cancel2 2022
Canceled
- The English have suffered a century of jokes about their 'terrible' teeth
- But research proves Americans are more likely to suffer poor dental health
- Average number of missing teeth is also higher in the US than in England
We have suffered a century of jokes about our 'terrible' teeth. But it turns out the English will have the last laugh – because our smiles are not as wonky as our US friends would have us believe. Americans do not have better teeth than the English, researchers have proven. A team from both sides of the Atlantic compared data for thousands of patients from the English Adult Dental Health Survey and the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They looked for examples of missing teeth, adults' perceptions of their oral health and the effect of poor teeth on daily life such as pain, difficulty eating and avoiding smiling.
The University College London researchers wrote: 'There is a long standing belief in the United States that the British have terrible teeth. 'This view dates back at least 100 years, with toothpaste adverts extolling the virtues of American smiles.' But they concluded: 'We've shown the oral health of Americans is not better than the English.' The light-hearted study was included in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal.
