The Worldview of Teeth

So to continue the discussion on America's obsession with appearance, I wanted to share a fascinating article I found: "The Cultural Modification of Teeth."  The author surveys how different cultures have treated teeth differently over time.  Teeth, says the author, are "artifacts of human behavior."  Yes, they can tell us what kind of foods members of a certain culture ate or how good their dental care was, but it goes deeper.  Modification of teeth can reveal the values of a culture in some cases.  It's an informative article worth reading.  But it was the last part of it that made me smile and laugh.  The author looks at our own American culture as an anthropologist might, trying to understand the American obsession with teeth:

"An alien visitor to Earth might describe a tooth-related cult now common in many industrialized societies. The people believe in the tooth cult so unquestionable, they call the holy doers doctor.

The cult requires an initiation wherein the holy material objects are fastened to their teeth. They then go through to two difficult years of trial until they emerge purified and the holy material objects are taken off in a rite of passage.

These people live in a society that admires what it sees on billboards, in magazines and a mystical place they call Hollywood. Both believers and priests learn their ideals there

The practitioners of the cult have an obsession with lines and angles. The novices sit for long hours in darkened rooms looking at images prepared by the priesthood elite to whom they listen intently and seek to imitate.

Believers assemble in scattered places, notable for their peculiar chairs where they lie down, face up. All manners of ancient practice are done, from wiring teeth to removing them. The mystery of what teeth to take out and where seems determined by some sort of ritual distinctive for the hall of learning attended by the priest

The priesthood identifies itself by frequent hand washing or the wearing of special, smelly coverings. They attach great importance to this behavior. They use a large inventory of tools and decorative objects affixed to the teeth for a time. Strangely, the believers go to their ceremonial site only once a month-strange, considering the great size of their monthly offering in local currency.

After a rite of passage with pictures and a gooey substance they stuff into the mouths of the supplicants, the gadgetry is removed from the teeth and the patient is given a pink object to keep in their mouth. Apparently it is a talismen of some sort; the believers tell me they have it for their benefit-but often don't obey what they are told.

The priest practitioners seem well paid. They often spend their leisure hitting a white puckered ball with implements unsuited to the task. Some priests are known the throw their game implements in anger."

What a humorous way to describe the industrialized world's interest in teeth!  I like how it cleverly points out what our own culture's way of approaching teeth reveals about us: we are focused on our appearance so much we obsess over teeth.  I have always found it ironic that Americans are so freaked out over their teeth.  Most other places in the world aren't.  There are certainly medical reasons to fix teeth (I have had my wisdom teeth removed).  But I read another article recently that asserted most people get their teeth worked on for primarily cosmetic reasons, even if they have been told otherwise.  As a dad, the author noted that no child ever goes into an orthodontist's office and is told his teeth are fine.  It's a booming business and easy to sell to Americans focused on looks.  Luckily, there are some honest orthodontists out there.  I read one who just outright said, "Not everyone needs to fix their teeth" and he meant people with crooked teeth or overbites, underbites, etc.  Unless it is causing serious problems, he noted, it doesn't really need to be fixed.

Interesting.  At the same time, I found tons of people commenting that they just couldn't stand not having straight teeth or they hated looking at people who lacked straight and bright white teeth.  How silly it sounds to make your judgment of a person based on his teeth!  What is even more silly is that this is tied to a cultural way of thinking, that our teeth have to look a certain way or something is wrong with us, that we can't have a tooth out of place because it will ruin what everyone thinks about us, that we have to look like all the Hollywood stars.

I don't know about you, but I found this utterly and completely fascinating, especially because other first world countries could care less about teeth.  Keep 'em healthy and go on.  No need to freak out over them.  It's rather like shaving our armpits and legs, girls.  I wondered why we American women are so scared of armpit and leg hair, especially of showing it to other people.  So I researched the topic and found out it all started with two things: 1) Manufacturers "encouraging" women to shave and 2) Hollywood types shaving their arm pits.  Cracked me up.  It all goes back to the drive to make money and the drive to look like Hollywood stars.  Nothing really changes, does it?