Today I sat in the temple for my church. I watched as the elderly made their way through. I started to notice some patterns… And sure enough, they seemed to hold pretty well. Here is what I noticed…

Note: I only people watched elderly women.  I did not watch men... sorry!  Will have to do that sometime.  Also, these appear to be correlations.  Causation of these correlations is not yet determined.

1) Those who had apple cheeks from smiling appeared to be more attractive. This was absolutely regardless of jaw placement and dentition.  There was a woman smiling with a very recessed chin who looked very beautiful, for example.  Happiness makes somebody look beautiful.  Additionally, those who smiled the most… With the most pronounced smile muscles typically were there with others.  (Also interesting to note, those with smile muscles didn’t necessarily appear to have shorter faces.   I was a little surprised by this, but it makes sense.  I hadn’t paid enough attention to see whether they had wider faces or not.  Now that I think back... maybe a little wider? Nothing struck me as odd.)

2) Those who had a chins that were more forward appeared to have more energy.  Age aside, they had more bounce in their step.  Those with chins more recessed tended to be quieter, gentler, more pensive, subdued.  And they did not walk with energy... but this did not effect attraction.  At first impression, those with more energy seemed to draw attention.  However, those with recessed chins had great poise.  All in all, attraction wasn’t a factor - just the amount of energy.  I suppose if I had to weigh attraction in... the more average chin (not overly protrusive or overly recessive) may have a slight edge.  However, the chin placement was largely an indicator of perceived energy level.  Those with the most protrusive chins appeared to have the largest proportion of energy.

Here’s where it gets interesting....

3) Maxilla.  I am only sharing what I noticed, though it seemed to be really consistent.  Those with an apparently smaller maxilla perimeter (could not see clear back to the molars... of course...) were thinner than those who had a large perimeter of maxillary dentition.  Those with a recessed maxilla (think witch look)... were definitely thinner.  Additionally, if someone had a maxilla that was forward, but had narrow arches... they were thin as well.  So, I say overall perimeter. That is as close as I can describe.  If someone had a larger perimeter of maxilla... such as forward and wide... they would weigh more...

So here’s where it gets even most interesting.

Those who had really great teeth (such as an orthodontist likes to make with up/down alignment of maxilla/mandible profile and a broad maxillary perimeter) had a decent amount of energy due to not having class 2 bite... and yet had weight... but appeared to be big boned (whether their bones are big or not is impossible to tell... but there was perceived to be some muscle.  These women struck me as attractive... in a way of possibly being wealthy?!  Or something about them was nice.  However, I am going to go out on a limb and say... those with maxilla arches on the narrow side & just forward enough seemed to be the most attractive of all (factoring in weight).  The thinnest woman I saw by far was walking fast.  Her chin was way forward and her maxilla retrognathic.

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Hypothesis.... I think that those with more forward chins slept better.... and that the mandible being forward had to do with how much rejuvenation there was during sleep.  I hypothesize that a good, supportive pillow may help or a mandible positioning device worn at night.

Hypothesis of maxilla.. there’s got to be something with the smelling centers going on.  That’s what I think.  Talking over a lifetime here. I didn’t pick up patterns on the young as there were few & I didn’t really notice anything.

Now for the matrix....

Witch face) Forward chin and retrognathic maxilla or smaller perimeter... lots of energy and thin. Least amount of fat.

Blubber) Recessed to normal mandible & large maxillary perimeter... fattest and seem sad/unhealthy

Grandma 👵) normal to protrusive mandible and larger maxillary perimeter... seem attractive as grandma type.  Thick... with fat, but appearing large boned or perhaps they had the energy to process more of what they ate?  Seemed to have the most muscle, even if it was hidden.  Maybe I say grandma as this is what I’m used to for grandma.

Skinny-fat) Smaller maxillary perimeter and recessed to normal chin...  Thinner side, but not appearing toned.

Winner...

Longer, more narrow maxilla... chin to match.  Good side profile.  Thinner... but decent enough energy... and of course if they smile.  

Potential for errors if maxilla is appearing bigger than it is due to fat... or narrower than it is if there is less fat.  However, there really does seem to be something about a retrognathic maxilla and being thin!  I swear there's something here.  I don't believe that I was misestimating maxilla arch perimeter.