The World Is Obsessed With ‘Perfect Teeth,’ Despite the Prevalence of Fake Teeth in Movies and Television

This will sound weird, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to see natural teeth on television, in movies, or on soccer fields. The majority of the dental enhancements we see among celebrities are artificial, with white, shiny, and perfectly aligned appearances. These are, indeed, fake teeth.

This trend reflects a social obsession with the perfect smile, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

A sanitary and cultural change. Improvements in dental care have led to better oral health in many countries. According to this, one could think that this is the reason the teeth we see in the media are “better” than 30 or 40 years ago. Quite the opposite.

What we often see in the media are veneers, caps, or crowns, artificial products that create unrealistic standards of whiteness and alignment.

When teeth are too perfect. It may seem like a new trend, but it’s not. In Ancient Egypt, people already used a mixture of pumice stone and vinegar to try to whiten or lighten their teeth. However, significant advancements in dental technology have made dental “improvement” a reality in the last century.

Dentist Samuel Rodríguez López told Spanish newspaper El Independiente that “people in the U.S. have used veneers since the early days of Hollywood. These veneers were initially made of ceramic, and people used to place them on and remove them.” In fact, today, “most Hollywood actors have veneers or crowns,” according to Mariano Abruzzesi, a cosmetic dentist at SHA Wellness Clinic.

This has led to unrealistic expectations about achieving perfectly flawless teeth becoming increasingly popular.

And that has consequences. “What people seek after in consultations [increasingly whiter teeth] is the result of what we see in television, series, and soccer matches,” María Rosa Fernández, an orthodontist and professor of a master’s degree in Orthodontics at the Alfonso X University in Madrid, Spain, says.

This is not just about dental dysmorphia, but also about unrealistic beauty standards that lead to a rise in demand for cosmetic surgeries and treatments, much like the impact of certain filters on social networks. While some may view it as a passing trend, it’s important to recognize the devastating effect of social media on young people’s body image and confidence, including their smiles.

Wicked incentives. Santiago Seoane, a stomatologist at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Santiago in Spain, raised concerns over the practices of some private dental chains more than a decade ago: “Many private dental practices provide an inaccurate representation of reality to maximize profits. They prioritize expensive treatments like porcelain veneers, teeth whitening, and prosthetics over more conservative approaches aimed at preserving natural teeth.”

In fact, there’s a growing market for dental implants and prostheses, with an expected expenditure of 11.64 billion in 2024, according to the “Dental Implants of Prosthetics Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on End User, Product, and Region – Analysis and Forecast, 2024-2034” study. If the projected 11% growth holds true, this expenditure could reach $34 billion in less than a decade.

In other words, the esthetic segment of dental care has shown the most growth, reflecting a doubled demand for esthetic treatments in the last five years. This shift in demand is significant as traditional orthodontics has experienced a notable decline, with an 8% decrease just in the last year.

What can we expect? None of this is something specific to dentistry. According to The Aesthetic Surgery Society, surgical procedures grew by 54% in the U.S. in 2021. Meanwhile, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons stated that plastic surgeries had increased by 5% in 2023. In fact, this trend is happening all over the world. In a way, this is becoming the new normal, and we still don’t quite know how to deal with it.

This article was written by Javier Jiménez and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.

Image | Nick Fewings

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