Dental Marketing and Practice Management

UK Teeth Are Brown, US Teeth Glow in the Dark, Say Stereotypes

Can you tell which celebrity smiles are American and which are British?
(Answers at end of article.)

We may speak the same language (more or less), but there's no doubt that there are lots of differences between Americans and Britons. The British all have crooked brown teeth, and the Americans all have over-bleached teeth that look like dentures. At least, that's what the stereotypes say…

The BBC examined this phenomenon in a recent article on British vs. American teeth. Ricky Gervais, British star of the new movie Ghost Town, recounted how one American reporter assumed he wore false teeth for his role in the film. "He was horrified that I could have such horrible real teeth," said Gervais. "It's like the biggest difference between the Brits and the Americans, they are obsessed with perfect teeth."

To those of us in the US, bad British teeth are a running joke. Mike Myers sported terrible false teeth for his role as Austin Powers, a British character. On The Simpsons, the town dentist scares children with his copy of "The Big Book of British Smiles." There's even a blog devoted to British teeth.

But Americans may be surprised to learn that the British mock us for our teeth as well. To them, our smiles are distractingly uniform and offensively white. "To me a row of perfect white teeth just says 'American woman.' Give me the natural look any day," wrote one British man in response to the story. "Such teeth are as bad as an obvious facelift or oversized breast augmentation," agreed an American cosmetic dentist.

So let's review these celebrity smiles…

1. Brad Pitt, USA
   His teeth are one of the most requested at US cosmetic dentists.
2. Julia Roberts, USA
   Americans also request her teeth when getting dental makeovers.
3. Queen Elizabeth, UK
   The monarch sports an appropriately British smile.
4. Prince Charles, UK
   He also shows his British pride through his teeth.
5. Johnny Depp, USA
   The actor wore pirate veneers for over a year while filming Pirates of the Caribbean.
6. Ricky Gervais, UK
   No false teeth for him; they are the genuine article.
7. Amy Winehouse, UK
   The singer's smile is definitely not standard-issue American starlet.
8. Barack Obama, USA
   Dentists across the political spectrum praise the presidential candidate's teeth.

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