smokingboot | No meme!

No, too embarrassing! I cannot do that meme everyone's into, despite my desperate desire to be cuddled and flattered right now.

It has provoked some interesting thoughts though. Recently, a chum who's on the show was discussing cosmetic surgery with me. She knows a salariman's wife with considerable expertise on top notch under the knife enhancement. Apparently now is the time to do it, before the rot sets in; prevention is better than cure etc, etc. Friend is suggesting we go get a free consultation on what might best assist us. I am sanguine, ready to consider this a waste of time right now...and then I check out my skin and teeth. Uh-oh. the latter will only become important in dealing with Statesiders, cos they do seem to fixate on the horrors of British dentistry or lack of it. Why are our teeth so bad, I wonder? Bleaching those suckers looks more and more likely, but I really don't see myself wearing a retainer or resetting my jaw to straighten my overbite. And my skin...no, I don't want to turn this into a long post.

I read back and find I have found four instances of the word 'No' in this post. For now at least, I'm treating it as a decision made at the back of my head. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with cosmetic surgery - people should be happy with the way they look, and if that's what it takes, so be it - but don't feel the need right now, plus I'm too busy plus I've no money. And my honey is afraid I am going to be 'consulted' right into unnecessary unhappiness about aspects of my face/figure.

TV's a narcissistic world, we can look at ourselves for too long. Other people's creativity is the cure. So for non-neurotic makeovers, check out

awesome_places and the latest post on

art_nouveau. Stunning!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I like British teeth. They're real teeth. The American obsession with enormous, perfect, glowing white teeth creeps me out. The teeth creep me out. When I was a kid, the only people who had teeth like that were old people with dentures and a few others who had good genes or the right kind of drinking water. They're not natural. They're like something out of Poe:

But from the disordered chamber of my brain, had not, alas! departed, and would not be driven away, the white and ghastly spectrum of the teeth. Not a speck on their surface - not a shade on their enamel - not an indenture in their edges - but what that period of her smile had sufficed to brand in upon my memory. I saw them now even more unequivocally than I beheld them then. The teeth! - the teeth! - they were here, and there, and everywhere, and visibly and palpably before me; long, narrow, and excessively white, with the pale lips writhing about them, as in the very moment of their first terrible development. Then came the full fury of my monomania, and I struggled in vain against its strange and irresistible influence. In the multiplied objects of the external world I had no thoughts but for the teeth. For these I longed with a phrenzied desire.

*ROFL* Mighty is Poe! Who would have thought he would ever create such an all-encompassing commentary on American media?

But it's hard to resist the fact that they do have a point; When I was in the states, I saw plenty of overweight people with beautiful skin and teeth, evidence of a strong dairy diet and I wondered where we as a nation had gone wrong. Good teeth = lots of milk doesn't it? And brits have always loved milk/yoghurts/cheese. On the other hand, we love sugar too...

I agree with Hybridartifacts. Also, since many Americans have terrible teeth because they can't afford a dentist, the perfect smile has become a symbol of wealth and privilege. It's a way of saying 'breed with me; I have money and status'.

Tooth colour is partly genetic, partly environmental, partly dietary, partly age-related. As for crowding, which is the other main cosmetic issue, that's genetic. If you have a small dental arch, you're going to have problems.

No meme!

no subject

The teeth! The teeth!

Re: The teeth! The teeth!