Why do people associate British people with bad teeth?

Question

Ok, over the weeks & months I've used Y!A, there seems to be a common misconception - mostly from Americans - that British have bad teeth.
Where does this come from? I meet very, very few people with bad teeth. Everyone I've ever known has always been taught to brush twice & day and visit the dentist every 6 months. So why the view that we're a nation on bad-teethed people?

Answer 1

It's a popular misconception originally put about by American dentists. "Come and spend a fortune with me or people will think you're English".

Answer 2

I think it is because you guys adopted orthodontics later than the USA.



I might be wrong on the dates but I think orthodontics was real common in the USA around the 1970's and you guys didn't really start doing it until the 1980's.



I think it is about crooked teeth and not bad oral hygiene.



So I think there is a generational thing where if you compare someone in their 30's to 40's will have straighter teeth in USA than in UK. Those younger than that probably are no different.



This is all a guess, though.



Paul Potts is an example, but not sure of his age.



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Edit: Well you might be right (1971), but then again it depends on how quickly society adopted it.



Take a look at this page... I don't know if it is true or not but here is what it says:



"Not nearly as many Europeans have braces as in the United States. They don't consider it as important, and that they are "just for looks."

Answer 3

It is only Americans who have this stereotype as far as I know.

There was a period after the war when the British started to eat a lot more sugar, but had not yet realised the importance of regular brushing, and that did produce a lot of bad teeth. At the same time the Americans were discovering cosmetic dentistry, so that probably led someone to notice the difference and the idea stuck.



Australians think that the British don't wash.

Answer 4

It is probably fair to say that the Americans are obsessed with teeth in the same way as the English are obsessed with the weather.



I visit America regularly and this idea is widespread there. The reality is of course that the average American has no better dentition than the average Brit. Their film and tv stars are required to have enormous gleaming smiles, which always look a little scary to me.

Answer 5

I'm English and actually do have bad teeth but this is because my childhood dentist leaned over me when I was laying in his chair, drill in his hand, and shouted into my face because I tapped his arm to let him know I couldn't breathe.



After that, if my teeth hurt I never said a word about it because I didn't want to go back. I needed braces but, again, I wasn't going to let that man wire up my mouth for anything in the world.



I was about 19 before I built myself up to find a dentist and ended up spending 2 years having root treatement and a double extraction.



Right now I've lost the only dentist I've ever trusted because he's private and won't take NHS patients. I can't afford it.

Answer 6

If it's not associated with us now, it will be in a few years time if the Goverment don't revert to free dentistry.



We pay our NI contributions, so why should we be forced to pay again just to see a dentist. Hence I have not been for over 10 years. However, I am lucky as my teeth are fine.



I don't understand this thing of going to the dentist every six months. You don't go to the doctor "just in case" so why the dentist?!!

Answer 7

Because we leave our teeth natural and don't have lots of cosmetic dentistry done as the Americans do. Don't kow why they find those fake looking teeth so attractive - they look no better than our "bad" teeth.

Answer 8

The Americans generally have "bad" teeth in a different way.



Not natural looking - perfectly straight, strangely white and fake, fake, fake!

Answer 9

It's easier for the Americans to keep their teeth clean most of them talk out of their ar$e$

Answer 10

didn't even no we were associated with bad teeth lol

Answer 11

idk i guess its cos american ppl can b narrow minded in their veiws of us.

i have perfect teeth lol n im british.