â€œBritainâ€™s Worst Teethâ€

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#1 Post by **jjames** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:26 am

I was just wondering, did anybody here watch Britainâ€™s Worst Teeth on BBCA Sunday night? I did and thought it was fascinating. While personally, I do not nor ever will advocate the installation of all those veneers when what the patient could really use is a couple of years of braces, most all of those people needed either implants or veneers and they were only in their 20s . There wasnâ€™t any needless slapping on of veneers in this show.

#2 Post by **dubnobass** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:00 am

Did that have the girl who had really bad teeth because she ate so many sweets, and the one whose teeth had eroded away because of acid damage from bulimia?

If it was, I saw that quite a while ago. I thought it was a very interesting programme - but not, you may be horrified to learn, all that surprising. One of my friends at Uni was a stubborn so-and-so who refused to ever brush his teeth just because his dental nurse mother nagged him to do it.
By age 20 his teeth resembled mossy tombstones and by age 25 he'd had the front 6 knocked out and replaced with dentures.

I know a lot of people who have good, strong teeth, just very wonky ones - and most of them aren't remotely bothered by it, which I think is preferable to the chicklet-teeth obsession that seems to prevail in the US!

#3 Post by **jjames** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:22 pm

That's it - that's the show!!! I think came on for the first time here on BBCA though this month, maybe y'all are a little ahead of us.

"chicklet-teeth obsession"
HA!!

Believe it or not, I understand at least a small bit, we just look at teeth different here in the U.S. But I have always admired my British cousins for having the bullocks to just roll with it if their teeth aren't perfect. Seriously.

And don't take that the wrong way, I'm certainly not making a slam on the past two+ years worth of tremendous effort I've put into gettng a stellar smile and all the effort everyone on the board puts into it. But I've always thought that was pretty cool of Brits that, as a whole, (CERTAINLY NOT EVERY LAST BRIT) they weren't that concerned about it. And granted, such coolness usually has its' consequences, but I do admire somebody who has good healthy teeth, (no, not like the chick on the show who never brushed her teeth and ate a pound of sugar a week, or the bulemic) and if they're not perfect, so what?

After watching that show, I started getting more curious, so I started researching and I thought this was a good article:
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/wel ... 80,00.html

#4 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:31 pm

I don't think we see the need to have perfect teeth- because what is perfect? Teeth aren't naturally a brilliant white colour.

I wouldn't call it havings the balls to 'live with' our teeth as they are, because it turns out, that how are teeth are! Why go to such lengths to make them into something else. Honestly, if I didn't need braces for my surgery, I wouldn't have them. Not my lowers anyway (my upper canines really need moving, though!

). They are not straight, and they are not pure white, but they aren't unhealthy, and my hygiene is as stuff as anyone elses

That's just our outlook on things, but please, don't 'admire us' for having bad- by your standards, clearly- teeth

#5 Post by **jjames** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:14 pm

Meryaten, I'm not going to argue this anymore because it's a waste of time and I respect your knowledge on this board. Yet, I will defend myself and point out that I never, ever used the wording "bad teeth." I said "less than perfect," and there a huge difference.

#6 Post by **dubnobass** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:53 am

All I can say is - Martin who?

Most British people will never have heard of Martin Amis. However, they will have heard of Jodi Marsh, and watched programmes such as 'ten years younger' and 'extreme makeover', all of which are far more likely to have shown them what cosmetic dentistry can do.

I think if anything, the rise of the cult of celebrity and the ever-increasing Americanisation of British culture will have made Brits pay more attention to their teeth than they did in years past - particularly younger patients. Certainly, it's been people of the older generation who've been most baffled by my decision to have treatment - younger people are far more 'understanding'.

#7 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:33 pm

I think you might have meant me, jjames, not Meryaten

In these matters, it's always uncertain what things may offend, whether they are intended to or not- but the whole British teeth thing may not sit well when addressed in a 'wow, those crazy Brits and their rotting teeth!' side-show-type-manner

Certainly, I agree with Meryaten about the article- and generally here, those who have veneers and teeth whitening, etc, are ladies fond of the tanning booth...take Jodie Marsh again

It's more a quick fix for these prgrammes like 10 Years younger rather than the actual reality of all us normal, (dentist going) Britons who take care of our teeth but don't feel the need to do anything to them other than brush and floss etc, etc...

#8 Post by **joney** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:46 pm

Interesting one this.

I don't know what it is like in America but I think people do care more about the appearance of teeth.

You only have to look at celebrities, actors and newsreaders here in the UK to see a lot of teeth that I'm sure would be frowned upon in America.

I think there is an attitude here (from some people) that it doesn't matter. A kind of inverse snobbery really. There may also be the fear of appearing vain. I've had one or two comments along the lines of "you're brave" or "why bother at your age" or even "but you've got a husband so you don't have to worry!" and suggestions that veneers would be a quicker fix which I think shows a lack of understanding.

At the same time I think Americans are more au-fait with the terminology as I didn't have a clue what a class II was or an overbite, overjet etc. prior to getting my brace. I didn't even know I had an openbite!!

I also imagine that it's more common in America to see adults in braces than in the UK. However we're catching up here and more people are beginning to realise that a bad bite or misaligned teeth is not something that the have to live with.

#9 Post by **platinum** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:01 pm

This is an interesting subject.

I compared with my boyfriend the dental care between Finland and UK.
In Finland we often had a dentist office by the school, and if not the teacher told us when to go. Sometimes by taxi, if the office was far away.
In Uk it seemed that it was more parent's responsibility to get children's teeth checked out. I asked my boyfriend if they had something organized by the school, and he reckoned that there was once an appoitment when a dentist had a look of all pupils teeth.

#10 Post by **Nims** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:27 pm

I really want to see this show but I live in England and it was shown here a year ago, can't find anywhere to get it online either

#11 Post by **Miss Smiley** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:30 am

I just saw this tonight on BBCA On DishNetwork... It was about 4 twenty-somethings... 1 with major decay from sugar, 1 with the eroded teeth from her eating disorder, and a brother and sister who are dental phobic. They all seemed to have received treatment according to their needs. Except for the one sister, she just couldn't get over the fear of the dental surgery. Didn't seem like anything was overdone. The girl with eroded teeth said she could not eat properly, which seemed liek necessary treatment. The one guy needed most of his teeth extracted and was fitted with dentures.

I'm sure if they had an America's Worst Teeth, we would have seen similar cases.