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