the brits are in a tizzy over teeth.

specifically, gordon brown’s newly-whitened smile. apparently the prime minister had his (rarely seen) grin touched up before doing a cameo on the special charity episode of “american idol” to donate £100 million worth of mosquito nets to africa.

now i’m the first to admit that i find it refreshing that over here, people on television are not contractually required to look like plastic mannequins spit-polished to within an inch of their life. and when i go for a visit home, i do find it jarring to see so many blinding white smiles and airbrushed faces staring back at me everwhere i turn.

and while there are plenty of brits with perfectly unremarkable choppers (not too yellow, not too crooked, just right), the fact is that this laissez faire attitude to dentistry mean that there is a much higher proportion of people (including public personalities) with astonishingly wonky smiles.

however the idea that having nice looking teeth is somehow to be derided, is somehow becoming “americanised”, is rather much.

after all, britain: like it or not, gordon brown is the global face of your nation. if it looks like the second most powerful man in the world can’t access proper dental care in his own country…. well, it just doesn’t reflect very well, now does it?

cut the man a break – it’s not like anyone is going to start mistaking him for george clooney any time soon.

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