British and Irish teeth

whiteonion

The worst teeth I have seen in my life have been British and Irish teeth. Why do people in these places have so bad teeth. In Sweden, Finland or Norway you rarely see people with teeth missing. I have met several Irish females with more than 5 fillings before the age of 25. I'm 27 and have never had a filling in my life, mainly because I brush my teeth twice a day. Now you might say that most people here do the same, so it has to be a poor diet that leads to the poor dental health in Britain and Ireland.

yawnstretch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_fluorosis

ballsymchugh

yawnstretch wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_fluorosis

nope.

diet diet diet.

davo10

Oral Hygiene, Oral Hygiene, Oral Hygiene.

ballsymchugh

plus, scandinavian dentures are sooooooo natural looking!

whiteonion

If you read the statistics the British supposedly have among the best teeth in the world, but I find it hard to believe based on personal experience.

coylemj

whiteonion wrote: »

If you read the statistics the British supposedly have among the best teeth in the world, but I find it hard to believe based on personal experience.

I find that hard to believe, aren't the statistics shocking for Scotland for example? I recall reading somewhere that only a tiny % of the population above the age of 40 (might even have been 30) still have all of their teeth.

Americans have the expression 'English teeth' which refers to a less than perfect set. They are so obsessive about teeth (just look at Simon Cowell) that any deviation from perfection is taken as a sign that you are a member of a barbaric race of cave dwellers.

djrichard

coylemj wrote: »

I find that hard to believe, aren't the statistics shocking for Scotland for example? I recall reading somewhere that only a tiny % of the population above the age of 40 (might even have been 30) still have all of their teeth.

I reckon being bottle fed Irn Bru might have something to do with it!

enfant terrible

How much does it cost to get celebrity quality teeth like these?
http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/beauty-and-hair/celebrity/2009/05/21/celebrity-teeth-pictures-before-and-after#!image-number=24

Jimmy Garlic

Hmmm, you may be onto something (a stereotype). Maybe a diet of herring and vodka is what's needed.

In fairness bro, the Scandinavian diet sucks balls, big time.

flahavaj

DMF scores for British children show that they have actualy caught us up and are passing us out in term of oral health in recent years, despite our use of water fluoridation.

Dianthus

It's also a matter of priorities. I previously worked with a Swedish dentist; the vast majority of his Swedish patients flossed daily as a matter of routine, attended religiously on 6 month recalls, & brought their children to the dentist from the arrival of the very first baby tooth. The focus on prevention of dental disease is huge there.

By comparison, many children in Ireland& the UK are only brought to the dentist when they are in pain (leading to a more traumatic first dental experience for the child than your average checkup), or via the school (this equates to 3 visits over an 8 year period).

face2face

I'd like to know the percentage of Irish people that floss daily, if it comes up I always ask and most don't - truly truly disgusting......Also agree that most people don't go to the dentist regularly enough or bring their children - to me it's like vaccinations - has to be done. Can't beat the feel of a good clean mouth:D

DaveTwenty7

Of the 10-15 patients I see a day on average 2 is all that say they floss daily (and as Dr Gregory House says everybody lies!)

Norwayviking

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Hmmm, you may be onto something (a stereotype). Maybe a diet of herring and vodka is what's needed.

In fairness bro, the Scandinavian diet sucks balls, big time.

Whats a scandinavian diet???

swanangel

Dianthus wrote: »

It's also a matter of priorities. I previously worked with a Swedish dentist; the vast majority of his Swedish patients flossed daily as a matter of routine, attended religiously on 6 month recalls, & brought their children to the dentist from the arrival of the very first baby tooth. The focus on prevention of dental disease is huge there.

By comparison, many children in Ireland& the UK are only brought to the dentist when they are in pain (leading to a more traumatic first dental experience for the child than your average checkup), or via the school (this equates to 3 visits over an 8 year period).

Well said Dianthus! I was never brought for check-ups, never told to floss and can't recall even one time that my parents told me to brush my teeth - it makes me so angry!:mad:
It will be totally different for my future children!

Susie564

swanangel wrote: »

Well said Dianthus! I was never brought for check-ups, never told to floss and can't recall even one time that my parents told me to brush my teeth - it makes me so angry!:mad:
It will be totally different for my future children!

Agreed - first time I saw a dentist I was 12, the next time I went to a dentist I was in my early twenties! My parents did try to get me to brush, but only started flossing in my twenties. I now do it religiously cause I'm terrified of having my wisdom teeth out.
If I have kids I'll definitely try a different approach with them.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

The Irish and British dont like spending money on quality dental care, like to only fix the things that are causing them pain in the cheapest most short term way possible and tend not to replace missing teeth. From personal experience the public dental health service in Scandinavian countries are much better with a strong emphasis on prevention. Also most of the perceived quality of teeth is their alignment so orthodontics pays a big part in this, the public system in ireland and england being terribly insufficient. On a decayed, missing and filled level the irish and english are not the best but but even vaguely the worst.