1 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I don't have to stuff. 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: I've never told reproduction of I High Radio. So recently 3 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 1: we released kind of a a bummer slash hopefully sort 4 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: of comforting episode about pandemic health effects. I thought, I 5 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: think it was a bit of a bummer. It was, 6 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: and in it we gave you listeners a lot of 7 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 1: opportunities to diagnose Samantha and I for current issues that 8 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: we might be dealing with it. So in it we 9 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: talked a little bit about teeth. And after we did 10 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: that episode, I was like, huh, maybe I should look 11 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: into this. And I took a glance and my mouth, 12 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: and there's definitely an issue. It's definitely an issue. Teeth 13 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: are protruding, um. And I don't know how long that's 14 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: been going on, but I suspect it has something to 15 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: do with teeth grinding. And I am a terrible person 16 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: that I am still not going to the dentist for 17 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: a minute at least until things die down a little bit. Um. 18 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: But I know Samantha, we talked, you have had kind 19 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:35,639 Speaker 1: of a long history of having trouble with teeth. Correct. Yeah, 20 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: so I have an enameled deficiency partially due to my 21 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: male nutrition as a child, infant, and toddler. So I 22 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: came into the U S when I was seven, did 23 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,240 Speaker 1: not have really good teeth or it just was not 24 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: in great help. Uh. Definitely lived in an orphanage so 25 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: don't had a lot of problems, to the point that 26 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: I had to get to a specialist when I came 27 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: into the US because my teeth were so ad. I 28 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: was told that I would need so much work by 29 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: the time I was eighteen nineteen years old, and now 30 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: my dentist trips are nightmares. Yeah it's so expensive, No, 31 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: it really is. Um. I have been very, very privileged 32 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:19,679 Speaker 1: and fortunate in a lot of ways when it comes 33 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: to my teeth, and one way is even though I 34 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,239 Speaker 1: was jealous as a kid, I was the only person 35 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: in my close friend group that didn't get braces, but 36 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: I got kind of weirdly jealous about because they would 37 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,399 Speaker 1: talking about it, complained about it. I'd be left out. 38 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: But now I'm glad if there was a thing like 39 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: I definitely would pretend like I had braces by putting 40 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: things on my teeth, even though like I didn't need 41 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: braces because I didn't have enough teeth to need braces, 42 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: and I still don't necessarily to this day. Not that 43 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: I don't have enough teeth. I do, I'm just saying 44 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 1: I did didn't need it, but yeah, I also did 45 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: the same thing. I also was weirdly jealous of my 46 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: brother because he rarely brushed his teeth, but he had 47 00:02:55,080 --> 00:03:02,360 Speaker 1: perfect teeth. Yes, crazy, yes, yes, Well I'm not sure 48 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:04,640 Speaker 1: if I've ever told this story on this podcast before. 49 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: And I was all condense it because it's quite a story. 50 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: But a few years back, I dropped a weight on 51 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: my face and broke my tooth. Um, And it was Easter, 52 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: and no, I was up visiting family and I didn't 53 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: live with family at the time. So my dentist, my 54 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: best friend Katie has been on this show, one of 55 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: my best friends and still my one of my best friends. Um, 56 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: her dad is a dentist, and now she's like, why 57 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:28,920 Speaker 1: did you not just ask him? He would have done it. 58 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: But anyway, I ended up having to tell everybody, all 59 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: of like family and friends that were there at this 60 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: Easter dinner. I had to go try to find a 61 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: dentist that was open on Easter Sunday that would take 62 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: somebody who was not their patient, which is surprisingly hard 63 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: to do. Well, No, maybe not surprisingly at all, but 64 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: it was very difficult to do. And I ended up 65 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: at this place. It was thirty minutes away, and everyone 66 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: there spoke Russian and I couldn't understand what they were saying, 67 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: and they injected me with something and then showed me 68 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: a tooth, and then to this day, I'm not entirely 69 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: sure what happened. And then they said they're like very 70 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 1: broken English, no carrots, no apples, no ice, and they 71 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: sent me on my waye Um. But I'm so fortunate 72 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: because that ended up only costing me forty bucks. Had 73 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: really good insurance at the time. Um. And that, I mean, 74 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: that was just a moment where I thought, I am 75 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: so lucky that I could find this and do it. 76 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: And I got it done that day, and it's still lasted, 77 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: like it's still there today, but it's cracking. I can 78 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: see a crack in the fake tooth, so I'm a 79 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: little considered. I'm going to get a fancy of it. 80 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,279 Speaker 1: The tooth is going to fall out. But that kind 81 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: of reminds me what we were talking about with hair 82 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 1: and all the stigma around teeth and having perfect teeth 83 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: and having white teeth and how that is such a 84 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 1: privileged thing. That is, so that's not in reach for 85 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: everybody for a variety of reasons, whether it's access or 86 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 1: just genetics. Yeah, so in light of that, we wanted 87 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: to bring back this classic episode on perfect Teeth. So 88 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 1: please enjoy. Welcome to Stuff Mom Never told you from 89 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:17,839 Speaker 1: house Supports dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 90 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: I'm Kristin and I'm Caroline. And today on the podcast, 91 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about teeth. So many implications with teeth, 92 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:30,280 Speaker 1: teeth and beauty. Yeah, first things first, we i e. 93 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: Humans have been messing around with our teeth in the 94 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: form of oral modification or dental modification. We're a long 95 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: long time for all sorts of reasons, including health reasons, 96 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: beauty reasons, religious reasons, writes, a passage, social status, etcetera. 97 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 1: There is a world history contained in our chompers. I know, 98 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: it's just so interesting that that we have. And obviously 99 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: we'll talk about this, but we have such a street 100 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: as humans of messing with our teeth for various reasons. 101 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: And like animals, you know, like apes are ape ancestors 102 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: weren't like, let me file this down or let me 103 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: pull a mohler or whatever. You know, it's like, this 104 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: is such a person thing. Well, because I mean, we 105 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: could do a whole series of podcasts on body modification. 106 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: But if you think about it, humans really love messing 107 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,039 Speaker 1: around with their bodies, whether it's tattooing our skin or 108 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: piercing holes in ears and other places, or in this case, 109 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: messing around with the appearance of our teeth, whether it 110 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: is for health or purely aesthetic purposes. Yeah, so let's 111 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: go back, as we often do, to the ancient Egyptians, 112 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,800 Speaker 1: who developed a lot of dental treatments, including fillings on 113 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: false teeth. So already we're like, hey, you're missing a tooth. 114 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: Better get that fixed, Egyptians. And a little bit later on, 115 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 1: the very first historical record of a purely aesthetic tooth 116 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: modification came in the seventh century BC with the Etruscans, 117 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: who would sometimes wear these gold bands around their teeth, 118 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: and it was usually exclusively worn by women, and some 119 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: people think that they were like a form of primitive braces. 120 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: It actually might have been used to hold false teeth 121 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: in place. Yeah, but the false teeth weren't very convincing, right, 122 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:32,119 Speaker 1: because they were made out of things like other animals teeth. Yeah, 123 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: now they the etruscan false tooth technology, not not tip top. 124 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 1: Jenny over there is wearing that hippopotamus tooths protruding, doesn't 125 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: she know? We can all tell I didn't know Jenny 126 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: with an Etruscan name. It just came out of me. 127 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: But anyway, So, these primitive types of braces have also 128 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: been found on mummies that predate the Etruscans made out 129 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: of this thing called cat gut, which apparently is not 130 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: cat gut. Yeah, it's not the gut of a cat. 131 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: Now a cat the cat and cat gut is short 132 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: for cattle. But a lot of times cat gut would 133 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:13,560 Speaker 1: have been the intestines, the dried intestines of sheep or goats. 134 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: So why they didn't call it goat gut? Caroline? And 135 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know. I'm sure it was 136 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: something different in their language. Probably, So why are archaeologist 137 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: calling it that? You know? I don't know. We have 138 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: so many follow up questions already. Um, But long story short, 139 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: we're trying to get at is the fact that we 140 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: have been wearing braces types of gear in our mouths 141 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: for a very very very long time. In the case 142 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: of the etruscans, it was more ornamental, but there were 143 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: also practical reasons for it as well, to hold those 144 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: teeth in place, because we also didn't have things like 145 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: you know, your sonic care toothbrush and mouthwash and fluoride rints, 146 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: et cetera. That's right, and fancy Elizabethan ladies, they would 147 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: modify their teeth. They actually put axe balls called puffers 148 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: in place of missing teeth so that their cheeks wouldn't 149 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: appear sunken in. So this is another aesthetic, aesthetic alteration 150 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: which does remind me of when I was a kid, 151 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: when I would be losing my baby teeth if I 152 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: was chewing gum. This might be a very gross detail 153 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 1: to add. I think we all did this. Did you 154 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: make your own puffers kind of poke it up into 155 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: the space left by the tooth? Well, I also stuck 156 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: chicklets on my actual teeth. Oh yeah, of course I 157 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: mean that eat to put chicklets on your teeth, bugles 158 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: on your fingers, endless entertainment. Um. But yeah, So there's 159 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,199 Speaker 1: a million different ways I mean, talk about body modification. 160 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: There's a million different ways that humans throughout history and 161 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: still today modify their smiles. And the whole point of 162 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: this is that a perfect unquote smile is culturally relative 163 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. It depends on where you are, 164 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: because if we go across history and also around the world, 165 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 1: there have been four main types of dental modification, which 166 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:12,520 Speaker 1: includes a blation, which is intentionally removing certain teeth, filing, 167 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: drilling with inlays like putting Kesha. I believe she with 168 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: the money symbol in her name, had a little diamond 169 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: put into one of her teeth. That's an inlay, and 170 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: also staining, which we would think of today when we 171 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 1: white in our teeth. That's right, because it was the 172 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: opposite way with those silly Egyptians. They would stay in 173 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: their teeth red because they thought that the natural color 174 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: of teeth was like gross or something. Yeah. Yeah, just 175 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: so so so interesting. It's all relative, it is all relative. 176 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 1: For instance, in Japan, ancient Japan, they would blacken their 177 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: teeth for a couple of reasons. It showed a woman 178 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: had come of age, it did show wealth, but also 179 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: women in Japan would blacken their teeth to hide their mouth. 180 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,520 Speaker 1: Express Russians, it wasn't until a Japanese impress actually set 181 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: an example for white teeth for women that natural teeth 182 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,840 Speaker 1: took off well, and that was too, if I remember 183 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: it correctly, a process of Japan intentionally wanting to become 184 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,959 Speaker 1: more Westernized in appearance to the outside world, and so 185 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 1: it was outlawed. Yeah, that women even black in their teeth, 186 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:27,880 Speaker 1: although it is still practiced among some women, like in 187 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: more remote areas here and there of Southeast Asia. Um, 188 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: but speaking of puffers and those Elizabethan ladies, apparently in 189 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: Elizabethan England as well, there was a brief fad of 190 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,400 Speaker 1: blackening teeth. So you put your puffers in, you black 191 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: in your teeth, and you go to court. That would 192 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: be horrifying. Can you imagine, like all of a sudden, 193 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: we live in a world where you can like teleport 194 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: back in time and you show up at the court 195 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: and you have white teeth, and everyone's like embarrassing poser. 196 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: I know, they're like, what is she wearing? What these pants? 197 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 1: These pants you speak of? And then something that to 198 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 1: me personally is more horrifying than just like blackening your teeth, um, 199 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: is the pain that would accompany getting a tattoo on 200 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: your gums. This has been a practice, or had been 201 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: a practice in Senegal to signal a woman's coming of age. 202 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 1: What is all this? All this tooth modification to signal 203 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: like sexual availability kinda yeah, sexual availability status. Um. They're 204 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: similarly um in Morocco way back when they would also 205 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 1: practice gum darkening in order to make their teeth appear 206 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,440 Speaker 1: even whiter. Now, this is something that is still a 207 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: marker of female beauty and is a very coveted trait 208 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: that is not actually a dental modification but something that 209 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: you would rather hope to be born with. And that 210 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:55,959 Speaker 1: is the gap tooth and essentially the having a wide 211 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: space between your two front teeth, and that is still 212 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: a covet a trait among women in Nigeria, Ghana and 213 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:08,319 Speaker 1: Namibia in particular, and there are certain family groups who 214 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: are known to have this tooth gap and it's seen 215 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: as the most beautiful smile a woman could possibly have. Right. 216 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: Because Orange is the New Black actress Uzo a Dubo 217 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: otherwise known as Crazy Eyes in the show, she has 218 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: a tooth gap. And Kristen has a great blog post 219 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: every Stuff Mom Never Told You dot Com that quotes 220 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: her from an interview talking about how she was begging 221 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: and begging and begging to get the gap closed up 222 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: as a kid, and her mom said, look, missy, that's 223 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:39,199 Speaker 1: a history in your mouth. That is family history in 224 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 1: your mouth. That's how people know our family. And it's 225 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:46,200 Speaker 1: beautiful and so it is. It is a celebration in 226 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: many cultures that just happens to be in the West, 227 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: typically we get that closed up, although you do see 228 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,719 Speaker 1: some high fashion models here and there who will have 229 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: the gap tooth. And when I was researching for that 230 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: blog post, did run across one trend piece in The 231 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,640 Speaker 1: Guardian from a couple of years back talking about how, oh, 232 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: the gap tooth is is the hot new thing, which 233 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: I'm sure would would make Nigerian's laugh because what the 234 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: hot new thing? What are you talking about? It's always 235 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: been gorgeous, but you just because you have people like 236 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: Georgia May Jagger who has a big gap tooth, but 237 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: you have Madonna to who's had one forever. But whatever. 238 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: There's also snaggle teeth, which are really popular, and they've 239 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: been really popular in Japan. It's this whole concept of 240 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: wabby sabby, which is the idea of finding beauty and imperfections. Yeah, 241 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: and so uh, some people might have seen this, these 242 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 1: kinds of Japanese trend pieces popping up in the past 243 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 1: couple of years about younger girls in particular going and 244 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: having their teeth like artificially kind of snaggle toothed in 245 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: a way, having them put into where they overlap on 246 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: each other. And it was in order to achieve this 247 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: look um that's associated with being being a younger girl. 248 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: It looks very innocent and young. Now something that would 249 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 1: be now, something far more painful is teeth chiseling, which 250 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: is still practiced by some remote tribes that particularly in Indonesia, 251 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: and sometimes it's for a coming of age. Sometimes it's 252 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: something done primarily to women to show that they have 253 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:30,560 Speaker 1: matured and our of age. And it is exactly what 254 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 1: it sounds like, either teeth chiseled into sharp points. I 255 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: don't know. But then there are ancient cultures also who 256 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: considered sharp teeth to be equated to like monsters and 257 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: scary deities, and so that they would file their teeth 258 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: down to be the opposite of sharp. Yeah, that's what 259 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: they would do in Bali in order to ward off 260 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: negative emotions like anger and jealousy file those teeth down. 261 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: So in terms of oblation though, like we said, intentionally 262 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 1: removing teeth, the Randa people of Australia would actually remove 263 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,479 Speaker 1: a tooth from a boy's mouth as a rite of passage, 264 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 1: and then the boy's mom would stick the tooth in 265 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: a gum tree and once the boy died, the tree 266 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 1: would be stripped of its bark. Yeah once see that, 267 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: once he grew up and then died, and then I 268 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: guess that would be part of the funeral rites. Interesting, 269 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 1: his tooth tree would be stripped. So all sorts of 270 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: fascinating dental modifications going on in all sorts of cultures 271 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: around the world, which brings us to what we think 272 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: of as the perfect smile by Western standards today, which 273 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:49,520 Speaker 1: is very white and very straight. And the history of 274 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: how we whitened and straightened our teeth is also pretty fascinating. 275 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: So when it comes to how we began brushing our 276 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: teeth every day twice the day and floss ing, uh, 277 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: from medieval times through the Renaissance, tooth cleaning, as you 278 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 1: would probably guess, was very d i y. You would 279 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: essentially wipe them down with a cloth you might swish 280 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 1: around with vinegar or wine, which I don't I don't know. 281 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: Maybe I hope it was white wine. And then you 282 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 1: might chew on things like mint, rosemary rather fragrant herbs 283 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:27,399 Speaker 1: in order to freshen your breath because they did not 284 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: have proper toothbrushes and toothpaste. Some of them had a 285 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:36,560 Speaker 1: semi proper toothbrush because in the seventeenth century, uh, some 286 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:40,640 Speaker 1: people were using a bristle brush for their teeth that 287 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,959 Speaker 1: came to Europe from China. Yeah, And then fast forward 288 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:49,439 Speaker 1: to eighteen fifty seven when the first toothbrush is patented, 289 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:54,120 Speaker 1: and then in the eighteen eighties the first electronic toothbrush, surprise, Surprise, 290 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: is sold, and then soon after in the eighteen nineties, 291 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: we get dental floss. Something that I neglected to google 292 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: and I totally wanted to and should have is that 293 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: first electronic toothbrush. I want to see what it looks 294 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:08,879 Speaker 1: like because I imagine it to be like this huge 295 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,920 Speaker 1: contraption with a giant plug or whatever. I don't know, 296 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: something like a torture device. But I need to do 297 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 1: that mental note. I'll do that, Like I feel like 298 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: it was probably really dangerous to use, just because it 299 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: would have been presumably close to water and think about 300 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:29,560 Speaker 1: electricity at that time. Yeah, needed needed a lot of 301 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: safety instructions. Um. But so when we move into the 302 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:37,640 Speaker 1: twentieth century, we we get a huge uptick in the 303 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: pace of our dental technology and bright white teeth gradually 304 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: become the standard. We have obviously moved away from red 305 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 1: Egyptian teeth and black Japanese teeth, but it still wasn't 306 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,639 Speaker 1: until after World War Two the teeth brushing in the 307 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:58,240 Speaker 1: US really became a thing, Yeah, because soldiers were instructed 308 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: to brush your teeth to avoid get a something called 309 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:05,680 Speaker 1: trench mouth. But we should note that William Colgate and Company, 310 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,200 Speaker 1: that name probably rings a brand name bell to a 311 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: lot of listeners, began selling toothpaste in the US in 312 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:14,919 Speaker 1: the late eight hundred, so it was around. It probably 313 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: just wasn't in every single home because, as we'll talk 314 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,440 Speaker 1: about more later in the podcast, higher end dental care 315 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,399 Speaker 1: and having things that we would think of today is 316 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,360 Speaker 1: being so basic as a toothbrush and toothpaste have largely 317 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:32,040 Speaker 1: been related to class in your financial situation, right, and 318 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: so I mean, speaking of money by Americans, we're spending 319 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:38,879 Speaker 1: three d and eight three million dollars per year on 320 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 1: over the counter whitening products. I had to stop using 321 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,359 Speaker 1: whitening stuff because it was like, my gums are not 322 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: It was not good for me. So now I have 323 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: to use sensidine stuff type toothpaste because my teeth were 324 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:57,480 Speaker 1: getting too sensitive from whitening. Cautionary tale from Caroline. I 325 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:01,440 Speaker 1: know the cycle of the cycle of whitening. But fast 326 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: forward and the New York Times was reporting on cosmetic 327 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 1: dental seramus having to make sure that their veneers didn't 328 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: look too perfect because we've been pursuing these white, white, white, 329 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,800 Speaker 1: perfect perfect teeth for so many years, and suddenly people 330 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: are like, your teeth just look fake. I want real 331 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,920 Speaker 1: looking teeth. And so now if you're showing up anywhere 332 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: from seven veneers, if you have the means, a lot 333 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 1: of people are asking for slightly like tinted veneers that 334 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: that look more realistic. Yeah, And and the funny thing 335 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: about it is, first of all, just the fact that 336 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 1: this trend piece exists, and they were able to interview 337 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: these dentists who were scoffing it how white some people's 338 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:48,760 Speaker 1: veneers are. Because these wealthy clients usually would walk into 339 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:54,119 Speaker 1: the dentist's office and want a look that they saw 340 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,200 Speaker 1: in a Hollywood tabloid. But the dentists were like, what 341 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:01,479 Speaker 1: you don't realize is that when those paparazzi photos are 342 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: being taken, our red carpet photos are being taken, the 343 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,960 Speaker 1: flash from the cameras is reflecting off of the teeth, 344 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,159 Speaker 1: making them appear even whiter than they normally are. So 345 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: if you get teeth that are as white as you 346 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 1: see in US Weekly and People magazine, then they will 347 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:24,680 Speaker 1: be almost blindingly white, which does hearken my brain back 348 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: to that episode and Friends when Ross gets I think 349 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,439 Speaker 1: it's teeth white and in their way too white, and 350 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: I now feel old for your friends joke. It's distracting. 351 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: Like talking to someone whose teeth are obviously like super 352 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:41,640 Speaker 1: super white. I can't help but stare at their mouth. 353 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,119 Speaker 1: It's incredible that we're to this point where your teeth 354 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: can be too white and too perfect. We have jumped 355 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: the shark. But in addition to the pursuit of white, 356 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: there's also been the pursuit of the straight teeth. And 357 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:58,159 Speaker 1: so we have a brief history of braces, which fun fact, 358 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: Barbers were the first denist didn't you know, when you 359 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:03,399 Speaker 1: go to the barber, that's where you'd also go to 360 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: get a bad tooth pulled way back in the day. 361 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,640 Speaker 1: So it is a good thing that oral technology has 362 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: come the long way that it has. But orthodongia actually 363 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: took off in the eighteenth century, which isn't so surprising 364 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:18,880 Speaker 1: that it's been around that long when you think about 365 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: the fact that those of Truscan women were wearing those 366 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,400 Speaker 1: gold bands, and the mummies had primitive braces on as well, 367 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: cat gut o cat good. Well, it's actually some French 368 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: folks who took us far far from cat gut uh 369 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:38,679 Speaker 1: to more modern braces, so kind of. In seventeen eight, 370 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,479 Speaker 1: French dentist Pierre Fourchard published a book called The Surgeon Dentist, 371 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 1: which described what sounds terribly painful. It's some kind of 372 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: device called a band and braces. The brace technology really 373 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: didn't change all that much up until the nineteen fifties. Yeah, 374 00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: and this brief history, by the way, is coming from 375 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: the fabulous folk at Mental Floss. And after the fifties 376 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: you have an accelerated pace of orthodontia technology. So by 377 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:12,360 Speaker 1: the mid seventies orthodontists have figured out how to put 378 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 1: those brackets on the front of our teeth, and then 379 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: by the eighties they figured out is how we put 380 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: them on the back of our teeth, and so by 381 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: the nineteen nineties, around a third of us kids are 382 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:30,680 Speaker 1: getting braces. And now I feel like it's almost a standard, 383 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: almost box you check where once you have a kid, 384 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: you start taking him to the dentists, like, well, will 385 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: he or she get braces or not? Yeah, I never 386 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: had braces. I had them on my bottom teeth. They 387 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,119 Speaker 1: they wanted to wait to put them on my top 388 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:48,640 Speaker 1: teeth because they wanted to break my jaw and bring 389 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: it forward because I have an overbite. But I was like, 390 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let you do that. You don't know 391 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,400 Speaker 1: this yet, but I'm not going to let you do that. 392 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: So I never end up getting braces on my top teeth. 393 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: And they look great. Okay, have BEAUTIFU team. I feel 394 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,000 Speaker 1: like they're better. From this side. I'm turning my left 395 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 1: side to Kristen because this side I have a crooked tooth. 396 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:07,680 Speaker 1: And today is the day I learned that Caroline has 397 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: a preferred tooth side I do so when the paparazzi 398 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,520 Speaker 1: finally find me down here in Atlanta. You'll know his 399 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,919 Speaker 1: side to turn. Take the picture from the left. Well, 400 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: the whole reason why we were even inspired to do 401 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,199 Speaker 1: this episode on teeth is that when it comes to 402 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: braces in particular, it's farlikelier a little Janey's gonna get 403 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,360 Speaker 1: braces compared to little Johnny, or that she is going 404 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 1: to want braces, that she's gonna look in the mirror 405 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,680 Speaker 1: and see her teeth and think those are not up 406 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: to snuff. Now, going back to earlier in the podcast, 407 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: when we were taking a trip around the world with 408 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:49,400 Speaker 1: different forms of dental modification, there were some that were 409 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: exclusively targeted to women in those cultures, such as the 410 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: tooth blackening in Japan and tooth chiseling among certain groups, 411 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: but all so now today braces tend to happen more 412 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:09,439 Speaker 1: often among girls. It's really interesting looking at girls and 413 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: also their parents wanting girls to get braces. But there 414 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,200 Speaker 1: was a study that looked at the factors that go 415 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 1: into children, young people, teens wanting uh dental therapy of 416 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: of several different kinds, and they found that the two 417 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:31,479 Speaker 1: main predictors were psychological elements and female gender. So just 418 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: simply being a girl is a huge predictor of seeking 419 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: things like braces or other orthodontia or teeth whitening. Yeah, 420 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,480 Speaker 1: And that study was linked to in an article by 421 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: sociologist Philip Cohen who noticed a stark gender gap in 422 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 1: braces and he wrote about it for Sociological Images, which 423 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,120 Speaker 1: was then cross posted to a Pacific Standard magazine, and 424 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:58,280 Speaker 1: he found looking at a bunch of studies, the girls 425 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,400 Speaker 1: are twice as likely than boys to say that they 426 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:05,560 Speaker 1: don't like their teeth and want braces. Even said, just 427 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:11,480 Speaker 1: google image braces and about of the photos that come 428 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: up are all you know, stock images of girls with 429 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,960 Speaker 1: braces on. And there was even I don't know why 430 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: it gave me the heavy geeps. But if you go 431 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,120 Speaker 1: on Pinterest, because I'm kind of gotten to a bit 432 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:30,920 Speaker 1: of an internet rabbit hole looking at uh images of braces, 433 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,439 Speaker 1: you know, kids embraces to see whether you know, what 434 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: Cohen said holds up, and it so does. If you 435 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: go over to Pinterest, there are so many pin boards 436 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:44,120 Speaker 1: just of girls embraces. Why I don't know. I think 437 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 1: it's some of its fashion, you know, for girls, you know, 438 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 1: to be proud of their braces, like beautiful with braces. 439 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: But it is definitely, it's definitely a thing. Go on 440 00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:56,199 Speaker 1: Pinterest and you know, you don't have to take my 441 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: word for it. Um, but this was something too that 442 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,920 Speaker 1: found not just in the US, but also abroad. Yeah, 443 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,800 Speaker 1: same in in um, England and Germany. That girls are 444 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:13,480 Speaker 1: more likely to get braces, same with adult women. Um. 445 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:17,400 Speaker 1: Another Google search was, uh, if you google mother daughter 446 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,479 Speaker 1: braces he was talking about, you get pictures of mothers 447 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 1: and daughters getting braces together. But if you google father 448 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 1: son braces, it brings you to practices orthodonist offices run 449 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: by fathers and sons. Yeah, because adult braces have become 450 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:38,000 Speaker 1: more common in recent years, and even among that you 451 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: know clientele demographic, it tends to skew female. And I 452 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: went to the dentist a couple of years ago and 453 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,360 Speaker 1: was so surprised because I grew up had a great 454 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: dentist and was never recommended for braces. And I don't 455 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 1: have a completely perfectly straight mouth of teeth, but that 456 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,440 Speaker 1: is fine. They're they're whatever. And one of the first 457 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 1: things she said was have you ever considered braces? What? Yeah, 458 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,399 Speaker 1: she was like, if you if you just wear these Invisilene, No, 459 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: one will even be able to No, No, that is 460 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: just such a sales pitch. They're just trying to make 461 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: money because dental costs are spiraling and they're not getting 462 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 1: all their money back from medicaid, and so they just 463 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: want to make their money through invisible line. Well, jokes 464 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:26,880 Speaker 1: on you, Caroline, because she was right. You can't see 465 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,200 Speaker 1: my invisible because they're in right now. No I don't, 466 00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,800 Speaker 1: I don't have them. Yeah, it did feel it. It 467 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,959 Speaker 1: was a peculiar sales pitch to get. And I wonder 468 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: if a guy who walked in with my teeth and 469 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: my bite, which yes it is a perfect bite, Oh good, 470 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: if she would have recommended that to him. I don't know. 471 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 1: Higher expectations for women, um so well, And that's what 472 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,400 Speaker 1: Cohen thinks the sociologists we talked about. He thinks that 473 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 1: it has a lot to do with these higher standards 474 00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: and higher expectations for female beauty, because more girls getting 475 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 1: braces has absolutely nothing to do with more more girls 476 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: needing braces. They're also studies that he looked at comparing 477 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: whether kids were getting braces purely for aesthetic reasons or 478 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,800 Speaker 1: because they did have some kind of dental alignment issue 479 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,280 Speaker 1: that needed to be corrected, and overwhelmingly girls were likelier 480 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: to get them for purely aesthetic reasons. Right. But he 481 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: was also talking about how in reality, boys and girls 482 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: have equal need for braces. Among children who need them 483 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,200 Speaker 1: to correct a problem or whatever, straighten teeth, whatever, the 484 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: need is equal, but girls perception of their need is 485 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 1: way greater. Um he found that among girls who get braces, 486 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: their actual need is low. And like we said, with 487 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: adult braces, that's a trend that continues into adulthood, and 488 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: that includes cosmetic surgery. Women are much more likely to 489 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: get various types of cosmetic surgery into adulthood. Two. And 490 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,480 Speaker 1: that goes back to expectations of how girls look. Yeah, 491 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: there was a survey from the American Academy of Cosmetic 492 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 1: Dentistry which found of women reported that they would pay 493 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 1: money to improve the appearance of their teeth compared to 494 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: of men. And that was linked to from a blog 495 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 1: post over at the Beheld written by Autumn Whitefield Madronto 496 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: past stuff Mom Never Told You guessed who was wondering 497 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: in this post whether the gender gap is due to, yes, 498 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: those higher beauty standards for women and the way she 499 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: put it so well that average teeth on men are 500 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:35,920 Speaker 1: considered more acceptable than average teeth on women. And the 501 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: thing that got her thinking about it, at least in 502 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 1: this post was Will Ferrell's teeth. She was watching Anchorman, 503 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: and if you've watched Anchor, manners, seen you know, anything 504 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: with Will Ferrell and it, you'll see that he does 505 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: not he has pretty His lower teeth in particular, are 506 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,240 Speaker 1: not all in the straight line, let's put it that way. 507 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: But you would never see. I can't think of a 508 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:04,160 Speaker 1: single woman I've seen on television who has that noticeably 509 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: crooked teeth. And I think, and this is just a hypothesis, 510 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: but I think that if you did, it would be 511 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: because some message is being played up that this woman 512 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,840 Speaker 1: was a quote unquote hillbilly, or she was poor or 513 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: something that if a woman's teeth looked like that on 514 00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: television or in the movies, it's to deliver a certain 515 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: message about her, whereas that's just that's just Will Ferrell's teeth. Well, 516 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: and that's the thing, because the more we read about teeth, 517 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,960 Speaker 1: the more it became apparent that even more than gender, 518 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 1: these days, class and social status are so closely associated 519 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: with the status of your teeth because you know, going 520 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 1: way back in time to you know, those Elizabethan women 521 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 1: of means, they would have those puffers to make sure 522 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,320 Speaker 1: that their cheeks puffed out in the correct kind of way, 523 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,840 Speaker 1: and they would have access to whatever sort of early 524 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: dental care was available. Not so for the lower classes. 525 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 1: And that's something though, of poorer people not having access 526 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: to dental health care that remains today right. Um. And 527 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 1: there was a two thousand eight study in the journal 528 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:17,440 Speaker 1: Nature that talked about the negative judgments that we lobb 529 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:21,520 Speaker 1: against people who have teeth that are darker or more decayed. 530 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: The darker or more decayed they are, the more negative 531 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 1: our judgments are in terms of things like social competence, 532 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: intellectual ability, psychological adjustment, and relationship satisfaction. It's sort of 533 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:39,520 Speaker 1: a visible sign of inadequate access to healthcare and to 534 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 1: taking care of oneself well. And I think there are 535 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 1: more assumptions about the taking care of oneself part that 536 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 1: um that really stands out because gender in this case 537 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:54,880 Speaker 1: did not have a significant effect. If you have decaying teeth, 538 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,200 Speaker 1: missing teeth, it has an equally negative impact on how 539 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:02,400 Speaker 1: people perceive you. I mean, especially for missing teeth. If 540 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: you lose a tooth. Um. I've had a situation where 541 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:10,400 Speaker 1: I've shipped a tooth before and you know, walked around 542 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:13,040 Speaker 1: for a week with a little snaggle tooth and I 543 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: knew it was going to be fixed, but it drew 544 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:19,400 Speaker 1: so much attention just because of one. Yeah, because you 545 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:21,800 Speaker 1: don't expect to see this. You know, we have this 546 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: idea that you should have white, straight, perfect teeth because 547 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: that signals that you take care of yourself, that you 548 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: have the you know, the money to pay for dental visits, 549 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:33,440 Speaker 1: that you might have had braces when you were a kid, 550 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: that you don't have some kind of drug habit, that 551 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: you don't smoke, etcetera. Right, But we don't automatically think, oh, 552 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: that girl has good health insurance and doesn't smoke or 553 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: do meth. We it's just sort of tied up in 554 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,680 Speaker 1: our assumptions about, oh, like you said, taking care of 555 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:53,880 Speaker 1: yourself exactly. And the perfect character on Internet TV, because 556 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:55,880 Speaker 1: I don't know if you can call Netflix TV TV 557 00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,120 Speaker 1: who embodies this is Pensent tuck E on Orange The 558 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: New Black, who has those stereotypical rotted out meth teeth 559 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,359 Speaker 1: and it's so much a part of her character as 560 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: well as that entire group on Orange is a New 561 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:14,400 Speaker 1: Black that she's a part of that we all assume, 562 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:16,880 Speaker 1: you know, have had meth problems in the past, and 563 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,040 Speaker 1: so they have these rotted out teeth. But when she 564 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:24,000 Speaker 1: returns with corrected teeth, all of a sudden, she's too 565 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:26,960 Speaker 1: big for britches and everybody thinks that she thinks she's 566 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,239 Speaker 1: too good for them. Yeah, but with the with the 567 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:33,880 Speaker 1: rotted out teeth, it's the signaling that she has little education, 568 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 1: she's not very smart, she had a drug habit. You know, 569 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:42,239 Speaker 1: it's like or even during uh in Halloween times when 570 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: you know they're all those false teeth at the costume store, 571 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,720 Speaker 1: there's always a hillbilly teeth and they're you know, poking 572 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,239 Speaker 1: out and they're missing, they're yellow, they're rotting right, And 573 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:55,959 Speaker 1: speaking to the Telegraph, Malcolm Gladwell actually cited teeth as 574 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:00,279 Speaker 1: the emerging social status signal between rich and or, and 575 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: he equated them and the issue of basically dental hygiene 576 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,399 Speaker 1: and how your teeth appear with obesity problems in terms 577 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,040 Speaker 1: of what they signal. Yeah, he said, there's symptoms of 578 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: the same set of inferences that are being drawn. So 579 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 1: from his logic, the same way that obesity often is 580 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:23,480 Speaker 1: associated with having poor lifestyle habits, we place the same 581 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:28,399 Speaker 1: set of negative social assumptions and stigmas onto people who 582 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:32,360 Speaker 1: have less than perfect looking teeth. And this is happening 583 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:37,600 Speaker 1: while the sort of Hollywood projected standards for what your 584 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: teeth should look like only you know, continue to increase. 585 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,759 Speaker 1: Everyone has white, perfect teeth when you flip through a 586 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,920 Speaker 1: magazine these days. But it's astonishing when you look at 587 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:53,760 Speaker 1: the US, just the lack of oral healthcare, because even 588 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:59,240 Speaker 1: with Obamacare and universal healthcare, there's still a massive gap 589 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 1: when it comes to dental coverage. There are around one 590 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:07,920 Speaker 1: hundred thirty million Americans, or around of the population with 591 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: zero dental coverage. Yeah, and forty five million Americans actually 592 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,680 Speaker 1: live nowhere near a dentist, And it seems like in 593 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:20,640 Speaker 1: terms of healthcare and dental care, dental is often almost 594 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:23,160 Speaker 1: like an afterthought because a lot of people who do 595 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:26,360 Speaker 1: have health insurance still don't have dental In two thousand 596 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,840 Speaker 1: and eight, for instance, a quarter of Americans under sixty 597 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:34,120 Speaker 1: five had no dental coverage. And having dental coverage tends 598 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:38,719 Speaker 1: to be correlated with income and education, so people who 599 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,480 Speaker 1: have a college education. That's a big predictor of whether 600 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,799 Speaker 1: you will actually have dental coverage, but that definitely doesn't 601 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,239 Speaker 1: mean that everyone's going to have it. And even with 602 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: things like Medicaid and medicare, the dental provisions are minimal 603 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,719 Speaker 1: at best. There is a statistic, I think, coming from 604 00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:58,800 Speaker 1: the Pew Research Center which found that in two thousand eleven, 605 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: over half of all kids covered by Medicaid received no 606 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: dental care, which might have had to do with where 607 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:10,120 Speaker 1: they are living, because there are these massive geographical areas 608 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:14,440 Speaker 1: all around the US that have no, you know, dental practices, 609 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: because setting up a thriving dental practice can actually be 610 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: challenging if you're not in a large metropolitan area. But 611 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:24,799 Speaker 1: even for poor people over twenty one who can get 612 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: access to Medicaid, the only dental care they can get 613 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:33,680 Speaker 1: applies to emergency dental treatments, and even then it's paid 614 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:37,799 Speaker 1: for only on a state by state basis. Yeah, so 615 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,360 Speaker 1: I mean in terms of price, the Robert Wood Johnson 616 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:43,680 Speaker 1: Foundation found that average out of pocket dental costs are 617 00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:46,879 Speaker 1: eight hundred and seventy three dollars. So basically, dental care 618 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 1: for a lot of people a lot of people is 619 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:53,400 Speaker 1: becoming a luxury, and you have the costs of dental 620 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: care outpacing both the rate of inflation and overall medical 621 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,879 Speaker 1: cost increases across the board. And think about it too, 622 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,839 Speaker 1: as you get older, and you probably need to take 623 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,439 Speaker 1: even better care of your teeth. But when it comes 624 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,760 Speaker 1: to Medicare for the elderly, they only get coverage for again, 625 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:15,680 Speaker 1: emergency dental procedures. It doesn't even cover dentures um. So 626 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:19,240 Speaker 1: it's a little wonder then that in two thousand nine, 627 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,600 Speaker 1: eight hundred thirty thousand and fifty Americans went to the 628 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:28,080 Speaker 1: e er for preventable dental problems because I mean, what 629 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:30,800 Speaker 1: else are they going to do? They can't there's nowhere 630 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:35,319 Speaker 1: else to go. Yeah, yeah, And and it's especially bad 631 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:39,080 Speaker 1: when you realize, and a lot of people might not 632 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:42,759 Speaker 1: realize that poor dental health is linked to a lot 633 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:46,200 Speaker 1: of other health problems. My father, who has heart issues, 634 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:51,240 Speaker 1: totally preaches that people need to floss. It's a huge 635 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:54,160 Speaker 1: thing for him because dental bacteria is linked to things 636 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,800 Speaker 1: like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, pneumonia, preterm birth. I mean, you 637 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,000 Speaker 1: wouldn't think it. You're like, oh, I had some cheese, 638 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:01,480 Speaker 1: see poofs, and I'm just gonna fall asleep and not 639 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:05,600 Speaker 1: worry about it. No, brush those teeth, brush those cheezy 640 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:10,239 Speaker 1: poofs out. But if you are living in a paycheck 641 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:15,360 Speaker 1: to paycheck situation or even less than clearly, you know 642 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,160 Speaker 1: what was that eight seventy three dollars average out of 643 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:21,200 Speaker 1: cost dental care? If you don't have insurance, that's going 644 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,799 Speaker 1: to be the last thing that you're going to pay 645 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,360 Speaker 1: for most likely, unless you it is to the point 646 00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,560 Speaker 1: to where you are in such extreme pain that you 647 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,240 Speaker 1: probably will have to go to the emergency room. So 648 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,560 Speaker 1: it's something that we don't think about very often at 649 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 1: all when we just see these celebrities walking down the 650 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:44,800 Speaker 1: red carpet with these perfectly imperfect veneers that they've gotten 651 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:47,960 Speaker 1: for thousands of dollars, that this is actually a huge 652 00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:53,000 Speaker 1: issue and there's so much social class tied up with that. 653 00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:57,760 Speaker 1: So this modern day quest for a quote unquote perfect 654 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,440 Speaker 1: smile is about so much more than looking good. I mean, 655 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:06,480 Speaker 1: this is about basic healthcare that people are missing out on. Okay, 656 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:09,680 Speaker 1: So now that we have thrown a bunch of these 657 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:11,840 Speaker 1: stats that you I'm I'm interested in hearing from listeners 658 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:16,919 Speaker 1: who maybe have felt discrimination based on their appearance there, 659 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: especially their teeth appearance. I have a friend who got 660 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:25,359 Speaker 1: a tooth knocked out in a freak accident, and he 661 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:27,880 Speaker 1: didn't worry about getting it replaced for a while because 662 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,880 Speaker 1: of money issues. But then it came time to do 663 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,680 Speaker 1: job interviews and it's like, it's not going to happen 664 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:34,520 Speaker 1: in the back of his mouth either. It's one of 665 00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,239 Speaker 1: his front teeth, and he's like, I've got to go 666 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:38,160 Speaker 1: show out some big bucks now to get a to 667 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:41,440 Speaker 1: get a fake tooth so that I can get a job. Yeah. 668 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:44,680 Speaker 1: Absolutely so. Um, if you've experienced these kinds of things, 669 00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:49,000 Speaker 1: or if you are perhaps a social worker who works 670 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:53,520 Speaker 1: with lower income communities on to target these kinds of 671 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:57,960 Speaker 1: dental issues, we particularly want to hear from you, because 672 00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:02,959 Speaker 1: there is so much more to our teeth than whether 673 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:08,680 Speaker 1: or not we just have perfect, straight, white paparazzi ready choppers. 674 00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:11,279 Speaker 1: Remember shoot me from the left, yes, and and by 675 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,360 Speaker 1: the way, if you also are a paparazzo, shoot Caroline 676 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:18,440 Speaker 1: from the left with a camera. Yes, with a camera. 677 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:23,080 Speaker 1: So send us all of your thoughts on teeth. Mom 678 00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuffworks dot com is our email address, 679 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:28,160 Speaker 1: and you can also tweet us at mom Stuff podcast 680 00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:30,759 Speaker 1: or messages on Facebook. And we have a couple of 681 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:39,520 Speaker 1: messages to share with you right now about insomnia. Well, 682 00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:42,080 Speaker 1: I have a letter here from Cindy. She says, I 683 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,000 Speaker 1: was so glad to hear your podcast on Lady Insomnia, 684 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:48,920 Speaker 1: more specifically the idea that the sleep wake sleep cycle 685 00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:53,120 Speaker 1: maybe a natural occurrence and one our ancestors regularly experienced. 686 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,280 Speaker 1: In the past, I quote unquote struggled with insomnia, becoming 687 00:41:57,320 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 1: frustrated and anxious when I would go through periods of 688 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,000 Speaker 1: awakening for several hours in the night for many nights 689 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,360 Speaker 1: in a row. My anxiety would put me into that 690 00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:07,719 Speaker 1: anxiety loop you spoke of. Recently, I heard about Ben 691 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:11,560 Speaker 1: Franklin's nighttime adventures. I heard that Mark Twain also experienced 692 00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:14,680 Speaker 1: great creativity in the night. I realized that I, too, 693 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:18,200 Speaker 1: maybe just one of the great snicker. I decided to 694 00:42:18,239 --> 00:42:21,120 Speaker 1: accept night wakes as normal and see what that attitude 695 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:24,520 Speaker 1: shift might do for me. It has been great, although 696 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:26,719 Speaker 1: there have still been a few times when my wakefulness 697 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,759 Speaker 1: seemed more exhausting and less than lightning. For the most part, 698 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:31,840 Speaker 1: I now accept my night wakes as a time of 699 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:36,640 Speaker 1: peaceful reflection or let's be honest, Facebook alone time. I 700 00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:39,440 Speaker 1: generally give myself one or two hours in the night 701 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:42,080 Speaker 1: of wakefulness before I shut the iPad and attempt to 702 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,480 Speaker 1: sleep again. Usually that's all it takes. Sometimes I wake 703 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:47,440 Speaker 1: again and go through my wake cycle once more, but 704 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:50,879 Speaker 1: usually not. I awake with less frustrated anxiety and feel 705 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:53,040 Speaker 1: more rested than when I got the same amount or 706 00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:56,360 Speaker 1: lack of sleep but was angry about it. I completely 707 00:42:56,400 --> 00:42:58,759 Speaker 1: agree that some forms of insomnia are much worse than 708 00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:02,160 Speaker 1: mine and much more crazy making. However, much like accepting 709 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:05,080 Speaker 1: the pain of childbirth as normal and therefore fearing it 710 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,840 Speaker 1: less even though it still hurts my accepting this sleep 711 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,360 Speaker 1: wake sleep cycle as natural does not change it, but 712 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:13,960 Speaker 1: it changes my attitude toward it and therefore makes it 713 00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:18,319 Speaker 1: less grading usually on my soul. So thank you for 714 00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:20,960 Speaker 1: sharing your experience. Then, I also thought about trying out 715 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,200 Speaker 1: that sleep wake sleep thing, but I end up just 716 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:26,439 Speaker 1: lying in bed sad well. I also have a letter 717 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: here from c J about insomnia, and though the whole 718 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:31,360 Speaker 1: thing is too long to share, I did want to 719 00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:36,320 Speaker 1: share some of it. C J rites After a certain point, 720 00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:38,680 Speaker 1: I kind of gave up on trying to conform myself 721 00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:41,440 Speaker 1: to what is considered normal, and quit inflicting the belief 722 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:43,880 Speaker 1: of others that it was somehow a huge failing of 723 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:46,520 Speaker 1: mine that I couldn't fall asleep by eleven PM or 724 00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:49,920 Speaker 1: fall asleep within fifteen minutes of going to bed. Society 725 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,120 Speaker 1: has very little sympathy for you if you don't wake 726 00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:55,320 Speaker 1: up early on a permanent basis. Schools and most jobs 727 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:58,320 Speaker 1: start in early morning hours. In our society is permeated 728 00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:01,520 Speaker 1: with the thought that the early bird gets the worm. 729 00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,960 Speaker 1: I learned long ago not to mention my sleep problems 730 00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:06,120 Speaker 1: because the most common response I get is along the 731 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:08,920 Speaker 1: lines of you must really like to stay out late partying, 732 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:13,680 Speaker 1: which couldn't be further from the truth. Recently, I saw 733 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:17,440 Speaker 1: new advice for taking melatonin, using a formula based on 734 00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:20,000 Speaker 1: when you wanted to get up. This new advice times 735 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:22,759 Speaker 1: by Melotoni in taking closer to eight PM, rather than 736 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,000 Speaker 1: the previous advice for my doctors, which was to take 737 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:27,160 Speaker 1: it right before I went to bed. This method of 738 00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:29,319 Speaker 1: taking the melitone in earlier, along with the other things 739 00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:31,080 Speaker 1: I do, like trying to wake up at similar times 740 00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:33,839 Speaker 1: every day, avoiding blue light in the evening, avoiding eating late, 741 00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:36,640 Speaker 1: getting exercise, and not doing other things in my bedroom, 742 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:40,319 Speaker 1: etcetera has allowed for my best time so far in 743 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:42,640 Speaker 1: terms of sleep. Over the last twenty years or so, 744 00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:45,720 Speaker 1: I've usually been able to fall asleep around one am, 745 00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:47,479 Speaker 1: and I can also get to my current job around 746 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:49,880 Speaker 1: nine AM, so I've been able to get around seven 747 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:52,360 Speaker 1: hours of sleep on a somewhat regular basis, which is 748 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:55,279 Speaker 1: pretty darn good for me. But taking the melitonin in 749 00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:58,040 Speaker 1: early for the first time in my life, I actually 750 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:01,080 Speaker 1: feel a little more normal because I usually feel sleepy 751 00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:04,000 Speaker 1: before I go to bed, which I never did before. 752 00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:07,960 Speaker 1: Sleepy and physically tired or unfortunately two different things, and 753 00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:10,960 Speaker 1: I don't feel like the walking dead most of the time. 754 00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:13,600 Speaker 1: So I would encourage people to try and get treatment 755 00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,280 Speaker 1: maybe because it can help, but also don't beat yourself 756 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:18,399 Speaker 1: up if it doesn't work as well as you'd hope. 757 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:21,920 Speaker 1: Maybe try working your life more around the insomnia rather 758 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,120 Speaker 1: than the other way around. And for those of you 759 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:26,480 Speaker 1: without insomnia'd be grateful and please have a little more 760 00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:30,440 Speaker 1: sympathy for us night owls. So thanks c J, and 761 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,080 Speaker 1: thanks to everybody who's written into us mom stuff at 762 00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:35,279 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com is our email address and 763 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:37,879 Speaker 1: for links to all of our social media's as well 764 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:41,560 Speaker 1: as all of our blog posts, videos, and podcasts. There's 765 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:44,200 Speaker 1: one place to go, and it's stuff Mom Never told 766 00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:50,239 Speaker 1: You dot com or more on this and thousands of 767 00:45:50,239 --> 00:46:00,320 Speaker 1: other topics doesn't how stuff works dot com