First Impressions 2.0 I am approaching my 8-year northwest Montana anniversary. I vividly recall steering the uHaul north onto the Golden Gate Bridge while tears streamed down my wife’s face. We loved our 3 year San Francisco adventure and we were sad to say goodbye. But greater than our sadness was the excitement and accomplishment we felt finally putting our stake in some Montana soil, where our hearts had been all along. While it feels like it was just yesterday, when I look back on all that has transpired I find it hard to believe that it has only been 8 years. When I arrived and got to work on building my career as a dentist I had a crystal clear vision of what I needed to accomplish. I would have an dental practice that strived to eliminate obstacles that people faced when deciding to receive dental care. It would be EASY to be in my care. My prices would be fair and my hours convenient. I would work with the patient’s insurance provider. My office would have an atmosphere of community that reflected my laid-back nature while remaining professional. I would treat my staff as equals and ensure that all of us put the patient’s needs first.
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by Dr. John F. Miller DDS
Reflecting back on these goals now, eight years later, I feel like I have succeeded. I feel a strong sense of gratitude towards the Flathead community of which we serve and towards my Smile Montana team that I am privileged to work alongside everyday. Thank You! I named our practice Smile Montana, but it has been revealed to me that out in the community we are simply referred to as “SMILE.” This is perfectly fine with us. And since we are on the topic let’s talk about smiles for a minute. The word smile can be used as both a noun and a verb. Smiles are powerful. They come in all shapes and sizes and for different reasons. Society has, as it seems, placed a lot of value on a nice smile. Famed social scientist and one of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell, has concluded that our smiles have a definite influence on our social mobility. He explains that bad teeth and obesity are part of “the next wave” of physical discrimination in society. In a nutshell, your smile will greatly influence your personal and professional relationships. An important component of any relationship, perhaps the most important, is the very first
meeting. Also known as The First Impression! Dale Carnegie, who wrote How to Make Friends and Influence People says that smiling is one of the best ways to make a good impression. “Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, ‘I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you.’” In The Def initive Book of Body Language, the first of six secrets of attractive body language is, “have an animated face and make smiling a part of your regular repertoire. Make sure you flash your teeth.” I conducted my own little experiment for this article and googled: “great first impressions.” In 0.34 seconds 46.6 million options were at my fingertips. But, as any googler knows, you're only interested in the first page of organic search results. This first page had 10 results from respected sources such as Forbes, Psychology Today, etc., and all were focused on First Impression instruction. Here is the data from reading all 10 sources: 7 reference having a pleasant smile directly, 2 reference physical appearance without a direct reference to smiling, and one was focused on first impressions over the phone so smiling was not applicable.