The dental industry in America is massive. Why is it such an important part of the American lifestyle?
I think an important distinction should be made between dentistry and orthodontics. I believe that in many countries with public healthcare, dental coverage is pretty normal. What many governments don’t pay for is orthodontics (teeth straightening, braces, bite fixing, etc) and so most people go without it (eg memes about British people having crooked teeth).
In the USA, orthodontics is a huge industry. It’s all about having straight perfect teeth. I don’t know why it started, but the reason it’s stuck around is mostly aesthetics and inertia IMO. If everyone around you has straight teeth, you’ll feel left out if you have crooked teeth. It’s also a huge moneymaker for dentists themselves. I avoided dentists for several years because I got tired of them trying to sell me expensive aesthetic services, like whitening or special bite splints.
The brits are something else, they don’t count. I am from Central Europe and I was shocked when I saw the kind of teeth brits run around with.
You know, ads for dental hygene products over here advertise with “gives you fresh breath” or “makes your teeth white”.
Over there they advertise with “prevents your teeth from falling out”.
That said, the “American Smile” and the obsession with super white teeth is something else. White does not equal healthy and many bleaching methods are actually bad for the health of your teeth.
It’s not a secret (literally front page material) that over 10 million Brits cannot get dental healthcare they need. They’re pulling their own teeth at home, it’s completely unreal.
Edit: source (yes i know, it’s the mirror, it was just the first link that popped up): https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/desperate-patients-extract-teeth-11million-29379748.amp
over 10 million Brits cannot get dental healthcare they need.
I’m an American, but I am confident that in the UK, you can get cosmetic dental work done. You may have to pay for it – like, it may not be an NHS thing – but there is a private healthcare industry that exists alongside the state-run one in the UK.
If it is the Mirror I don’t click it or believe it. Stop spreading propaganda.
You get orthodontics under German public health care, still US American teeth are something else entirely. It feels like basically everybody has veneers over there.
And yes, the UK is something else, too, when it comes to dental health care. Not in a good way, mind you.
I’m old enough to have adult children and I know one person with veneers.
I’m old enough to have grandchildren and I know exactly zero people with veneers (in Germany – I do know people from the US with). Is this a contest?
This. I think every culture has beauty standards, and some of them inspire a lot of people to do pretty drastic procedures. It’s pretty mainstream in America to covet straight, gleaming white teeth.
I’m guessing there’s some long history of orthodontics in USA that intersects with phrenology, marketing to people’s low self-esteem, and piggy-backing on government and orgs’ campaigns for dental health (extrapolating from medical necessity to aesthetics.)
Also I think there’s a weird thing where parents are paying for braces for their kids. Notionally parents want their kids to be confident, but I also sense an undercurrent of social signalling of wealth and status, along the lines of putting solar panels on the north roof of the house if that’s where the neighbors will see them.
