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Ppl insult Brit's teeth: here's a scientific theory why the country's teeth is so bad

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I'm interested to know more about this after being in the UK for a little while and noticing some differences between people from other countries - Americans are a good example. Many that I've met tend to have straighter and whiter teeth. I don't know how many were privileged enough to have braces when they were younger or perhaps even teeth whitening treatments (I've heard from at least one American that they knew a few people in high school who had treatments for prom or something similar).

On another note I have noticed that people from Japan tend to have well-kept teeth, possibly due to "hamigaki", which is the art of brushing your teeth after every meal and teaching your children the importance of clean teeth. :smile:

I've heard that soft diets on processed foods can cause crooked teeth, because kids wont grow up to use their chewing muscles properly, so the jaw doesn't develop as well. Which is why kids in rural communities in other countries, who grow up on diets of nuts and low sugar, have perfectly white straight teeth. Don't know how far this is true, but it's definitely interesting

Teeth whitening is much more common in America than down here.

Reply 21

Joinedup

Original post by 0to100

And yea it's got to be a cultural thing about hygiene on top of other possibilities. I mean it's kind of ridiculous, and the people who normally seem to be born to grow poor teeth are poor people, at least here. :erm:

It could be in the water, and the gov't controls which area gets which quality; it's also definitely the cost of getting your teeth done here.

Americans are obsessed with cosmetic whitening of their teeth and have started to believe there's something dirty with the colour of natural teeth... that's it, it doesn't have anything to do with how hygenic they are as such.

Reply 22

Bang Outta Order

Original post by Joinedup

I honestly am not bothered about USA. Soooo you're tryna tell me though that hygiene has nothing to do with the[poor] state of people's teeth?
I think that's one reason why some people have poor teeth, but obvs I think there's other explanations (again NHS, genetics and the fluoride thing)

Reply 23

Bang Outta Order

Now I'm reading something that says it's about diet/soft foods in the country? So it weakens the muscles and lowers the jaws...other stuff about skeletal alignment taking up space for the teeth so they jut or cross over. Sounds ridiculous I think.

Reply 24

Dheorl

You do realise you are trying to come up for a scientific explanation for something that is genuinely nothing more than a stereotype. Go back to basics and first find some decent scientific evidence that British people have bad teeth before you start trying to explain a phenomena that doesn't exist.