This is a sponsored post. I received LISTERINE® Brand products from Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Inc. as part of my participation in this project. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

When you think of making good impressions, what comes to mind?  Is it putting on just the right outfit or saying just the right thing?  A recent study showed that for many Americans, making a good impression relies very heavily upon the look of their smile.  The study showed that the quality of someone’s oral health and hygiene has a great impact on his or her social life, from relationships to careers.  The following infographic illustrates this:

I find the career data to be particularly interesting, because it is something that I’ve never thought about before.  Interestingly, nearly 7 in 10 Americans think having an unhealthy mouth threatens one’s chances of getting hired.

It also affects people’s confidence when it comes to giving speeches and being a team leader.  In fact, 75% of Americans believe having an unhealthy mouth can negatively impact your confidence when it comes to giving a speech, while 61% of Americans believe it can negatively affect your ability to lead a meeting.

After reading these statistics, I believe they make a lot of sense.  I, for one, am a nervous person by nature, so I already feel uncomfortable in interviews, and I hate giving speeches.  Certainly if I ever feel self conscious about my looks, this makes me even more nervous, and I know poor oral hygiene would not help this.

Meanwhile, I saw the obvious connection between oral hygiene and relationships.  Whether you’re meeting people for the first time, going on a first date, or going on a date with your spouse, whom you’ve known for years, you always want to look your best and feel confident about yourself.  I find when I’m confident in a situation, everything else just falls in to place.  Don’t you?

Lets talk about a little bit of the relationship-focused data from the infographic.

I was amazed to find that 52% of Americans believe that oral health issues can negatively impact one’s success in their relationships, while only 33% pointed to unhealthy weight and only 19% pointed to bad skin.

I’m a little surprised the number is this high, because the other two attributes are certainly more easily noticed, and also, I personally don’t feel that bad teeth is a relationship deal breaker.

And yet, I know there have been times where I felt self-conscious about my own teeth.  Like a lot of people, I had braces on my teeth as a teen, and as a result, I have the little white marks on some of my teeth.  You can’t really see it unless you are very close to me, and a lot of people have said that they would never know it, if I had not said something about it, but it still bothers me sometimes.

With my own feelings in mind, it is no surprise to me that a lot of people who are self-conscious about their mouth will actually avoid relationship-building gestures, like kissing, being close, and even smiling!

My family relies on Listerine to keep our mouths clean. When I want to get close to my husband, Listerine Essential Care Toothpaste, Floss, and Listerine UltraClean Rinse are there to keep us smiling.

And the Listerine is also a brand we trust when it comes to our son’s oral health.  He’s getting ready to get braces soon, and that means he needs to step his oral care routine into overdrive.  (Not to mention, he’s getting to the age, where he will be dating soon, so I know he will want to be confident in his smile!)

To learn more about the LISTERINE® Brand survey, click here.

You should also join me and The Motherhood for an hour long #Listerine Twitter Party on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 12 pm ET.

You can also help to support Oral Health America’s Fall for Smiles campaign (October 1 – December 1, 2015) to educate communities about the importance of proper oral.  Just tweet using the hashtag #Listerine and this will trigger a $10 donation, up to $40,000!