Why Do High Earners Let Their Teeth Fall Apart?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand not everyone can afford major dental work or handle long procedures, but it’s hard to believe that every person with visibly neglected teeth is dealing with a medical crisis. No one else is thrown off when someone shows up on Zoom with missing teeth or major alignment issues that have clearly gotten worse over decades?

To me, this really does look generational. I’m an older millennial. Pretty much everyone I know grew up with braces, Invisalign, whitening, something. Meanwhile, I see a lot more long-term dental neglect among older generations like Gen X and boomers, who came of age before cosmetic dental care was considered standard. They may simply have a different threshold for what’s “fine.”

And then you look at the younger side. Gen Z and even Gen Alpha kids are whitening teeth immediately after getting braces off. I’ve seen lines of tweens waiting for whitening with their parents. For them, straight and bright teeth aren’t exceptional, they’re expected.

What I still wonder is how people with visibly unmaintained teeth view those who have great ones. Do they think it’s vanity? Excess? Or do they ever wish they’d dealt with things earlier, back when it would have been far easier?

You’ve seen “lines of teens waiting for whitening”? Give me a break. Also, whitening your teeth too much can cause them to get very weak over time. Then you’ll have other issues. Slightly off-white teeth is preferable to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dental work can be very scary and painful. I think that's a big reason why some people avoid getting care.

And very scammy! It’s one thing to be scammed out of money but having to endure severe pain followed by more and more procedures scares people off.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know. Most people can have a good looking set of teeth without a ton of money.

I don’t understand how so many people seem to have $50,000 for a whole new mouth of veneers though. That’s shockingly common.

[Anonymous]

your appearance can make a difference in life, chosing a life partner, job etc its worth the investment.

[Anonymous]

I take good care of my teeth now, after growing up in the country where we didn't have fluoride. Luckily my teeth are naturally straight and I never needed braces. I can't whiten because they are very sensitive and I get shooting nerve pain if I do. I feel lucky I had the thousands to do the real work of implants and crowns these past few years.

[Anonymous]

For my husband, several ortho recommended not doing it with the shape of his mouth/teeth/age as it could cause more issues. For me, my teeth were good and started to shift in my late 40's. Ortho would not touch it due to other health issues.

[Anonymous]

OP-how much math education do you have? Why do you think it's reasonable to take some observations of a few high income people that you know and make a conclusion that you attribute to the general population?

[Anonymous]

Dental appearance and hygiene are different things. There is no excuse for bad dental hygiene.

[Anonymous]

I have seen bad teeth and general hygiene on both ends of the wealth spectrum. Interestingly, middle class folks are the ones with consistently the best dental and physical hygiene.

[Anonymous]

Lawyer here. My teeth don’t look great. Theyre relatively healthy but I have several veneers that I got about 10 years ago to cover chipped teeth (I was doing the NYT cross word puzzle and bit down on a pencil and cracked my teeth) and they need to be replaced.

But I don’t have time. It’s a multi appt process and at this stage in my life, I have higher priorities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a scourge of UMC people these days -- the belief that if you *can* perfect some aspect of your physical appearance, you have an obligation to do so. Overweight? Get on GLP1s. Yellow teeth? Whiten. Crooked teeth? Invisalign. Missing teeth? Implants. Pale? Spray tan. Short? Heels/lifts. Hair frizz? Keratin. And on and on.

I am not required to spend all my hard earned money on making my body look more appealing to some acquaintance. If I choose to do any of that for myself, good for me. But expecting it so you can be spared the burden of looking at someone with physical imperfections? Nope.

How do you even function in public spaces where there are middle class and poor people who can't afford to do any of that stuff? It honestly must be hard to function.

Honestly, perfectly straight teeth have been a standard expectation for middleclass and above children for several decades now. It's not "these days."

And yet tons of MC and above people do not have perfectly straight white teeth, so square that.

Just like not everyone is thin, or has perfect skin or hair, or is well dressed. Turns out human beings are ... human.

I'm the Eastern European poster upthread.

I've never seen any middleclass person in the US with teeth like mine pre-braces. Not once.

So unless what you mean by "not perfect" is a very slight flaw that only adds to the charm, straight teeth are in fact the standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few things:

You are conflating cosmetic dental issues with actual health issues related to teeth. There can be some overlap in them, but they arent' the same thing.

People who just have crowding or yellow teeth don't actually have a medical problem. Sometimes crowding can be bad enough to cause issues, but often not. Yellow teeth are just genetic (or due to staining, but most people with yellow teeth just have high levels of dentin in their teeth and can only achieve white teeth with a lot of whitening). Some people don't care about this stuff. 50 years ago most people had both of these, even wealthy people. It's like baldness. Sure, some people will go to great lengths to address baldness. But it's not a health problem and plenty of people who can afford hair plugs or other treatments just don't bother. So that's part of it.

For people who do have serious health issues with their teeth, it's more complicated than you think. I have a lifelong problem with teeth grinding that has caused serious problems with my teeth. I've had multiple root canals and one tooth will likely need to be pulled and replaced with an implant in the next 10-15 years because the second root canal is not doing as well as I'd hoped. Insurance rarely covers these procedures. Each root canal is between $1500-$3000. Crowns cost a few hundred each time, on top of the cost of the RC. An implant will be even more and take months. I am financially comfortable but I don't have a bottomless pit of money to spend on my teeth. I fully understand why people often put off this work or try something temporary to see how it goes.

4. In addition to the money, it's depressing and frustrating. If you've never had serious issues with teeth you might not get this. The reason my teeth are so bad is (1) genetic, and (2) I had an abusive childhood which is how I became a teeth grinder and why the damage is so bad -- it's been going on so long. Dentists will yell at me about the grinding like it's something I want to do and not really get that I'd do anything to stop grinding my teeth. I've had mouth guards but I grind through them, and then I developed sleep apnea that is made worse by the guards so I stopped using them. It sucks. I recently heard that botox might disrupt grinding so I'm looking into trying that. People treat me like my teeth problems are a moral failing but they aren't, they are an unfortunate circumstance I've actually put a lot of work into addressing (and a ton of money) but I still have issues.

If you've never had major problems with your teeth, you don't get this. You probably think people with crooked, missing, or yellow teeth are just bad at flossing or something. Your tooth problems could be addressed with regular cleanings and a few treatments at a cosmetic dentist, while my teeth issues will wind up costing me tens of thousands of dollars, involve hours of time with various specialists, and I'll still probably never have great teeth.

I can absolutely understand all of that. Dental hygiene and professional care was not a priority when I was growing up. My teeth were in bad shape, I also had childhood trauma that I know adversely affected my oral health. I started doing little neighborhood jobs at age 11 to save for my own braces and so forth. I started going to the dentist regularly every three months at about age 22, and have kept up on everything for the last 40 years. It’s expensive, it’s exhausting and every time I go it re-traumatized me. I’ve had periodontal work, implants, crowns, night guard, and I literally just had a surgical root canal. I’ve had several of those. When I add up all of the money I’ve spent over the last 40 some years-it makes me sick! I can’t seem to go for more than a few months to maybe a year without a major problem.
I used to go to Dr. Robert Kelly and Dr. Ray Mansfield in Kensington. They were great, this was back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. I no longer live in Kensington, and I presume they are long retired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have seen bad teeth and general hygiene on both ends of the wealth spectrum. Interestingly, middle class folks are the ones with consistently the best dental and physical hygiene.

I agree with this. Middle class people have more pressure than the wealthy to conform. The upper class can do whatever they want in this department and still, generally speaking, be okay in the world because they are rich and have inherited wealth and connections.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have perfect teeth. They’re crowded and a little crooked since my mouth is small, and I don’t whiten them. One of my front teeth is chipped from sports. But they’re healthy and I like my smile, so I don’t feel the need to spend money/time on optional procedures. If my dentist were to recommend something medically necessary, that would be different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:your appearance can make a difference in life, chosing a life partner, job etc its worth the investment.

🤷‍♀️

Some of us have succeeded on all fronts without worrying as much about our appearance as OP seems to.

There’s no single route to happiness and success in life.