As a British person I find the joke quite amusing, and it's always something that's commented on when I'm in the states ("your teeth are pretty good for a brit"

As a British person I find the joke quite amusing, and it's always something that's commented on when I'm in the states ("your teeth are pretty good for a brit", that kind of thing). I think on the whole it shows a gap in expectations between the US and the UK. As nations we have a different view of what is 'normal'. I often think that my US friends look like they're wearing dentures, because their teeth are (in my eyes) unnaturally perfect. They look strange to me. If as a nation you expect that level of perfection in teeth, then everybody else who has 'natural' teeth are going to appear to have bad teeth. It's clear why we're in this position (both nations), and it's entirely to do with the way our dental care is funded (privately in the US, publicly in the UK). Our system clearly targets just issues, whereas the US system also has a focus on cosmetic. I think that's slowly changing in the UK, people are willing to pay some of their own cash for dental treatment, but there are still probably very few people (relatively) who pay for dental plans.