The gap in our teeth
The gap in our teeth
It is shocking how much the state of someone's smile still reveals about their class
DD Guttenplan guardian.co.uk, Friday 10 December 2010 20.00 GMT
....Yet I'm not smiling – maybe because, like a lot of less wealthy Americans, I never went to a dentist as a child. I vaguely remember being examined by a visiting dentist at school. Many of my friends endured the torment of braces. My own overbite, my parents assured me, was charming. In our family a visit to the dentist was for emergencies, such as my father's root canal or my brother's impacted wisdom teeth. Our tap water was fluoridated (in Britain only 10% get fluoridated water) and we were encouraged to brush often, which may be why I still have all my teeth. But I recall the embarrassment when, as an undergraduate covered by the student health plan, I went to the university clinic and had to have 10 fillings in one go.....
...In the US, as in the UK, a person's class is etched in their teeth. In his 1991 classic, Savage Inequalities, author Jonathan Kozol wrote: "Bleeding gums, impacted teeth and rotting teeth are routine matters for the children I have interviewed in the south Bronx." A report by the US National Institute of Health says poor children today are far more likely to suffer from severe baby-tooth decay "caused by frequent or prolonged use of baby bottles that contain milk, sugared water, fruit juice or other sugary beverages". The US has more celebs with perfect teeth simply because it has more celebs (and maybe more rigid standards of celebrity appearance). But US government statistics still show deep racial differences in dental health, and just as steep a class divide as Britain. That, rather than the space between our incisors, is a gap we should all mind.
10 fillings and he had brushed his teeth with fluoridated water - not effective with the risk of at least fluorosis.
It is shocking how much the state of someone's smile still reveals about their class
DD Guttenplan guardian.co.uk, Friday 10 December 2010 20.00 GMT
....Yet I'm not smiling – maybe because, like a lot of less wealthy Americans, I never went to a dentist as a child. I vaguely remember being examined by a visiting dentist at school. Many of my friends endured the torment of braces. My own overbite, my parents assured me, was charming. In our family a visit to the dentist was for emergencies, such as my father's root canal or my brother's impacted wisdom teeth. Our tap water was fluoridated (in Britain only 10% get fluoridated water) and we were encouraged to brush often, which may be why I still have all my teeth. But I recall the embarrassment when, as an undergraduate covered by the student health plan, I went to the university clinic and had to have 10 fillings in one go.....
...In the US, as in the UK, a person's class is etched in their teeth. In his 1991 classic, Savage Inequalities, author Jonathan Kozol wrote: "Bleeding gums, impacted teeth and rotting teeth are routine matters for the children I have interviewed in the south Bronx." A report by the US National Institute of Health says poor children today are far more likely to suffer from severe baby-tooth decay "caused by frequent or prolonged use of baby bottles that contain milk, sugared water, fruit juice or other sugary beverages". The US has more celebs with perfect teeth simply because it has more celebs (and maybe more rigid standards of celebrity appearance). But US government statistics still show deep racial differences in dental health, and just as steep a class divide as Britain. That, rather than the space between our incisors, is a gap we should all mind.
10 fillings and he had brushed his teeth with fluoridated water - not effective with the risk of at least fluorosis.
posted by Bill at
9:52 AM
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