(Oh yeah, and tabs. Ever since they started being a thing I swear I have not bookmarked one website. I pretty much just keep anything I'm the slightest bit interested in reading or looking at open until either a. I finish reading or looking at it or b. my computer euthanizes itself in protest.)
The following is a quote from where I've linked above:
"Besides the general ethos skewing toward everyone-should-look-like-Kim-Kardashian-at-all-times, there's another reason for the rise of cosmetic dentistry: patients as consumers. Health care in the States has increasingly been painted as a series of consumer choices, not a utility or basic human need. Even Obamacare, which makes some much-needed changes in our system, relies upon the idea that patients will treat their health insurance as a consumer choice. Couple this view with the fact that cosmetic dentistry really is a consumer good, at least more so than your annual tooth cleaning, and suddenly cosmetic dentistry shifts from being seen as something only the rich do to being seen as something that's on the same scale as checkups, cleanings, or orthodontic care. (If you're like me—that is, lacking dental insurance don't even get me started—that illusion is only magnified because all payments are out-of-pocket.)"
My teeth are pretty wonky, and there have definitely been moments when I've been insecure about them. But truthfully, those moments are very, very rare. I rarely think about my teeth outside of "Are they healthy?" and besides there being too many of them, they are. (Fun fact: I brush my teeth around 20 times a day. I also keep toothbrushes at friends' places just in case.) Last year I went to a new dentist and the first thing he did was start talking about when I wanted to get braces on these puppies (mental image of puppies in braces) and I got kind of pissed off, because I was at the office of healthcare professional, who I was seeing for my health, and I had to fend off a fucking sales pitch? I AM ALREADY PAYING YOU MORE THAN I CAN REALLY AFFORD to make sure my teeth stay in my head and you're trying to sell me shit. I think what ticked me off wasn't that he wanted to have the conversation, because hey, hi, you're a dentist and that's what you do and I'm a new patient so you don't know me. I get that. But the fact that he assumed (meaning he made an ass out of you and me, so he even brought you guys into this! rude!) that I was unhappy with my appearance and that that would be my foremost concern upon entering his office really ground my gears. And it's not even his fault! How many times have I ever read/heard something like: "There's no excuse for bad teeth in this day and age." A lot of times, is the answer to that. (Interestingly: I interact with a lot of children, durrrr, and if they ask about my teeth it's usually something like "Why do your teeth look like that?" or "Why do they go like this [mime of my vamp-y fangs with their pointer fingers]?" And it's really cute. And 99.99999% of them are just curious. And to the .0000000001% who are being little brats, I tell them it's because I disrespected my elders when I was their age.)
I want to stress that I'm not trying to make some kind of social statement by keeping my natural smile. (I wear makeup! I shave! I am obsessed with my body! I just like my teeth.) I especially want to stress that I don't feel any kind of way about people who do choose to correct their teeth. I don't know your life! Do you, baby! Do you. I guess in commenting on this at all my hope is that you'll consider something you wouldn't change about yourself, spending trends of the wealthy/media pressure/peer pressure be damned. (Also on my list of Things I'd Never Change? My bumpy-lump Roman nose.) (Something I would change? WHERE WAS I WHEN THE ANKLES WERE BEING HANDED OUT, HM?)
(Also pictured is a wanky eyebrow. Y'all are really getting your money's worth today.)
