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> Except dentistry. For some reason that is separate. Would the reason be that British teeth are maintained like American waistlines?

nicoburns 6y ago
It might be part of the explanation, but I think it's also cultural. People just don't care about good teeth here the same way that they seem to in the US. Or rather: they have a different idea of what good teeth are. If your teeth are actually black or rotting or missing, then that's seen as bad. But a little crooked or yellow is mostly seen as normal.
- anadem 6y ago
  Teeth seem in the USA to be a class marker, where in the UK class markers are different (used to be accent when I lived there aeons ago).
bb123 6y ago
This seems a little cliche. Personally I find the brilliant white beacons people have in their mouth in the states a little unsettling. Teeth aren’t naturally a beaming snow white - they’re bone coloured.
alistairSH 6y ago
The Brits have better average tooth health than Americans. They don't go for orthodontia as frequently, but in terms of cavities and missing teeth, they do better. This is largely explained by economic differences in the US. The poor have awful tooth health; the wealthy have very good tooth health. In the UK, the poor and wealthy are closer to the median. https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/health/british-american-bad-teeth-study/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/health/british-american-bad-t...
perl4ever 6y ago
It appears that the obesity rate in the UK is about 30%, whereas in the US it's around 40%. For historical context, it seems that the US was at about 30% roughly around 2000. So I guess that the US is fatter, but the UK is still one of the fattest countries in the world. The BBC claims the UK is getting fatter faster than the US too. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41953530 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41953530 http://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/Health-at-a-Glance-2017-Key-Findings-UNITED-KINGDOM.pdf http://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/Health-at-a-Glance-2017-Ke... Teeth are probably a myth. People see Americans on TV, of course they do extreme things to make them blindingly white.

nicoburns 6y ago

It might be part of the explanation, but I think it's also cultural. People just don't care about good teeth here the same way that they seem to in the US. Or rather: they have a different idea of what good teeth are. If your teeth are actually black or rotting or missing, then that's seen as bad. But a little crooked or yellow is mostly seen as normal.

anadem 6y ago
Teeth seem in the USA to be a class marker, where in the UK class markers are different (used to be accent when I lived there aeons ago).

bb123 6y ago

This seems a little cliche. Personally I find the brilliant white beacons people have in their mouth in the states a little unsettling. Teeth aren’t naturally a beaming snow white - they’re bone coloured.

alistairSH 6y ago

The Brits have better average tooth health than Americans. They don't go for orthodontia as frequently, but in terms of cavities and missing teeth, they do better. This is largely explained by economic differences in the US. The poor have awful tooth health; the wealthy have very good tooth health. In the UK, the poor and wealthy are closer to the median. https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/health/british-american-bad-teeth-study/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/health/british-american-bad-t...

perl4ever 6y ago

It appears that the obesity rate in the UK is about 30%, whereas in the US it's around 40%. For historical context, it seems that the US was at about 30% roughly around 2000. So I guess that the US is fatter, but the UK is still one of the fattest countries in the world. The BBC claims the UK is getting fatter faster than the US too. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41953530 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-41953530 http://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/Health-at-a-Glance-2017-Key-Findings-UNITED-KINGDOM.pdf http://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/Health-at-a-Glance-2017-Ke... Teeth are probably a myth. People see Americans on TV, of course they do extreme things to make them blindingly white.