Interesting story today on the BBC website about American versus British teeth. It's a little dental/ cultural difference that is touched upon quite a lot in the media. And for my part I've always believed that it's down to a couple of factors.
The first of these is that in the UK there hasn't been the same focus on orthodontics over the past however many decades it's been since the technology was in place to file and straighten the average person's set of chompers. In the UK, misaligned teeth aren't generally even noticed - and in a lot of cases people are proud to have an incisor that's not sitting obediently in a row with its pearly peers. It's a minor thing, but to people from the US it must look unusual, although there are many other differences between nations such as hairstyle, and the ways people dress, so it probably goes in the same bracket in terms of aesthetics.
The second thing I think is the difference is probably down to differences in the dental professions between the countries. In the UK, people go along and get a check up then maybe have a follow up appointment for a filling or whatever, but in this country the people who go for straightening and whitening are probably in the minority - these services aren't really promoted. How many times have you been in a dental surgery and been exposed to the range of services outside the basic NHS stuff? Possibly a wee bit, but not to any noticeable degree.
There has been the odd story here and there in the health pages about dental care in the context of recession - and there was one study from around a year ago that indicated there may be people holding off dental treatment due to cost. Hopefully this is just a blip since good dental health and appearance can be not only a psychological boost and an asset in the workplace, it also indicates better general health.
There's an interesting blog post on dental health (follow the link) that goes into some detail on the improvement in UK dental health over the years - as well as lowering the costs associated with dental health.
Will the UK and US ever have the same teeth? Who knows - but as long as dental health remains a priority, the number of fillings and extractions the average person has should decrease in time to come.
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