Why do people from the UK (Great Britain) have crooked/horrible teeth?

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RichB

The very fact you're asking a question like this marks you out as an American (no other country on earth is as obsessed with teeth and gums as the Americans are), so I presume you're making a comparison with the United States here.

Anyway, I think it's because in the United States, having picture-perfect teeth has become strongly associated with wealth, success and high social status, whereas that's never been the case here in the UK (after all, even our Royal Family and top politicians and celebrities have snaggly teeth).

British dental care is largely about keeping teeth healthy and functional for their primary purpose, i.e. eating, and less about wiring people up with nasty metal torture contraptions to give them a row of perfectly aligned and shiny piano keys.

Americans only spend money to get themselves and their children nice teeth because they know they will be judged negatively by their peers if they fail to do so. It's simply an arbitrary cultural norm, and doesn't reflect a better attitude to health and well-being in general - this is borne out by the fact that many Americans have great teeth but neglect themselves in other ways, such as having a poor diet and exercising far too little, and becoming obese as a result.

Our differing attitudes to teeth causes much amusement on both sides of the Atlantic. When Ricky Gervais went to the U.S. to promote Ghost Town, one reporter said to him "Oh you were hilarious in that movie, I mean those hideous fake teeth you wore..." Ricky had to explain to the interviewer that they were in fact his own teeth.

In fairness, some British people are teeth-obsessed too. After the Grand National race earlier this month, BBC interviewer Clare Balding said to the winning jockey "Show us your teeth... (jockey opens mouth, showing less than perfect teeth) ...see, with all this prize money you'll be able to afford to go and get them fixed now!" Most of the British audience watching the race thought she was an incredibly rude b*tch for making that comment, whereas any Americans watching probably thought "yeah, too right!"

Nickв„ў [Semi-Hiatus!]

Have you even been to the UK?

RoBo

WHY DO PEOPLE IN AMERICA HAVE CROOKED/HORRIBLE TEETH??

you get people in every country with horrible teeth just like you get people in every country with lovely white straight teeth.

TiB

the majority don't have ''messed up'' teeth,

you've just been looking at the wrong people...

Pineapple Juice

that is so stereotypical and now your just catorgorising the british! I live in england i just got braces on my teeth. dentistry is fine over here, so there may be a handful of the population who can't afford densitry work, why should they be discriminated?

i could say all americans are fat. But their not, that is just the stereotypical view of them! most of the time it is never true!
The NHS in england is very good indeed, people are constantly getting braces to fix up their teeth and every town in england has a dentist.

i don't think you should be so harsh.

kendra26uk

Why do Americans only every mention so called British crooked teeth?

My cousin in law's wife is from Louisville and at age 29 she HAS NO TEETH left due to no health insurance and not enough money to pay for a dentist!
He had to send ВЈ200 (pounds) every month (Roughly $400) for 6 months in order for her to get dentures! My teeth are not perfect but are straight, and this is due to the National Health service, which while can be difficult in waiting times etc I thank the lord I still have teeth!

It's very rare we have children who DIE because their parents can't afford insurance like one did in America some time ago!

Now you tell me who has the most crooked teeth and the worst access to dentists!

BOTH sides have their fair share of bad health so you can't go around saying it's all british people.
The reason you might see more british like that, is because we are not so judgemental on people's looks unlike US television, therefore your likely to see more of them.
NOT everyone on tv over here has messed up teeth either! Don't believe everything you see and hear on TV and it's 4 people out of millions of people!
I know not ALL Americans are ignorant or loud because I'm intelligent enough to realise there are LOTS of different cultures, people, backrounds etc.
So don't stereotype and do some research before you assume that 4 people make up the whole of the UK :0)
Hope you get to come over here at some point too :0)

Atheissimo

What a ridiculous question. You can't stereotype 65,000,000 people based on 4. For example:

Why are Ameicans morbidly obese and borderline retarded?

Why are they all religious fundamentalists?

Why are they all racists?

Why are they all rednecks?

By the way, our healthcare system is ranked higher than yours, despite it being 'socialised' - It's free so that people don't die of treatable diseases because they can't afford insurance like in America.

World healthcare rankings:

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom

37 USA

sarch_uk

Just so that it can give people such as yourself something to feel superior about...Lord knows, you have nothing else to feel superior about!

And as an aside, we do not all have crooked and horrible teeth that's a fallacy.

roddysul

Love the "socialised healthcare" answer from the USA

Fact is - NHS dentistry has all but disappeared now in the UK

Maybe we're not as shallow or vain over here

Helena

Not everyone has bad teeth, a fair few do, but not all. A lot of people have crooked teeth because they're not obsessed with their apperance, so theyd rather have crooked teeth than go through the pain of braces etc. After 8 years on and off off braces, I dont blame them.

N G

Because dentists don't give people braces as a matter of course for minor imperfections.

Kay L

because they're dressing up as americans.
idiot.

Irish Sean

The dentist went on vacation and never came back.

Clark Kent

Well from what I just read it is because they do not have good health care it is socialized the same kind that Obama is wanting to put in place.

Matt S

Must be the tea.

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