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The myth of bad British teeth
BBC News Magazine ^ | 27th May 2015 | Justin Parkinson

Posted on 05/27/2015 3:23:50 AM PDT by the scotsman

'Britain has become "internationally renowned" for having "really lousy" teeth, according to TV doctor Chris van Tulleken, with people not caring enough about staining and decay. Is this label fair?

Having bad teeth is one of the stock American jokes about British people. In the world of film, spoof super-spy Austin Powers cavorts around London as a would-be sex symbol, not realising that his discoloured, crooked grin is being mocked.

In one episode of the Simpsons, a dentist scares a young patient into better oral hygiene by exposing him to a horrific publication called The Big Book of British Smiles. It features mocked-up pictures of gappy, unaligned teeth belonging, among others, to Buckingham Palace guards, the Prince of Wales and Sherlock Holmes.

Chris van Tulleken, a British doctor and TV presenter, has joined the criticism by telling Radio Times magazine that British dental standards are globally infamous and having "brown, foul teeth doesn't really bother us".

But are British mouths really in such a state and is there such a lack of vanity?.'

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS:
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To: spokeshave

That kit sounds Medieval!


21 posted on 05/27/2015 4:32:50 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: momtothree
According to my periodontist there is a an ethnic tendency and the UK figures into it.
22 posted on 05/27/2015 4:32:54 AM PDT by TalBlack (Evil doesn't have a day job...)
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To: USARightSide

Yep—little hole-in-the-wall candy shops all over. (Or at least there used to be.)


23 posted on 05/27/2015 4:33:50 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: exDemMom

Same as me—eDM.


24 posted on 05/27/2015 4:34:46 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: the scotsman
Bad teeth are the result of poor diet. The British experienced that from the Industrial Revolution population boom and the food shortages during both World Wars.

Check out Weston A. Price for more information: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/

25 posted on 05/27/2015 4:38:17 AM PDT by captain_dave
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To: the scotsman

Glad to see the article makes the crucial distinction between dental health and cosmetic dentistry - a distinction which one feels is often missing in the U.S. Also the comparative UK/US statistics on child dental health are revealing.


26 posted on 05/27/2015 5:22:51 AM PDT by Winniesboy
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To: 9YearLurker
The title refers to “the myth” and the entire article debunks the idea that it is in any way a myth—saying only that it is improving.

Actually it doesn't. Look at the comparative UK/US dental health figures towards the end of the article. What it does make clear, however, is that on the whole the British are less concerned than Americans about cosmetic dentisry, as distinct from dental health.

27 posted on 05/27/2015 5:27:56 AM PDT by Winniesboy
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To: spokeshave
don't forget that dentistry in UK is part of the infamous National Health Service.

There is a flourishing private dentistry industry in the UK as well as the NHS. Much higher proportion of dentistry is privatised than general medicine.

28 posted on 05/27/2015 5:30:53 AM PDT by Winniesboy
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To: Safetgiver

Great tune. Yeah, the lead singer has bad teeth.


29 posted on 05/27/2015 5:54:08 AM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (The media must be defeated any way it can be done.)
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To: captain_dave

That’s what I was thinking. Now I’m feeling guilty about the eggs and biscuits I’m making for breakfast.


30 posted on 05/27/2015 6:03:04 AM PDT by NorthstarMom (God says debt is a curse and children are a blessing, yet we apply for loans and prevent pregnancy.)
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To: Safetgiver

They’re Irish.


31 posted on 05/27/2015 6:11:59 AM PDT by the scotsman
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To: USARightSide

Yes, the British have a very sweet tooth. Not just sweets, but biscuits, cakes etc.


32 posted on 05/27/2015 6:12:38 AM PDT by the scotsman
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To: Gay State Conservative

The teeth on the right weren’t real, fakes worn over his real ones for the part, the actor in real life had excellent teeth and was famously immaculately dressed and in contrast with that character.


33 posted on 05/27/2015 6:14:15 AM PDT by the scotsman
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To: captain_dave

Actually the WW2 diet was quite healthy.


34 posted on 05/27/2015 6:14:46 AM PDT by the scotsman
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To: spokeshave

1—Older British people will have older and less good teeth than younger British. Which is what the article is saying, the myth may have been true once, but not now.

2—And I have watched many US programmes with people with bad teeth, whats your point.

3—No, it isn’t. Who told you that nonsense?.

4—Infamous, of course you have never used it, or probably been to the UK, so you have no actual experience of it and accept what you are told.

5—The Pathway has been used by 60000 patients, and whilst recently it HAS been abused, the Pathway has actually worked and been a success.


35 posted on 05/27/2015 6:18:13 AM PDT by the scotsman
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To: bmwcyle

1—Braces are widely used and widely available (I wore one myself when younger). Complete nonsense.

2-Many teeth?. Exaggeration methinks.

3—When did you work here?. And even if your British area and era had bad teeth, that dosent equate all British teeth were bad. Anymore than bad toothed crims on COPS means all Americans have bad teeth.

The article is clear that UK teeth WERE behind the US, but that the bad teeth myth is now just that, and has been for a few decades.


36 posted on 05/27/2015 6:22:39 AM PDT by the scotsman
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To: the scotsman
The teeth on the right weren’t real, fakes worn over his real ones for the part, the actor in real life had excellent teeth...

On BBC comedy videos we buy here in the US there's usually a short promo for "BBC America" which is a cable channel here which shows various BBC shows (like Top Gear).It's a cartoon featuring the Queen talking about Britain.At one point you see a character in a dentist's chair with the most horrible teeth imaginable and as you see him the Queen's saying in the background "they say one's dentistry is diabolical...looks fine to me".

I looked for it on youtube but can't find it...it's really funny.

37 posted on 05/27/2015 6:34:07 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Obama;America's Ambulance Chaser-In-Chief)
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To: Winniesboy

But the non-myth myth has to do with yellow and crooked and otherwise unsightly teeth—not the number of cavities filled.


38 posted on 05/27/2015 6:42:00 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: the scotsman

Actually, I think it has to do with how y’all don’t speak proper English like us colonists do. The weird accent does seem to bent the teeth in unnatural way, ya know? A secondary reason is why y’all drive on the wrong side of the road, caused by painful teeth on the left side of the mouth.

There, ya see, nothing to it!!! I shoulda been a doctor.

LOL


39 posted on 05/27/2015 6:45:52 AM PDT by biff (Et Tu Boeh-ner)
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To: biff

LOL


40 posted on 05/27/2015 7:12:18 AM PDT by the scotsman
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