In world capitals, not only politicians, stars of show business and sports, but also the local population in most countries also sparkles with a snow-white smile. Why? Marina Kolesnichenko, dentist-therapist, chief physician of the Beauty Line reports.
State against caries
The difference in approach to dental health is evident from the very beginning – from childhood. Abroad, everywhere, starting from kindergarten, that is, from a very early age, parents are informed about the need to take care of the child’s teeth. First of all, we are talking about sealing fissures – this is a procedure that blocks the possibility of caries formation in the natural cavities of the teeth. These depressions are the place of the most frequent localization of caries, but when they are isolated, the risk of its development is reduced by almost 90%.
This system is accepted everywhere, at the state level, and is introduced from the very first arrival of a child in kindergarten. But why do people there closely monitor the health and whiteness of teeth from an early age?
A smile for your image and career
Especially in this respect, America is different, where a real cult of white teeth reigns. The reason for this is simple: it is generally accepted there that if a person is not able to monitor his health and maintain the beauty of his teeth, take care of them properly, then one can doubt his ability to cope with any important tasks. If the applicant has ugly (uneven and not white) teeth, then it is even difficult for him to get a decent job. Indeed, when communicating, he should smile, since in the United States it is customary to demonstrate his friendliness towards the interlocutor, whether it is a colleague, client or partner of the company, when communicating.
Accordingly, if a person has dental problems, then he will not be able to smile normally, and this creates dissonance in communication: his interlocutor will think that he is not welcome as a client or employee. He will not think about the fact that someone has bad teeth, since since the state of a smile is unsatisfactory, then this should be corrected, the responsibility for his health lies with the person himself, and if he does not do it, then for those around him this is an alarming signal – what else does he neglect in his life? Hence the refusal to deal with such a person, to use the services of the company he represents, or to buy its products.
The second reason is that a luxurious smile is a status indicator. For example, during negotiations on cooperation, a company can easily give preference to the company whose representatives shone with snow-white healthy smiles. This is despite the fact that the offer of a competing company may be more tempting. After all, if the CEO of a company has bad teeth, how can you believe in his financial viability and his ability to solve more complex problems?
For Americans, well-groomed teeth and good looks are part of the respect a person gives to others. A sense of duty obliges them to look after the health of their smile as well as the condition and cleanliness of their hair and clothes.
No longer “faience”: the cult of naturalness
About 12 years ago in the United States, people began to replace veneers installed a decade earlier. Why? The fact is that the lightest color of A1 ceramics has become better and better over the years, that is, it gets lighter. Thus, the veneers made in the mid-90s were inferior in color purity and beauty to the products of the mid-2000s. Seeing whiter teeth on screens and magazine covers, people want to replace old restorations with better and more modern ones.
In addition, the ceramics used in dentistry “porcelain” are also being improved. For example, palettes differ – the one that was 10 years ago is much poorer than the current one. There are a lot more whites now. The materials used today have also improved markedly. Glossy magazines and television also contribute to the cult of white teeth: with the increase in the quality of printing and image clarity on screens, people see details more clearly. And among them, such white teeth of movie and TV stars stand out! Naturally, there is a desire to get the same.
With an increase in the resolution of photo and video content, the requirements for the beauty of teeth are increasing: if before a person was satisfied with just white, now he wants his teeth to be not only white, but also as natural as possible: with a transparent cutting edge, surface relief, glossy shine … This is what he sees in photos in magazines and on websites.
Teeth alignment: beauty and benefits
Over time, people began to care not only about whiteness, but also about straightening their teeth. Of course, they tried to find an even smile before, but now it has become a more widespread phenomenon, both because of new bite correction systems and thanks to the latest scientific research. There is evidence that malocclusion greatly affects the blood supply to the brain.
The fact is that with an incorrect bite, a displacement occurs in the area of the temporomandibular joints. These joints are connected to the skull and through bone anastomoses to the cervical spine. The cervical region is one of the most important parts of the spine, because there are the jugular vessels and veins, the carotid artery, which directly feed the brain and distribute blood.
When the bite is distorted, the facial bones and bones of the skull are displaced, and then everything acts on the principle of a house of cards: pulled out one card – everything was added. This affects the axis of the cervical spine: its hinge axis is displaced when the bite is deformed. As a result, some blood vessels and nerves are clamped, which entails disruption of the normal blood supply to the brain and spinal cord.
Now, when patients learn about such consequences, about how everything is interconnected, they understand that an incorrect bite can cause headaches, insomnia, in addition to facial deformation (for example, asymmetry). This encourages people to correct the bite, to achieve its stability and clarity.