Why do Japanese people have bad teeth?


Growing up in Japan, I didn’t really care about people having golden or silver teeth. It was quite common back then. I had all sorts of dental issues and my local dentist (he was terrible!) used silver fillings and crowns and that is still not uncommon in Japan.

But after moving to America, I began to notice that people have much nicer smile. Many people have rather fake smiles. Teeth are so white. Well, these are called vineers and they are fake!

My teeth were pretty straight for the most part but one of my lower teeth was slightly crooked and I began to obsess over it.

So finally I went to a local cosmetic dentistry to get the invisalign. These were expensive but it worked!

When I saw my friends in Japan last year, they were asking about my straight teeth. “Yumi, You’ve always had straight teeth but I notice that your teeth look prefect now..”

My friend is pretty but when she smiles, I can see a silver crown slightly…>_<

銀歯

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not a big deal but I couldn’t stop looking at her silver tooth…

Anyways, I got sidetracked a bit. I want to talk about so called “vampire teeth” some Japanese women are paying hundreds of dollars to get that single crooked tooth.

But why?

It’s simple. Because girls with “yaeba” (八重歯) is considered more feminine and cute. Not necessarily on both sides but just having a slightly crooked tooth..yaeba makes women look more attractive..

Really? Well, she looks kind of attractive and people would notice her teeth immediately.

 

How do Americans see Yaeba? My husband and I recently went to get a reflexology massage and this Chinese masseuse had that perfect Yaeba. My husband goes..”That was good. She is really good..we should come back again but I just couldn’t look at her face..did you see that tooth? She had terrible teeth.”

It is very interesting how different societies perceive beauty differently..

Either way, I am pretty satisfied with my teeth. ^_^

 

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