wearing, make-up adorned women also rank higher in competence and trustworthiness, according to a study funded by Procter & Gamble, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston University, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. A study in the American Economic Review said women who wear make-up can earn more than 30 percent more in pay than non make-up wearing workers.
6. Handsome people are paid handsomely: A Yale University study from Daniel Hamermesh finds employers pay a beauty premium to attractive employees. The beautiful workers earn an average of roughly five percent more, while unattractive employees can miss out on up to almost nine percent, according to the study.
7. If you're too pretty, it's a pity: Generally speaking, attractive people make out when it comes to salary and hiring. But what about the exceedingly attractive among us? If you're an attractive man, don't sweat it because you always enjoy an advantage, according to a 2010 study that appeared in the Journal of Social Psychology. However, women rated as very attractive face discrimination when applying for "masculine" jobs.
- 20 April 2013, Forbes Magazine
8. Beauty pays: Research for the 2011 book Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful, written by Daniel Hamermesh, an economist at the University of Texas in Austin, revealed that 'beautiful' people are also hired sooner, get promotions more quickly, are higher-ranking in their companies (a study found the CEOs of larger and more successful companies are rated as being more physically attractive than the CEOs of smaller companies), and get all kinds of extra benefits and perks. (Hamermesh cites another study which showed that above-average-looking people who apply for loans are more likely to obtain them.)
9. Beauty parade: A new study from Harvard academics found that investors were more likely to put money into a business if the man pitching to them was 'good-looking'. They corralled 60 experienced and wealthy backers to view video recordings of 90 randomly-selected verbal pitches made by entrepreneurs from various sectors at three entrepreneurial 'contests' in the US. Investors had to rate the looks of the entrepreneurs and comment on the pitch. The 'good-looking' guys were 36 more likely to be successful with those pitches than those viewed as unattractive. (It's not uncommon to hear pitches like this referred to as 'a beauty parade').
-14 March 2014, Daily Telegraph
10. Able-looking: A series of studies, led by Professor Rosenberg at the University of California, showed that candidates could exert some control over the appearance factor. Researchers first recruited 210 volunteers to rate head and-shoulder shots of hundreds of women in terms of how "able-looking" they were. From these ratings they determined that certain factors contribute to this appearance: for example, eyes with more curvature on the top than the bottom; hair that is short and parted on the side or combed back; a hairline that comes to a slight widow's peak; a broad or round face; and a smile. Then they employed a Hollywood-style makeup artist and a photographer to use these criteria to create two images of each candidate, one more able-looking and one less. A second study confirmed that the manipulations had the desired effect.
-11 June 2012, Phycology Today
11. Seconds to make a first impression: A series of experiments by Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov reveal that all it takes is a tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger from their face, and that longer exposures don't significantly alter those impressions (although they might boost your confidence in your judgments). Their research is presented in their article "First Impressions," in the July issue of Psychological Science.
Willis and Todorov conducted separate experiments to study judgments from facial appearance, each focusing on a different trait: attractiveness, likeability, competence, trustworthiness, and aggressiveness. Participants were shown photographs of unfamiliar faces for 100 milliseconds (1/10 of a second), 500 milliseconds (half a second), or 1,000 milliseconds (a full second), and were immediately asked to judge the faces for the trait in question (e.g., "Is this person competent?"). Response time was measured. Participants were then asked to rate their confidence in making their judgments.
Participants' judgments were compared with ratings of the same photographs given by another group of participants in a preliminary study, in which there were no time constraints for judging the personality traits of the faces. (In that preliminary study, there was strong agreement among the various participants about the traits of the people in the photographs.)
For all five of the traits studied, judgments made after the briefest exposure (1/10 of a second) were highly correlated with judgments made without time constraints; and increased exposure time (1/2 or a full second) didn't increase the correlation. Response times also revealed that participants made their judgments as quickly (if not more quickly) after seeing a face for 1/10 of a second as they did if given a longer glimpse.
Longer exposure times did increase confidence in judgments and facilitated more differentiated trait impressions (that is, less correlation between the different traits for a given person).
All the correlations between judgments made after a 1/10-second glimpse and judgments made without time constraints were high, but of all the traits, trustworthiness was the one with the highest correlation. Along with attractiveness, this was also the trait that participants were able to assess most quickly. The authors suggest, based on evolutionary psychology, that an accelerated and accurate ability to judge trustworthiness in others may have evolved as an important survival mechanism.
- July 2006, Psychological Science.
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