Selling the perfect smile
Where does our obsession for white teeth come from? Charles Pincus in 1928 created custom veneers for Hollywood stars, including Shirley Temple. This may seem innocuous if not for the fact that Shirley Temple, a child was only pictured with a full set of custom-made teeth. Naturally, her baby teeth were falling out, yet to create the “perfect” image she had to adopt tooth caps to hide her missing teeth. (Image sourced from flagstaffdental) Television was only one mode for selling the perfect smile, in recent years influencers on social media have advertised cosmetic dentistry as a must. Cosmetic dentistry is one of the largest industries in the beauty industry, including teeth whitening which has seen a rise. “4 in 10 under 35’s had tooth whitening treatment with 48% planning to have them whitened within the next 12 months. 20% of British adults have had cosmetic dentistry with 1 in 10 having had treatment in the last 12 months” (Oral Health Foundation, 2020). Dental procedures...