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Sunday, August 17, 2003

Proudly We Hail Pearly Whites

By Leanne Potts
Of the Journal
    The moment Geoffrey Rush opens his mouth in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean," you know he is playing a rotten, no-account scumbag.
    It's not what he says that gives him away— a string of "Arrrrs" and "Mateys" straight out of Pirate 101, or that he's captaining a ship of marauding scurvy thugs who kidnap the movie's heroine.
    It's his teeth: yellowed, misshapen husks of enamel that have never been intimate with a toothbrush. "If the color of his teeth is any indication, (Rush) didn't floss once after chewing the scenery," one critic wrote.
    Johnny Depp, Rush's co-star in the film, also knows the power of teeth; the first thing he did to prepare himself to play pirate Jack Sparrow was have his perfect, leading man teeth capped in garish gold.
    Rush and Depp were relying on our recognition of a basic visual cue: White teeth— good guy. Yellow or blackened teeth— bad guy.
    The belief that white teeth are best didn't start with Crest Whitestrips. The use of tooth condition as a signal of character dates back centuries and cuts across many cultures.
    The central character in James Joyce's 1922 novel "Ulysses" laments that his decayed teeth symbolize his unfulfilled ambitions.
    Graham Greene's 1940 novel "The Power and The Glory" features a dissolute priest with a tooth going bad; as the clergyman sinks deeper into despair, his oral health gets worse.
    Even the ancients wanted whiter smiles: Mesopotamians used a mixture of salt and turpentine to whiten their teeth.
    Why? Yellow teeth work just as well as white ones. What is the attraction of a mouthful of choppers that look like Chiclets?
    It sounds like a stupid question— of course we all want straight white teeth— until you try to answer it. Even dentists aren't sure.
    "Maybe it's a biological imperative," says Dr. Eric Curtis, an Arizona dentist and author of "Hand To Mouth," which explores the cultural implications of dentistry. "In nature, bearing your teeth is a sign of power. So good teeth are a sign of power, virility and authority."
    Not surprisingly, Americans— long pilloried for our penchant for consumption and shallow preoccupation with appearance— are more obsessed with the appearance of our teeth than any other culture, Curtis says.
    The numbers back him up: We spend $1.8 billion a year on toothpaste, according to consumer research, and $775 million on toothbrushes. And we're on track to spend $2.3 billion this year for teeth-whitening products.
    Hollywood is the root of America's white teeth envy, Curtis says. Movie stars started getting their teeth capped in the 1940s when improved dental technology made it possible; by the 1990s Julia Roberts' million-watt smile had become the standard.
    As always, regular folks wanted to look like the movie stars. So after World War II, the growing middle class spent large amounts of money on dental improvements.
    There's a socioeconomic component to our love of white, straight teeth, too, Curtis says.
    "Good teeth have always connected one to the upper class," Curtis says. "Historically, only the wealthy could afford to have their teeth whitened and straightened."
    In recent years, our lust for whiter teeth has become an obsession. More than 130 new whitening products have been put on the market in the past five years, and the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry reports the demand for professional whitening increased 300 percent.
    The simple reason: White teeth are desired now more than ever because it's easier than ever to get them. Over-the-counter bleaching kits have put whiter teeth within financial reach.
    "When Crest says, 'Hey, you can have that ideal look for $25,' who's not going to do it?" Curtis says. "It's a case of supply causing demand."
    White teeth are associated with youth, too. We're born with white teeth that yellow as we age, thanks to wear and tear and other agents like coffee and tobacco.
    Our culture and many others have long worshipped youth as the ideal state.
    But how did teeth come to be linked to one's morality?
    It's like one of those logic questions on a college entrance exam: If white teeth are the province of the wealthy, and white teeth are a visual shorthand for good character, does this mean we believe poverty— and its accompanying yellowed teeth— is a moral failure?
    "There are obvious associations between poverty and criminality," says Bert Unseem, a University of New Mexico sociology professor. "But does that perception extend to teeth? I don't know."
    Judging from the way the movie audiences have responded to Rush's dingy smile, I would say we take it as gospel that cleanliness is next to godliness.