British teeth

[Maurice]

I'm indulging myself in the most inane daytime television whilst nursing a severe cold. The Americans are right aren't they? We have the most atrocious teeth. Bargain hunt? Spend the money at the dentist please.

[snorky]

if you judge someone by how their teeth look, then you are indeed in a sorry place

[Azul]

When I look at a girl I tend to look at her teeth,

there is an old saying "from the quality of their teeth we see the health of the animal"

[Maurice]

I fear watching Bargain Hunt makes me sad. Judging covers of books is something we all do. Our covers appear particularly poor.

[downsouth]

You must look beyond the veneer.

[Keef]

Maybe our teeth would be better if our dentists weren't such thieving bastards!

They will always come up with several things you "need" doing, when you thought you were just there for a filling, and even though max NHS charge is just short of ?300, they'll always make sure you have to pay that amount, and I don't always happen to have a spare ?300 in the back burner!

I bit in to something hard a couple of weeks ago, and think I've damaged one of my teeth, but just can't afford to get it sorted at the moment, so the damage will no doubt be getting worse :(

All that plus the fact that I am a baby when it comes to the dentists! The drills are lots better these days, and it's not physical pain, but as soon as the drill touches my tooth, and your whole head is full of that grinding noise, I just stiffen, my fists are clenched so tight, and I'm curling my toes! Horrid horrid horrid!!! (6)

[*Bob*]

I think if you were to compare the teeth of Americans who can't afford medical insurance (rather than the wealthy tourists who visit here) with those of people over here who can't afford private treatment and don't have access to NHS surgeries (ie almost everyone) - the teeth would look pretty-much the same.

[Nero]

Let's face it, if we are kids of the 70s, then our teeth will be cack. My back ones are like an op-art quilt, mainly because I ate and drank lots of sugary crap for years and years and years, and because bad teeth were just thought to be 'one of those things' that were just there, like emphysemic pigeons and old women who only ever wore carpet slippers on their feet. Cut out the sugar, drink water, brush and rinse effectively and lots of teeth troubles should be avoidable.

PS Does anyone remember the sheer horror of 'gas'? It was abysmal that young kids should have been conked out like that. Traumatic. (THe thread about lunch and tomato soup reminded me of it, as I would always have 'red soup' after having had my gums butchered by the oral Crippen we called a dentist.) Nero

[SeanMacGabhann]

I won't even mention the horror of Irish dentistry in the 70's

[ratty]

At the school dentist, back in the 70s, both myself and my sister had an experimental treatment carried out on us which involved our teeth being coated with a kind of protective covering. This treatment was pulled after about 200 people had it done as it was extortiantely expensive. Over 30 years later neither mus sister (aged 40) or me (37) have ever had a filling or tooth decay, despite consuming the usual sugary crap all kids do!

One of my teeth did fall out once after a heavy night of clubbing in the early 90s (I must of been grinding them too much) but still not one jot of tooth decay!

[Nero]

I heard of that too. I think some kids at my primary had it done, too. Nero

[mockney piers]

Hang on, haven't we just read that people are resorting to doing their own dentistry here? how things improve.

The Day Today - Back Street Dentists

[Brendan]

As someone who has only been living the UK for 6 years I have found my NHS dentist to be very good indeed.

GPs are another story though but I get the feeling that they are so bogged down by NHS rules and procedure that they can?t be the proper doctors they would like to be.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

If you watch the American chat shows, you can see how disgusting some of the American teeth are!

The only thing that most people in America have are white teeth even if it is crooked because bleaching out there is dirt cheap, whereas us Brits tends to have stained teeth, however with cheaper teeth whitening, and teeth bleaching available on the internet, most of us are sporting pearly white also.

I am lucky as I do not have a single filling and my teeth are lovely and white, probably being a lovely brown colour helps with making my teeth look whiter too!

I cannot afford the dentist anyway!

[dita-on-tees]

oh Nero you have brought back the horrors of gas... when i was 4 the local dentist took me and then my sister's back teeth out - just in case - we were put under gas and were zonked for hours. all I can remember was before they put you under they would shove a big black rubber funny tasting gum thing to stop you from clamping down so they could remove the teeth - it was awful. the 70s were barbaric, my dad was so upset as he had to transport two completed zoned and bleeding children home he cried for hours. I am still terrified of the dentist and have nervous patient written all over my files.

personally I find perfect teeth odd and have a "thing" for slightly crooked bottom row teeth. If any prospective suitor should grab my jaw to examine the quality of my incisors, well they would be slapped....

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

This thread is making me feel very sick. I can still taste the rubber of the mask. I am completely phobic about dentists.

[Bellenden Belle]

I once bit a dentist... drew blood too ... he refused to treat me after that.

[spadetownboy]

ratty Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> At the school dentist, back in the 70s, both

> myself and my sister had an experimental treatment

> carried out on us which involved our teeth being

> coated with a kind of protective covering. This

> treatment was pulled after about 200 people had it

> done as it was extortiantely expensive. Over 30

> years later neither mus sister (aged 40) or me

> (37) have ever had a filling or tooth decay,

> despite consuming the usual sugary crap all kids

> do!

>

> One of my teeth did fall out once after a heavy

> night of clubbing in the early 90s (I must of been

> grinding them too much) but still not one jot of

> tooth decay!

id that done,in the early 80,s,im the big 32 and only one filling and no extractions so far.