We all have teeth, and most of us consider them to be one of our most important assets. That said, some people do some pretty strange things to their teeth. For example, in some Asian countries teenagers buy fake braces because it’s seen as a symbol of status and wealth. Here are a few additional weird teeth-related practices you might not have known about. Frankly, we don’t recommend any of them.
International Tooth Trends
Teeth Blackening (Japan)
Known as ohaguro, the practice of blackening teeth has a long history in Japan. Members of the warrior caste dyed their teeth to show loyalty to their masters back in the days of the Samurai. Geishas would blacken their teeth as a way to create contrast with their white makeup, and Japanese women dyed their teeth to indicate that they were married. Today, however, the practice has mostly fallen out of popularity.
Sharpening of Teeth (Indonesia)
Women in Indonesia’s Mentawai Tribe of West Sumatra grind and file their teeth to get them sharp. This is done by women to look beautiful, and mind you this is a very painful procedure done using hammers and needle. The pain is just the price paid for beauty in this Mentawai Tribe tradition.
Chewing Sticks (Africa)
Brush your teeth every day, dentists say. In Africa, that can mean keeping your toothbrush in your mouth all day long. Across the continent south of the Sahara, many people go about their daily business with a small stick or twig protruding from their mouth, which they chew or use to scrub their teeth.
In Senegal, the chewing stick is called “sothiou”, which means “to clean” in the local Wolof language. In east Africa, the stick is called “mswaki”, the Swahili word for toothbrush. Their users say the sticks are also medicinal, providing not just dental hygiene but also curing a variety of other ills. Dental experts agree they seem to clean teeth well and some up-market health stores in the United States have been selling chew-sticks as a natural form of dental care.
If chewed, most of the twigs fray into finer strands, which have the effect of “flossing” between the teeth, or if rubbed up and down, can scrub tooth enamel clean as well as any brush. But they can taste bitter compared with commercial toothpastes.
Snaggletooth (Japan)
It may be a look more commonly associated with a vampire, but it seems crooked teeth – or fangs – are all the rage across the Pacific. Women in Japan are paying around $400 to have their teeth made crooked. They’re going for the “snaggletooth” image, or tseuke-yaeba, as it’s called in Japan. There’s even a female musical group called TYB48 (Tseuke-Yaeba 48), created by the dentist who pioneered the procedure. (Don’t you wish you’d thought of it?)
Popular at dentists in Tokyo, a cosmetic procedure to create the yaeba effect involves attaching non-permanent or permanent adhesive mini-fangs to canine teeth. Yaeba literally means ‘multilayered’ or ‘double’ tooth, and describes the fanged look achieved when molars crowd the canines, pushing them forward.
Japanese women are going crazy for a crowded, crooked-toothed smile with accentuated canine teeth. The look, known as the ‘yaeba’ look, is well-liked by men, who find the imperfect smile they form endearingly childlike and attractive.
LED Teeth (Japan)
Simply, it is an LED insert which can be affixed to your teeth (a bit like a mouth guard) and which lights up when you smile. You can even get a wireless hand-held computer by which to control the contraption, making your teeth change color – from a lurid green to demonic-looking red – or even blink.
Japanese schoolgirls have pounced on the product – which is been advertised as a ‘party in your mouth’ – and demand has gone through the roof. It makes you look as if you’ve been chewing on something radioactive.
Braces on Straight Teeth (Asia)
In Asian countries outside of Japan – namely Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia – teens are wearing braces on perfectly straight teeth because it’s cool. Apparently, spending $100 on fake braces conveys that you can afford the expensive procedure. There is a fine for selling fake braces and the threat of prison time if you’re caught.
Bottle Opener Tooth Implant (Athletes)
Hockey and rugby players have an uncanny tendency to lose their pearly whites during a rough game. The Argentinian beer company, Salta beer, created the first dental implant shaped like a bottle opener as a promotional opportunity for athletes who have lost teeth. This is definitely not the most practical or affordable way to pick up a bottle opener, but the recipients seem happy with the novelty factor.
American Tooth Trends
Charcoal Teeth Whitening
Medical professionals are warning against using a DIY whitening trend that involves smearing a charcoal-derived black mixture on teeth. The method, which dentists say may lead to enamel deterioration and tooth erosion, became an online sensation after YouTube user Mama Natural posted a video that details its execution began striking fire online.
While the cosmetic result of the method may hold true for some users, the long-term internal effect may harm other people’s teeth, dentists say. The American Dental Association has currently not evaluated or approved any charcoal teeth whitening products. A spokesman for the organization previously said the product is concerning because its abrasiveness isn’t known.
Tooth Tattoos
Usually when you think of a tattoo you think of artwork placed on an arm, leg, or some other area where there’s skin. However, “tooth tattoos” is a recent trend that’s been increasingly appearing. Fortunately, the artwork isn’t etched directly into the tooth enamel, but instead placed on a cap or crown that gets fitted over the tooth. That said, these tattoos are just about as permanent as any normal tattoo.
Tooth Jewelry
Another recent trend has been the practice of transforming people’s old teeth into jewelry, even if the teeth belong to someone else. One woman received an engagement ring made from her fiancé’s wisdom tooth. Talk about weird!
Gap Widening
There are many celebrities today who stand by their gapped-tooth smile without hesitation like Madonna, David Letterman, Michael Strahan, and Anna Paquin, star of HBO’s True Blood series.
A gap between two front teeth is called diastema, and most people will see me to close the gap, not to open it. To close spaces between teeth dentists typically use veneers, bonding, orthodontics and sometimes a combination of these. In the fall of 2010, Tyra Banks asked a contestant on her reality TV show The Next Top Model to widen the space between her two front teeth so that she would resemble 70s model icon, Lauren Hutton. The young contestant, so enamored with Banks, had her dentist irreversibly remove some enamel from in between her two front teeth.
Play-A-Grill
Combine bone conduction audio, retainers, and shiny hip-hop teeth grills and what do you get? Tech hacker Aisen Caro Chacin had the clever idea to put them all together and create Play-A-Grill.
The teeth bling fits in your mouth like a retainer, shines on the outside like a precious metal rap grill, and plays music through bone conduction through your teeth. It is controlled by the tongue, worn over the teeth, and plays music only audible to the wearer. Instead of using sound waves that travel through the air, Play-A-Grill uses sound waves that play through solids, such as bone. (Did you know that was possible?)
Let’s not overlook the grills that are so popular with celebrities at the moment. The list of gold and diamond encrusted mouths includes a lot of women lately, such as Miley Cyrus, Ke$ha, Beyonce, and Rihanna.
Tooth Fairy Traditions Around the World
There are several variations of the tale of the tooth fairy. In Denmark, the tooth fairy is called Tann Feen. In many cultures, the mythical figure is actually a mouse, known in France as La Petite Souris, in Spain as Ratoncito Perez, and in Colombia as El Raton Miguelito.
In Greece and Mauritania, a child does not simply leave his tooth underneath his pillow. Instead, children throw it as hard and as high as they can toward the roof of their home. In Greece, this provides good luck and strong teeth. In Mauritania, if there’s a rooster crowing by daybreak, he could keep the tooth.
In Jamaica, children are told horrible tales about a calf that will take them away unless they place their lost tooth in a can and shake it vigorously. The noise is said to drive the calf away. Malaysian children take a more spiritual view of their lost teeth—they bury them in the ground, as what was once part of the body must be returned to the Earth. In Turkey, lost teeth can be used to convey parents’ expectations to their children. For example, if they want their child to be a doctor, they might bury the teeth near a hospital.
Source: Reuters.com, DentistryIQ.com, FoxNews.com, MarylandsBestDental.com
