NEW CANON- What['s Up with That?

[Ali]

 Steve wrote:

> > The British don't put Fluoride in their water, so they are 
notorious for having bad teeth. Apparently, like some Americans, 
they are convinced fluoride a great government conspiracy to poison 
them all, even though the discovery of the connection between good 
teeth and fluoride was done in France when a connection was made 
between naturally occurring fluoride in well water and good teeth.<<<

Ali responds:-

This is actually not entirely correct. I come from a place (London 
to be exact) where fluoride is put into the water and certainly has 
been for all of my life. I do now live in an area where they don't 
put fluoride into the water - which shocked me - they are apparently 
thinking about making it obligatory.

 
> bboy_mn:
> 
> It's sort of a running worldwide joke that the English have bad 
teeth.

> I've heard Martin Crane (Fraser's father on the TV show 'Fraser'
> starring Kelsey Grammer) make jokes about Daphne's teeth. For the
> record, Daphne is British. So, this whole teeth thing is kind of
> ingrained in to modern culture. I suspect, more that anyone, the
> British themselves are well aware they have notoriously bad teeth.


So, on the basis of one joke on one programme, it's a worldwide joke 
about our teeth? 

As for the British being well aware about our notoriously bad teeth, 
I don't think that we are. That would assume a level of 
international knowledge and comparison that I have certainly never 
seen.

Quite seriously, I do believe that the British do have a (probably 
well deserved) reputation abroad for bad teeth. But, like many 
reputations, it probably nolonger holds much water. Most kids now 
seem to have braces, and many did when I was growing up. So, whilst 
adults might have teeth that are more crooked than the average 
American adult; I don't think the same will hold true for the next 
generation.

I have no idea how rotten our teeth are in comparison to others. 
But, for the record, I have no fillings and straight teeth. I regret 
to report though, that they are yellower than I would like <g>.

Ali