the smile effect
Powered by Dental Boutique™ the smile effect podcast covers all things in pop culture surrounding cosmetic dentistry, taking you behind the scenes with some of your favourite Australian celebrities, whilst debunking some of the common misconceptions behind a smile.
Covering the journey to being your most confident self and the power a smile can hold, podcast host and Social Media Coordinator at @dentalboutique, Paris Mavricos will take you along each guests unique story.
the smile effect
Busting The Wildest Dental Myths With Dr Aftab (DIY Tooth Gems & Dog Dentistry)
On this episode of the smile effect we are busting some of the wild dental myths floating around the internet with Dr Aftab from our clinic all the way in New Zealand. We are chatting doggy dentistry, diy tooth gems and whether or not cosmetic dentistry can deliver natural looking results.
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Hello and welcome to the Smile Effect podcast. My name's Paris and I'll be your host. Today we have on a very special guest, all the way from Auckland, New Zealand, Dr. Aftab, and we are going to be busting some dental myths. Whether it's DIY tooth gems or whether or not your dog needs to see a dentist, Dr. Aftab is going to provide you with the facts. How are you?
SPEAKER_02:I'm very well. Thank you, Paris. How are you? I
SPEAKER_00:am so well. It is so lovely to have you down from New Zealand.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, it's always a pleasure coming across, especially when it's warm and sunny like it is today. Yes,
SPEAKER_00:yes. 29 degrees. I know. Thank goodness. That's like the hottest
SPEAKER_02:day we get once a year back home.
SPEAKER_00:It's fantastic. Well, Melbourne's very unpredictable.
SPEAKER_02:I've heard that too, actually. My Uber driver gave me a full commentary of how many storms you guys have had in the last couple of weeks. It's not very up and down here.
SPEAKER_00:It's shocking. We get, what is it, four seasons in one day? Yeah. Yeah. It's tragic. It's good. Alright, so it's lovely to have you on. Welcome to The Smile Effect. But before we jump into everything, we ask all of our guests, what makes you smile the most?
SPEAKER_02:What makes me smile the most? I think as I've gotten older, that's changed quite a lot. Okay, so I think now what makes me smile the most is actually seeing people. what we're able to do for other people, right? So being in dental boutique now, and I don't mean just the patients, you know, how my staff are, how my other dentists who are working with me and how much sort of satisfaction they're now deriving from their work, that makes me really proud. You know, and outside of work as well, I've got a son now, he's seven months old. Just looking at that dude makes me very happy. Like I start my day off with him nothing can bother me after that. It makes me very resilient. But yeah, I think now I'm finding more and more satisfaction and reasons to smile from how other people are responding to things they're doing with me. That makes me really chuffed.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's really nice. That's lovely. This is
SPEAKER_02:what happens when you become older and wiser.
SPEAKER_00:So wise, so wise of you. So as you know, today we are going to be debunking some crazy dental myths. However, are you able to provide a little bit of an introduction to who you are, what you do and everything like that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so I'm Aftab. I'm a dentist. I've been practicing now for about 15 years. So I studied and graduated in Otago University in New Zealand. So I'm now the principal dentist for Dental Boutique over in Auckland. You know, for me, dentistry has always been one of those things that I've kind of been intrigued by. And so for me, being able to work in this industry where a lot of people, as you pointed out, don't understand all of it, it's been quite fun. Apart from that, you know, I've married with a beautiful baby boy and I've got a mini horse or a dog at home. A little Doberman and stuff as well. So I keep myself very busy at home and I keep myself very busy at work.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, nice. So you've got a Doberman. I've got a Rottweiler.
SPEAKER_02:Do you?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I almost got a Doberman though.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, man. I think the German breeds are the coolest.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, they are.
SPEAKER_02:Unpopular opinion. Got to be careful saying that in public. But I just think the German breeds are so awesome, man. I have a lot of Tamparottis. They're fabulous, fabulous
SPEAKER_00:breeds. I'll show you mine after. Absolutely. And you have to show me yours. I will. No, no. what's your dog's name?
SPEAKER_02:it's hard to pronounce but his name is Shehzada
SPEAKER_00:Shehzada?
SPEAKER_02:it means prince
SPEAKER_00:oh nice and his
SPEAKER_02:commands
SPEAKER_00:that's so nice
SPEAKER_02:all his commands are not in English
SPEAKER_00:really? so he
SPEAKER_02:can bite on command and release on command and he'll heal but if you say heal or bite or release he won't know what you're talking about
SPEAKER_01:really? so we've taught
SPEAKER_02:everything in Urdu and Hindi so only we can command him it's actually quite neat yeah that's amazing because dogs don't have a language
SPEAKER_00:no
SPEAKER_02:so yeah we've trained them in Indian languages
SPEAKER_00:That is amazing. And it's really
SPEAKER_02:cool because you're kind of yelling at him at the park and nobody has any idea what you're talking about. It's quite fun. It's quite fun.
SPEAKER_00:That is so fun. Oh, wow. That is so, so cool. I didn't know that about you.
SPEAKER_02:How old is your Roddy?
SPEAKER_00:Ooh, he's 11. He's an old boy. He's a rescue as well. So he's got a lot of arthritis and so many issues.
SPEAKER_02:They're so sweet though. They are. They'll protect you against anything, but yeah, they're the best. Good. I'm very glad.
SPEAKER_00:He's gorgeous. And how long have you been with Dental Boutique?
SPEAKER_02:I've actually been with Dental Boutique just over a year now. So the way I joined Dental Boutique was actually by chance, if I'm perfectly honest. Over in NZ, Dental Boutique didn't really have a footprint. Obviously, we're the first practice they opened up overseas and I sort of heard about them through a couple of my colleagues who were working with Dental Boutique, especially the Sydney branch. Ruben and May, well, Ruben in particular, approached me at an Invisalign conference where I was a speaker. So I do a lot of Invisalign work and I work with the company. And we realized very quickly that our values and our ambitions were fairly well aligned. And it took maybe eight weeks from our first meeting before we decided that we should be working together. So it's been just over a year formally and it all happened very, very quickly.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. I had It's very, very cool that you're a principal dentist at our first international clinic. Yeah, no
SPEAKER_02:pressure.
SPEAKER_00:No, it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. And New Zealand's not too far from Aussie. No,
SPEAKER_02:and look, culturally speaking, very similar people. There's a lot of Kiwis over here. We have a lot of Aussies over there and stuff. So, you know, having the same language, similar sort of love for outdoors and sports and bits and pieces, people are very, very similar.
SPEAKER_00:And how common would you say is cosmetic dentistry in New Zealand?
SPEAKER_02:Probably more common than people realize. When we first opened up, a lot of my colleagues in NZ weren't particularly certain if it was a model that would work. And I've always been in the cosmetic sphere as a dentist in NZ. And now that we've got Dental Boutique coming across, so many patients have come out of the woodwork essentially saying, you know, we've always wanted something like this to come to us. We were planning on going to Australia to get this done. So the fact that we're in NZ now has been awesome. I think cosmetic dentistry in NZ is not as big as it is in Australia but it's way bigger than people think.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah I think so too and we've actually had well before we had our clinic in New Zealand I remember seeing stories of patients that came across to us from New Zealand and it's really nice to be able to have that close by to them now and accessible to them.
SPEAKER_02:It's so nice to be able to be looked after by your own sort of you know your own dentist and stuff as well and whether it be the language that we speak or even pronouncing some of the name places and people's names and things correctly so we knew there was a large number number coming across here. That was one of the first things that Ruben and May have brought to my attention that, hey, we got a lot of Kiwis actually coming across the ditch. It would be nice if they didn't have to. And so that worked out really quickly for us.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Even on our socials, like I know obviously TikTok is an algorithm-based platform. So we see a lot of people that might see us from New Zealand and they come in and they say, oh, where are you in New Zealand? Oh, my goodness. And there's so much demand for us in New Zealand, which is really, really
SPEAKER_02:nice. I genuinely think it's untapped. You know, like who doesn't want to look in the mirror and be chuffed with their smile, right? It doesn't matter whether in Australia and New Zealand or Fiji or anywhere else. So we do, yeah, I think we have been underserving our population as dentists. So the fact that we're now out there breaking new ground into it, it's just actually showing just how much demand has been pent up and waiting. There was just no supply. And so now us being available, we're attracting people from all over the country. It's not just people up the road. So it's been long overdue for Kiwis.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, very inspiring, very empowering. A huge pat on the back to you. So what we'll do is we'll jump into some myth busting. Cool. Firstly, as you mentioned, you love your dog.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Do dogs require dental care too?
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Okay. So, okay, this is going to sound weird because I don't say this out loud very often, but my dog gets his teeth brushed every single day. Like every single day. I have scalers at home. that I use to clean my dog's teeth and things. Teeth are teeth, you know, and nowadays, a dog's actually a great example. When we were hunter-gatherers eating raw meat, vegetables, fruits, and stuff like that, we had a lower risk of decay because we didn't have the processed foods that we do now. If you look at dog food nowadays, it's quite similar. You know, if they were out hunting wolf packs, it's very different to what we feed them now, so it's quite easy for their teeth to also deteriorate over time. So dog dental care is very important and probably quite neglected. So, no, he gets looked after very, very carefully, man.
SPEAKER_00:I'm looking at you funny, but my mom does the exact same thing.
SPEAKER_02:Good. It's important. Because, I mean, they still suffer toothache. They still suffer abscesses. They still suffer broken teeth. And, you know, some of the dogs and what we play with them can be quite hard and damaging and you can get cracks and bits and pieces. So, you know, vets are very well positioned, obviously. They're trained quite well in dentistry as well. But, you know, dog dentistry is very much a thing. Dog whitening is a thing in California now.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, really?
SPEAKER_02:Literally, you can get… You can get teeth whitening for your dog in LA. We drove past a couple of places. I couldn't believe it. I'm like, that's a market we've got to open up soon as well.
SPEAKER_00:It's actually called teeth whitening for dogs.
SPEAKER_02:You can Google it. I'm not joking. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life.
SPEAKER_00:Probably all chihuahuas in there. Chihuahuas with little booties.
SPEAKER_02:That's it.
SPEAKER_00:Moving on to some human dental health myths. Does brushing harder clean better?
SPEAKER_02:No, absolutely not. You don't have to brush very hard to clean your teeth. What we're removing with toothbrushing is quite soft. The plaque is removable quite easily with soft bristles. In fact, I would normally advocate for my patients to always use soft toothbrushes. And it's not about brushing hard. It's about making sure you brush the entire tooth. You know, a lot of people will have this pattern they've developed over the years. Because let's be honest, we brush on autopilot. Very few people think about brushing while they're brushing. They're thinking about how their days gone or what happened that day or what's going to happen later on that day. Brushing mindfully is probably a more important thing than brushing hard because when you think about it, every single tooth has five surfaces and most people brush maybe one properly. When you're actually mindful in the activity of brushing, that's way more important than brushing hard. Brushing hard can actually damage your teeth. You can actually, the abrasive nature of tooth brushing, especially in repetition, on the same spot every day in the same pressure same angles can start to actually peel bits of enamel away and lead to other issues down the road so brushing hard or scrubbing your teeth is probably terrible advice but I always talk about mindful brushing I know it sounds a bit strange but it actually should be something you're focused on while you're doing it and it's not something we do very often
SPEAKER_00:I'm with you noted I'll make sure tomorrow's or tonight's brushing will be not too hard mindful brushing that's right okay flossing is These are necessary.
SPEAKER_02:You can't say that out loud. Flossing unnecessary. Flossing is the most remarkably important thing to do. So again, like I was saying earlier with the five surfaces, a toothbrush physically cannot clean two of those surfaces. You can do the front, you can do the tops, you can do the backs if you're really good. No matter how good you are, no matter what floss action toothbrush you're using, you can't get in between. Flossing is a remarkably useful thing to do because teeth are part of your dentition. You've also got to look after your gums that hold the teeth in place so I always describe them like a beautiful fence you know you can have the most expensive gorgeous fence in the world but if you haven't got good dirt holding the fence posts in the ground that beautiful fence is going to fall over so if you don't look after the gums really well your teeth don't get looked after and held in place very well so flossing is very very helpful to get that under control and anybody who says that is dead wrong flossing is unbelievably important
SPEAKER_00:I'm cancelled already next one is Bad gums or bad teeth, is that inherited?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, to an extent. So it is possible for you to inherit aspects of your dental health. But dentistry is not so black and white in its causality. So just because mum or dad or mum and dad had bad teeth doesn't does not necessarily mean you'll have bad teeth. Dental disease is generally a disease of neglect. And dental disease is generally a disease which is over a long time horizon, right? So it's very hard for people to go from great teeth to bad teeth in three days. It'll take three years. And it has to be consistent mismanagement. It has to be a long period of time where you're not looking after your teeth or ignoring things that are wrong. So yes, you do inherit a lot of the factors that can make you more likely to have gum disease is a little more likely to have enamel and things that could be easier for bacteria to get into, but it's not as simple as that. We certainly have seen plenty of patients, and the evidence suggests that you can have parents who have got poor dental health, and you can be fabulous all the other way around. So your diet, your hygiene, your habits, all of these things play a part in it. It's not as simple as you do X, therefore you have Y. It's usually A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and then you make it Y. So it's a very complex especially when it comes to the gum disease side of things. It's a very complex sort of set of things that can lead to good or bad health. But the good news, and this is the bright sort of light at the end of the tunnel, is that because it takes a long time to go wrong, no matter where on that spectrum you may find yourself at that time, it's not too late to fix things and get better. So just because you've got parents who've got bad health does not mean you'll have to inherit it. Just because you've had a bad run for a few years doesn't mean you're going to have or be, you know, sort of... destined to having terrible teeth for the rest of your life either. It's very well proven that we can make some changes to really change things around quite effectively.
SPEAKER_00:Amazing, amazing. I think one thing that my parents always made me do is go to the dentist every six months. Good. I always love your parents.
SPEAKER_02:It's important. Talking about parents, one of the rules that my parents used to have growing up was that my brother and I were not allowed to speak in the morning until we brushed our teeth.
SPEAKER_01:Right? So it was
SPEAKER_02:something we always just did. So, yeah, I think more than the genetics, it's the habits you inherit from your parents, right? So if your parents were really big on regular dental visits, regular hygiene visits to make sure your hygiene is looking after your gums, making sure you brush your teeth every single day, that sort of stuff is probably more valuable in terms of being constructive or destructive than just the genetics because the habits can have a much bigger say than what you've inherited from the genes point of view.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Right, right. Very, very interesting. Now into the juicy questions relating to cosmetic work.
SPEAKER_02:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:With all cosmetic work, teeth are filed down. I'm talking about turkey teeth.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, no, no, no. God, no. So that idea gained a lot of traction, I think, because of social media. And to be honest, some people have had to endure that. And I know we call it turkey teeth because a lot of Turkish clinics may have been sort of spotlighted on social media for it but it happens up the road you know so and also one of my favorite professors who taught me a lot of my cosmetic dentistry was actually Turkish so the fact that he is this minimal intervention dentist who's written textbooks that we all follow yet at the same time a lot of other Turks don't follow it is the same as NZ and Australia so there are dentists in our neck of the woods who would think that is necessary and so a lot of patients when they come and ask that I never poo poo their questions and their curiosity around it because a lot of are concerned about that happening to their body. And I make it very clear that we don't do that as a normal thing. There are certain occasions where one or two teeth may require something like filing down to that sort of extent, but it is incredibly rare. As technology has moved on, we've become so capable of doing things in minimal sort of effort. So the more tooth structure we can preserve, the better. There is nothing up my sleeve or in my drawers in my clinic that is as good as natural tooth structure, right? So we want to preserve as much of that as we can. And also when we build, cosmetic dentistry is built on good, healthy teeth. So if I want to put some pretty veneers in place, I want healthy teeth underneath to hold my veneers there. Because if you put a pretty veneer on dodgy foundations, that veneer could be the most gorgeous veneer on earth and it's going to fall apart. So maintaining good health and maintaining as much good, healthy structure as possible is always at the forefront of our mind. And if we're doing something cosmetic like bleaching, something cosmetic like Invisalign, we don't have to worry about filing your teeth down at all. So no, that is definitely a question we get asked a lot. And I think it's important that we talk about it because a lot of that is based on true events, which just do not apply to most of what we do, if any of what we do at all.
SPEAKER_00:No, I'm glad you cleared that up. It's common. It's such a big question. Even, you know, I've had cosmetic work done and people ask me, oh, so are your teeth, like, are they filed down underneath?
SPEAKER_01:And
SPEAKER_00:I'm like, no, that does exist here. Dental boutique, that's not what we're about and it's not something that is normal.
SPEAKER_02:I think because we're not about that does not mean others are not about it. And I think as a result of that, I think a lot of patients do have that question. And I think it's a legitimate question. And I've certainly seen and heard of enough cases where that's occurred, which will prompt people to query it. So I like that as a very, very big point of difference of coming to us a dental boutique versus going somewhere else and also because this is what we do like this is literally what we do we get out of bed in the morning and for us it's cosmetic dentistry and so we have invested a lot of time and resources into training ourselves up to a level where we can provide care unlike anybody else and also in the technology necessary to actually be able to pull off stuff without having to destroy teeth to do it
SPEAKER_00:absolutely I guess that leads me on to my next point and I guess something that isn't maybe a common misconception that cosmetic work cannot look natural.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, absolutely not. No, no, no. So cosmetic work, I can, we can, we can make teeth look as natural as you want them to. But I also want to make it clear, some patients do not want a natural look and we can make them look as fabulously LA, Hollywood as you want to as well. But you have complete control as the patient, right? So we don't sell a one size fits all sort of policy here. Our job is to speak to you, listen to you and understand you. I always sort of tell anybody working with me that we're not in the teeth business we're in the people business right our job is to understand you as a patient what brought you to us what do you want out of this if you ask us for something which we believe is fundamentally outside of the realm of acceptable in terms of what would be best for you we'll tell you why right but we don't do a one size fits all we will we will discuss at quite a lot of length in terms of what we want the end result to look like and we'll work backwards from that if you want them to look natural where somebody sees you for for the first time and you never want them to have the slightest idea that you have your work done, we can pull that off for you. We take into account people's age, gender, even their ethnicity. There are traits across all of these sort of socioeconomic groups and bits and pieces where we can go, actually, there are ways to make this look like that you were born with them. So we can make them ultra natural. I know for a fact in New Zealand, we get a lot more requests for natural teeth. I don't know what it's like in Australia, but certainly Overseas, veneers are synonymous sometimes with this bright white look. And we can do that if you want us to. And some people can rock it beautifully. But the overwhelming majority of Kiwis don't want that. So we've actually become pretty well-versed at doing things so that nobody really knows about it. We're quite capable.
SPEAKER_00:And that's sort of, personally, that's my favorite look as well. But also, I can appreciate people that do want a Hollywood-looking smile. And whatever makes you feel confident, I think, is what's really important.
SPEAKER_02:I always think about it like fashion and makeup. cup. Absolutely. Some people are born to stand out. Yes. And that's okay. And other people just want to look the best they can without drawing too much attention to themselves. We can tailor it to how you want it. So your personality should be reflected in your smile. Our job is to learn your personality so we can do that job properly.
SPEAKER_00:Definitely a really good way to put it. Tooth gems.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Are they good or bad? I think
SPEAKER_02:it depends on what you mean by good or bad, to be honest. Tooth gems. At the end of the day, if you want something which adds a bit of an extra glimmer to your smile sort of thing, there are ways to do tooth jams quite safely. My problem with tooth jams is not the tooth jams themselves, it's how they're being applied. So if they're being applied by a dentist who knows what they're doing, they can do them in a way which won't damage your teeth, we can take them off quite easily afterwards and stuff too. Because remember, dentists are able to put on braces and things and take them off without damaging teeth, so we can certainly do tooth jams as well. My issue with some of the tooth gems I've encountered is if they're not done very well, they become traps for plaque and food and bacteria. And when you take them off, there's nasty holes waiting for you because they haven't been kept clean. And if they're done by somebody who's not a professional, then they don't know how to seal them in place properly. But no, I haven't got an opinion. I've got a couple of patients who insist on tooth gems and we will source them properly. So we use proper materials that are actually certified to be used in the human body properly. And we do them in a using a technique which is both safe from an infection control point of view and also from a safety point of view from a patient's experience. You know, the materials we're using, the instruments we're using are all sterilized properly in the dental clinic. My issue is when you have tooth jams being placed down at the mall, you know, while you're waiting for your next coffee sort of thing. I just don't know if that's something which is safe.
SPEAKER_00:I've even seen tooth jams that get sent out to you like you can order online and apply them yourself. Like DIY. I
SPEAKER_02:haven't seen DIY tooth jams in NZ but certainly nobody's taught me about them but the tooth gems themselves no look no problems at all but it's how it's done who does them that becomes quite important it is nowhere near as common now as it was about 20 years ago for a while they became really popular again showing my age now but for a while they were really really popular but they've certainly started to disappear but I also think because more long-term outcomes like veneers have become more possible for a lot of patients even edge bonding to make your smile better but yeah the tooth gems themselves not bad but how they're done what they're done so how they're done who does them I think that makes or breaks a good tooth gym
SPEAKER_00:yeah it's so interesting because you know they may not be as popular as they were maybe like what 20 years ago but they are starting to come back and they're starting to trend a little bit more I didn't know about
SPEAKER_02:these DIY tooth
SPEAKER_00:gyms stay safe out
SPEAKER_02:there honestly it is at the end of the day if dentistry is done well it's very safe in long term if it's not done well a lot of things can go wrong but I always describe like, you know, think of them like braces going on. We know how to do that properly. You wouldn't do DIY braces, I hope. So that's sort of how I look at it. Like, well, if we do two steps properly for you, they'll be clean. They'll be safe. They'll last a long time. I'm sure they look fantastic.
SPEAKER_00:That's it. That's it. And back to that hygiene aspect. Is brushing your teeth morning and night necessary? Let's set the record
SPEAKER_02:straight. I have to be careful how I answer this. Okay. So brushing your teeth twice a day. spaced out is necessary we know that if we you know the best way to think about it you know like when you get a script for like some medication because you're sick could be antibiotics and the doctor will say or the pharmacist will tell you when they dispense it have this with breakfast lunch and dinner it's one of those things we tell people to make it easy to remember okay morning and night first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It's an easy way to build into your actual routine. But if you brush your teeth at 10 o'clock in the morning and you brush your teeth again at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and you did that every single day, you probably will get a similar outcome as somebody who brushes first thing in the morning at 7 a.m. and last thing before bed at 10 o'clock. Brushing twice a day is really important. That's really important. But the morning and night thing, I think we do that just to make it easy to remember.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think so too. But it makes a
SPEAKER_02:lot of sense to do it that way. And it's the same as having your pills breakfast, lunch and dinner. So you never forget as opposed to a odd time where you might forget to do it. But brushing twice a day, absolutely not negotiable.
SPEAKER_00:Now to end it off, we ask all of our guests, what is one thing you would tell your younger self?
SPEAKER_02:How young are we talking?
SPEAKER_00:Give
SPEAKER_02:me an age.
SPEAKER_00:Use your imagination.
SPEAKER_02:Look, to be honest, it wasn't by chance that I used the term mindful brushing. I'm quite a spiritual person. I think about things deeply and often. And I sort of think, depending on when it is in my life, one of the things I tell my younger selves, probably at the age of about 16 to 18, is that everything's going to be all right. Depending on your upbringing, some people are raised in an environment where there's a lot of pressure. So I come from a family of pretty high performers. And as a dentist, I'm actually the least qualified person from my mom's side of the family. What? Yeah, exactly. So one of the things I unfairly used to think was I had to do a lot more than I thought I had to. And it took me a long time to realize that things are going to be okay. Like back yourself, do what you're really good at. Don't compare yourself to others. But it can be really hard, man. We were talking about social media. earlier. Nowadays, it's so difficult to not compare yourself to others. And even though I grew up at a time before social media was as big as it is now, it's probably the one bit of advice I'd give myself is that Just look after you. Compare yourself to yourself yesterday. As long as you're better than you were yesterday, last year, the year before that, you're on the right path. I love that. But I tell myself not to look around too often. Just focus on you and things will be okay.
SPEAKER_00:Good on you. I think that's a really great way to put it. I think, yeah, with social media now, everyone, I think a lot of children are on it, which is scary. It's not
SPEAKER_02:just children though, right? Teenagers. It's scary that children get exposed to it so early. But there was a time when you didn't know what somebody halfway around world was doing as normal and glorified even though it's properly curated. I think people's expectations become askew. through things like social media. People have always done it, right? Magazines and things used to exist and used to create these sort of unreasonable, perfect scenarios. But I think social media has just put that on steroids now. It's on hyperdrive. It is so easy for us to access. But I'm also finding in the last couple of years, there's a little bit more common sense slowly coming back. I think when social media first started off like 10 years ago, whatever it was, it was so... unadulterated. Like everybody was just headed with all the time. Whereas now we've kind of come out the other side where people are actually getting burned out from social media. People want to actually disconnect from social media. Yes, I've noticed that too. There's actually these quiet times that people are trying to put in. So I'm hoping that that phase has kind of come and gone. But I think social media is incredibly powerful. I think it can be very, very helpful, very, very useful. I spend a lot of time on there and it can be really good for me too. I think it's a fine line between where something a human being has developed as a tool And when you cross that fine line, it becomes a weapon. So everything can be harmful or great for us. So I think we're jumping between the different sides of that line until we figure out what that equilibrium spot is for us. But I have no problem with social media. I just worry about what it can sometimes do to people's thinking about what's reasonable, what's rational, because it's so easy to sit in an echo chamber and think that's the only way to do things when actually it's not.
SPEAKER_00:So true. So true. I'm an advocate for social media, obviously, work in marketing.
SPEAKER_02:As an end user and everything else, I think social media is one of the most remarkable developments we've had in human history. The fact that we can connect with people around the world is great. It's how we use it. Is it a tool or is it a weapon? So is it going to harm us or is it going to benefit us? I think that can be said for almost all of inventions that human beings have come up with. So I like social media. I think it's going to be, the net results are going to be very good for us. But I think because we're also a learning how to use it properly to be useful to us as opposed to harmful to us. But it takes a while, especially for a young mind. If you're a 12 or a 14 or a 15-year-old, you don't even know that yet. So I think that's where we have to focus on just making sure they understand the benefits and the bad things from it. But fundamentally, I think social media is fantastic.
SPEAKER_00:I'm with you. I'm with you. All right. Thank you, Aftab. It was so lovely to have you on.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you for having me. I hope to come back again.
SPEAKER_00:No, very interesting topics. I hope that our listeners really enjoy this. episode. But yes, thank you again.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you for having me, guys.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks so much for listening. If you want to keep up to date with The Smile Effect, give us a follow and why not leave us a review? If you also want to keep up to date with the behind the scenes of the podcast, follow us on our socials on both TikTok and Instagram, The Smile Effect with one E. See you next time.