When I was a little girl, my aunties would pinch my cheeks and say, “Give me those cute dimples.”

Until recently, I’ve never asked Mom where my dimples come from. Dad doesn’t have dimples, and she doesn’t either. Mom said she didn’t know, but her twin brother also had them.

One of my brothers said he use to have dimples, but they disappeared or grew out as he got older. He remembers when the kids at school would tickle him. “Tickle, tickle, tickle,” they giggled and chanted. And 30 or 40 fingers tickle-taunted his right and left side. The idea was to find his funny bone and make him smile. And when he smiled, his dimples magically appeared.

Tickling or being asked to smile was the price we dimpled children paid for having delightful indentations in one or both cheeks. No one has ever said, “Don’t smile. I don’t want to see those adorable dimples.”

Dimples come alive when people who have them smile. They softly punctuate the smile and are appealing. Many consider them alluring with a hint of mystery, especially back dimples.

Two of my four granddaughters have enchanting cheek dimples. If you ask them where their dimples come from, they will smile. Flash their dimples. And then they will reply, “Mia.”

Dimples aren’t a beauty mark, but many people consider them to be a mark of beauty.

Some celebrities with dimples include Gabrielle Union, Cameron Diaz, Ariana Grade, and Brad Pitt. Kirk Douglas is known for his chin dimple which is called a cleft chin. Both chin and back dimples form differently than cheek dimples.

What’s the mystery surrounding these cheek indentations or depressions?

Dimples are “gelasin” or folds in the fleshy part of the cheeks. Not to be confused with gelatin, “gelasin” originates from the Greek word, “gelaesin,” meaning to laugh. Most people smile when they laugh.

Dimples crowns or caps off a smile. They are a sunny-side-up bonus.

What if I told you that dimples are a birth defect? But this defect doesn’t affect the health of an individual.

How can something so adorable be a defect or abnormality?

Cheek dimples are caused by a muscle with a scary name, the “bifid zygomaticus” major muscle that divides into two parts and attaches to the cheek. When this muscle flexes, the dimple appears.

Everyone likes to flex their muscles. This includes people with dimples. And they don’t even know it.

The next time you’re with someone that has dimples, don’t tell them to smile. Tell them to flex their bifid cheek muscle.

They are likely to say, “What?” And you can tell them all about it.

You can also tell them that they have a pretty “gelasin” smile.

Dimples are inherited. But that didn’t stop people from trying to create their own dimples.

In 1936, Isabella Rochester invented a device designed to create dimples. The device didn’t require a surgical procedure. Worn over the face, the contraption was described as a “face-fitting spring.” There was a knob on each side of the spring. The nobs pressed into the cheeks. With continuous use, dimples were to form. The facial device looked like a metal chin-to-ear strap with two cheek knobs.

Sounds painful? It probably was. Using the device, pain was possible, but dimples were improbable. The facial spring didn’t cut the mustard. No dimpling occurred.

The dimple gene may or may not manifest itself in an offspring. Some people have dimpled parent (s), but they are dimple-less. The dimple gene isn’t 100% in its manifestation.

Now that you know about dimpling, not to be confused with dumpling, you can share this fashionable and charming facial anomaly.