American Teeth vs British teeth

Just yesterday I was watching a movie with Terry Thomas, the British actor. His "thing" was a gapped tooth smile which added to his comedic flair.

http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/uploads/4005/171946~Terry-Thomas-Posters.jpg

I think that the Brits are more "real". Hollywood, with its face lifts, boob jobs and perfect white teeth, tend to attempt to portray some sort of "ideal" which ends up being unrealistic. Problem is, that the young people buy into the hype.

When I think of British teeth, the TV series, Are You Being Served, comes to mind. I look at their teeth with fascination every time I look in.

So...like....do Americans in general have good teeth, or just actor Americans?

Or..at least rich Americans?

dlowan- Most Americans attempt to have the whitest, straightest teeth that they are able to afford. Orthodontia is very popular here. Toothpaste companies have, in the last few years, have come out with "strips" that purport to whiten the teeth. Dentists will whiten a patient's teeth. In fact, I was in a mall a few weeks ago. There was a setup in the middle of the mall. For $99- you could sit and have your teeth whitened by some laser thingy.

Americans in general.

Orthodontist fees are an expected expense, just like college or vaccinations.

Sozlet is seeing her orthodontist next week. Her regular dentist didn't like what she saw, and made a referral. Orthodontist took all kinds of pictures and took casts and did this and that and we'll be discussing what to do next. (Sozlet has eight adult teeth already -- the front four, top and bottom -- and there just isn't enough space for them. She also evidently has a "crossbite." Her front top teeth overlap her front bottom teeth, but then the bottom teeth on the sides overlap the front side teeth. )

I seem to remember that more kids are getting braces in England too, but it's more the next generation, not current adults.

In addition, Americans spend a lot on dental crowns to enhance the look of their smile.

Yeah...it's like that in Oz, too...but only where people have money.

The whitening thing weakens your teeth, you know.

I had a plate....a bit of plastic with an elestic band attached that cost a fortune....but it did straighten my sticky-out front teeth.

What a swindle, though!

It definitely is a money pit. I've been financing the mortgage of my daughter's orthodontist for the last 5 years. First her jaw bone was to small and she needed a palette in addition to retainers. In between some baby teeth and permanent teeth were removed due to crowding, and now that all teeth are in place, she's got braces for the next 15 to 18 months. It hasn't been easy for her but once finished, she'll have a beautiful smile while I am at the poorhouse.

Crowns as in stick them on the front, or as in grind the real tooth down to a nubbin, and stick a metal tooth with porcelain outside on top of the nubbin?

We call the second thing "capping".

I have two caps, a method to rid me of my snaggle tooth. Never did have orthodontia - when it was discerned I needed it, my dad lost his job, and (so on). My bottom teeth look like the inside of a cave of, what, stalagmites.

Funny thing is that it's ridiculously expensive in America too. I see a lot of Americans fly all the way here to Costa Rica to do their dental work.

Crowns as in stick them on the front, or as in grind the real tooth down to a nubbin, and stick a metal tooth with porcelain outside on top of the nubbin?

very murrican kinda swindle - there's some kind of idea that better-looking teeth will lead to a better life

weird

Does that mean you say, with Osso, that crowning is the stick something on the front, like fake brick cladding?

Crowning here is the grind the toth down to a nubbin thing and stick a fake tooth on top...it would be mega dumb to do that for cosmetic purposes as thay are discovering that the teeth have a tendency to decay at the gumline, and so have a 10 to 20 year shelf life, on average.

I guess we'd call capping sticking the white fake on the front of the tooth.

I don't think it's done much here...though I notice a plethora of what appear to be cosmetic dentistry places opening.


Dentistry is crazy expensive here, too.....and the previous government all but got rid of the free dentistry clinics for the poor, so bad teeth is a sign of no money here...though school dentistry still exists for kids.

I'm in a health fund that means dentistry is very cheap if I use the fund's clinics....I think I pay around $100 for a crown (Australian crown) that way (leave out the ridiculous private health cover fees I pay).

Hmmmmmm.......I dunno....I guess cos I was brought up in a milieu rich enough to afford orthodontists and all that I find bad teeth quite disconcerting.


But I'm not gonna do stuff like whitening....I already have sensitive teeth, and that process is way bad for the tooths.

Oh? So the market won't bear the inflated prices?

Mind you, being a dentist is one of my ideas of hell. One branch of my family are dentists...you know, like there are army families, this is a dentist family.

Is it safe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgsvzca-qqE&feature=related

I think a few things contribute to American teeth. First, as Hollywood goes, so goes the nation. (I should know I work at a major entertainment company.) As more celebs began to either get caps or take better care of their teeth, so did the rest of Los Angeles (para industries eg producers, attorneys, personal assistants.) As it caught on the people in major cities and did, and then it finally spread through the rest of the country. This was early on. After it was ingrained in the culture, parents (particularly the parents of baby boomer--and then baby boomer parents them selves) made sure to take their kids to the dentist regularly, brush with fluoride and get braces or retainers if necessary. And that is my theory (as well as experience as a braces having, retainer wearing youth of the 90's) on American teeth. I also recently did Zoom Whitening... I'm happy enough with it. The teeth evolution is whats so scary--its the fact that the search for perfection and manipulation of phenotype doesn't seem to have an end in sight. I firmly believe that boob jobs are the next "teeth phenomenon."

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