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 ...
Maybe it is some sort of genetic thing? I mean we have gotten accustomed to seeing ultra white, straight teeth (or bondings) and pretend that is “normal”. After braces, whitening, filing... yeah, they do look good. Perhaps England doesn’t have a lot of orthodontists or people don’t feel an unnecessary pressure to have perfect teeth? (I say this while child number 2 is waiting to get her braces off though)
Britain does. Contrary to myth, plenty of dentists and dental specialists. Both NHS and private (another myth, most Brits go private).
We like our teeth to look good but natural, to us too many Americans have a unnaturally wide mouth with overly white teeth.
I’m going to have to agree with you! I have seen so many people with teeth so white.. you need sunglasses! I know teeth darken with age and some people will use whitening trays/special tooth pastes. However, when they are processed at the dentist.. sometimes it goes to an unnatural blinding white hue that is odd to me.
History and archeology 500 years from now will show Americans as round people with white teeth.
Well, we’ve evolved our wide mouth to eat our huge cheeseburgers.
the sun burnt blue eyed people with bad teeth
Item 2...a while back I watched a BBC documentary on the American Revolution....at the end of each segment a UK Professor gave a short analysis of what we just saw....and each one of the Profs had bad teeth.
Item 3...the best selling product in the UK version of 7/11 stores is a Do-It-Yourself Dental Kit
.... includes....pick, mirror, pincers, anti biotic, glue and instructions .
And don't forget that dentistry in UK is part of the infamous National Health Service....(that invented the Liverpool Pathway....a quick trip from ward to morgue)
I have been in England. They have few braces and many teeth missing. It is true. I worked at Molesworth and some other bases around there.
Go to youtube and pull up “Dirty Old Town” by the Pogues.
Maybe the ‘National Health’ ain’t so great! :)
In Colombia the comments about people from the UK are not so polite LOL. Bad teeth, they stink and no manners LOL.
The Brits can do DIY dental work right in their favorite dental office...
I heard many years ago that the British consume much candy - could that be true?
Candy plus minimal toothbrushing - well - - -
Oh, my. I have naturally perfectly straight teeth. I do use whitening treatments occasionally, since I have this terrible habit of drinking tea, which stains the teeth (and the cup). My wide smile is completely natural.
;)
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.
I've always thought that was the ugliest guy in the music industry,
English Teeth, English Teeth!
Shining in the sun
A part of British heritage
Aye, each and every one.
English Teeth, Happy Teeth!
Always having fun
Clamping down on bits of fish
And sausages half done.
English Teeth! HEROES' Teeth!
Hear them click! and clack!
Let's sing a song of praise to them -
Three Cheers for the Brown Grey and Black.
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