Are you surprised when someone in a professional role has bad teeth

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I met with someone in a senior health role today and was quite surprised by how bad their teeth were, a lot of tartar build up on the front teeth which was really noticeable. Their role is well paid so it made me wonder why they've not had their teeth cleaned.

I am not bashing those who can't access a dentist at all or those with weak teeth or poor genetics. My teeth were pretty rotten and I spent around £8000 over several years fixing them, I was really self conscious about them and it impacted day to day life, I couldn't laugh with my mouth open, I was fearful of anyone noticing my bad teeth it was horrid. So, I saved, used credit cards and slowly had the work needed, I don't have turkey looking teeth just average now but what a difference to my self worth.

This is really interesting. Someone has lots of missing teeth and the remaining ones are brown, yet it's not his problem but the problem of a random visitor to the shop who noticed.

I'm realising now why in some countries, Brits are stereotyped as having bad teeth. I was wondering why they thought that.

This whole thread is making me feel awful. I have a condition called geriatric dental disorder, I’ve had it since I was 21, basically I have the teeth of a geriatric even though I’m now 49 this has been going on for nearly 30 years. I cannot have cosmetic dentistry as the condition causes the jaw to be soft. So I’ve spent the last 30 years and so much money on dental treatments and paraphernalia . I still have all my teeth but I can see a point in the future where I will lose some or all. You are right I always look at peoples teeth but it makes me even more unhappy that all you judgy people are looking at mine.

I‘m a health professional for over 30 yrs. Lost teeth recently and can’t afford to sort them. I would never spend 8 grand on my teeth or appearance. If you don’t like it go private - this is your problem not your health professionals - not everyone has your sensitivities - seriously give your head a wobble.

It looked unhealthy to you but maybe their dentist has told them it is not a problem/risk and is just superficial? In terms of the aesthetics, I consider it punk to not ‘correct’ one’s appearance.

Dental phobia I suspect.

I'm wondering where you live and work where all these thin people are. A clip came up on my Facebook the other day of Benidorm, and young ladies in see through trousers. All people in the clip were actually large, not one slim person amongst them.
Everywhere I go, at work, hospital, sitting watching people go by, everywhere everyone is bigger. Most of us could do with losing a few lb's.

We could all scrutinise everyone. Why doesn't she ..... do this, get her hair fixed, teeth fixed, have laser surgery on her eyes so she doesn't need to wear those thick glasses, lose weight, get that wart on the end of her nose removed like Uncle Buck, do this, do that. Are you so judgmental to everyone? How would you fair if we all grilled you. Naked attraction anyone? No thanks. I don't want to be criticised thanks!

@Oblomov25 I don’t care if someone has bad teeth (if I’m not dating/kissing them), but it’s usually far easier and quicker to get tartar removed than to lose weight. No comparison.

Especially until recently there wasn’t WLI widely available. And even then the process of losing weight with WLI is going to be less instant than getting your teeth cleaned. And there’s nothing objectively wrong with wearing thick glasses. It doesn’t look “unhealthy” or “unclean” as it’s not, it’s merely just something to correct a condition. I don’t think it can be compared to having bad/rotting teeth. Not counting “wonky but clean teeth” as bad teeth btw.

Same with someone having an unflattering hair cut. Different from having bad teeth. Zero comparison.

This.

same with hair removal- if you’re female of course.

a health worker with hairy armpits for example. Willing to bet most people would be as horrified as bad teeth.

I couldn’t give a single shit about the state of any health workers armpits - what are you on about @Whosenameisthis??

What kind of health worker is exposing their armpits at work?

You can't say you know poverty and then say you put it on a credit card.
Real poverty you wouldn't be eligible for a credit card

I always notice poor teeth, but that’s because looking after mine is important to me. For some people, it’s not.

The difference between having armpit hair groomed or not, nails well manicured or not and other purely cosmetic grooming vs teeth is that gum health is strongly connected to cardiac health.

So I agree with @Whatveudone4melately that there is no comparison between bad teeth and hairy armpits.

Certainly overweight as @Oblomov25 mentions is also connected to health so also important.

Of course there will be a myriad of reasons why a person has missing teeth and the remaining ones being brown, or why a person is obese, but neither situation is healthy or desirable for anyone.

I would agree it's a bit off-putting but bearing in mind so many people have a phobia of the dentist, and the severe lack of NHS dentists available at the moment,it's not really surprising.

I don't have great teeth even though at points (not now) I could have more than afforded to sort them.

Im absolutely terrified of the dentist after having a horrible orthodontist as a teenager. I haven't been since I was 18 and probably never will. I do what I can to look after them but they definitely need work.

It wouldn’t bother me, I suspect a lot of these professionals probably judge their patients appearance so works both ways. Doubt they’re making threads on this, £8000 on credit cards is insane amount of money to spend on teeth

Have you considered that the person may have fluorosis? I have this which has caused white marks on my front teeth one molar has a brown stain which luckily doesn’t show. Some people are unfortunate to have severe brown stains on their front teeth and nothing they can do about it

So you’re now a judgy twat who has better teeth due to spending 8k on them. Instead of a judgy twat with bad teeth.
You have absolutely no idea on that persons personal circumstances, phobias, medical conditions etc. All of this is a you issue and quite frankly, your judgement says an awful lot more about you than them.

I'm not sure. Dental work is so expensive and hard to access for a lot of people. I needed braces all my life and was only able to afford them at the age of 30. I had crooked teeth until then and felt so embarrassed about it (and then about the braces) at work for years.

However, teeth not being clean... honestly I would secretly judge someone for that a little, just as I would if they didn't wash their hair or wore obviously dirty clothes. Especially if they worked in healthcare.