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Have you noticed that everyone’s teeth are a little too perfect? (www.washingtonpost.com)

submitted 2 years ago by PotentiallyAnApricot@beehaw.org to c/humanities@beehaw.org

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Nothing inherently wrong with an individual getting veneers or cosmetic surgery, but I really liked this article and its discussion of some of the things that have been on my mind lately as I start to age and reconsider how much I’ve been affected by social ideas around how we’re supposed to look (and as my teeth become slowly more tea-tinted).

“These perfect, inhuman teeth embody a phenomenon that I am calling “hotness creep.” Hotness here is emphatically not about beauty — which is rooted in nature and often results from an unexpectedly pleasing assembly of imperfections — and it’s not about being sexy: messy, raw and alive. Hotness, by this definition, cannot be achieved through regular means, e.g. a combination of genetic luck, fitness and nutrition; hotness here must be bought and rigorously maintained through laborious, expensive and possibly dangerous upkeep“

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[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

It is the veneers that really upset me. I remember one of the model shows. They gave one of the contestants the option to have her teeth re-done with veneers. What she really needed was a year or two of real orthodontics. But no, they ground down her teeth and put on these crappy veneers that will need a life time of extra care. They basically ruined her teeth just for the competition.

Orthodontics is not a long term solution either. You either need to ware a retainer to keep it, or have a fixed bridge that holds them. Teeth are not meant to be stationary. Mine, I didn't ware anything for 35 years but at 55 I had to start using a retainer again because they were moving too much. Wish I had started with a retainer again 5 or 10 years sooner.

[–] upstream@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Humans were not designed to live to/past 50.

After around 30 it’s downhill all the way.

Thus, orthodontic correction gives many people a higher quality of life, correcting bad teeth positions or help compensating for “excess” teeth.

Personally I had a fairly ok set of teeth, but the size of them would have likely made getting my wisdom teeth a pain. Only reason this was ever picked up was because I had 5mm overbite and could choose to get orthodontic treatment with braces.

My specialist took one look inside my mouth and said “wow, that’s a lot of teeth”. I feel like that’s like taking your car to the mechanic and he opens the hood and says “wow, that’s a lot of engine”. Yeah man, it’s your job!

Anyway, I pulled four molars, had braces, and for the longest time three out of my four wisdom teeth did not bother me at all.

But, the one in my lower right jaw decided to go tunneling, and instead of coming up, it went sideways into the roots of the next tooth.

So they sliced my jaw open, cut the tooth in half, and took out the two pieces and sowed the hole back together.

13 years later the wisdom tooth that was supposed to push against the removed one decided to try to escape and started pushing against the jaw bone at the bottom. It basically extended beyond my other molars.

Teeth are such a great source of pain and discomfort, and I think it’s crazy that people would play around with surgery like what you first describe, but I suppose these people don’t know any better.

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes. I had 4 impacted wisdom teeth. They were taken out pretty early. Even with wisdom teeth fine my jaw was too small. Probably should have had 4 more removed. Instead had every thing pushed back and aligned highly. I was doing orthodontics for 15 years as a child. Worked great for decades but at 50 it all started to collapse pretty fast. So now I use a retainer to keep it from going did further.

I remember the wisdom teeth sugury. Went to the hospital and a dental surgeon took them out. They put me out. Remember my dad getting the bill. He was way impressed at how much it cost. Said it went into major medical.

[–] Zikeji@programming.dev 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I lucked out and only had one wisdom tooth. Genetics or something. They still put me under to remove it though.

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I still cringe thinking about it. My dentist was our neighbor (not the surgeon though). I remember one weekend my mom was worried it was getting infected and called him. He said ... oh... I'll meet you a my office in a 1/2 an hour. He's happy to take a look and is marveling at how great a job the other guy did. It was fine and he charged us nothing. That was all back in the days medical people were more focused on care and treated patients like people not profit centers.

[–] BigTrout75@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago

I only really notice in movies where perfect teeth take me away from reality.