It's a Russell Crowe line to glowing Abbie Cornish's character in Ridley Scott's The Good Year. The 2006 film has often been given the hatchet, but I loved it. You can't go wrong with Americans, Brits, Europeans and romance in a provincial Italian town.
Americans are notorious for their pearly whites. And Brits, well, are not. As some of you may know, I now work for Euromonitor International as a Market Analyst and am currently researching the oral health care industry in the UK and Ireland. I came across this quote today from the Dental Services Division of the National Health Services in Britain:
"Currently just over half the adult population are registered with a dentist (46% adults/63% children)."
To put it in context, the report basically expressed that Brits are just jumping on the oral hygiene bandwagon. Ie a small percentage floss, a small percentage change their toothbrush every 2-3 months, etc etc etc. These numbers are remarkable to an American's oral etiquette as I've found.
However, the oral hygiene market in the UK is unquestionably on the rise due to trends in health consciousness, vanity, multi-functional, total care products (such as whitening + plaque removal toothpastes and mouthwashes) and consumer electronics (fashionable power toothbrushes).
When given this project, I teased a colleague. I said I get why whitening wouldn't work here. Why would a Brit want their jacked up teeth to be more noticeable? You can't whiten tea, cigarette, alcohol, and all those skipped-nights-of-brushing stains. I seemed to be the only one laughing in the room. His response, "Well, we have better things to spend our money on."
Whatever dude. All I hear are snears of how Americans don't have a system that work for them, and I indeed agree that we need a more nationalized healthcare system. We may not have health care, but the percentage of Americans with dental insurance coverage has increased from six percent in 1970 to 61% today (this is a 2004 stat from quick Googling, but I'd be interested in looking up more current figures). Yes, this means Americans are leading Brits in dental care and basic oral hygiene.
Granted and agreed anyone would rather have health care than dental care, it is never acknowledged what Americans actually do well, except feed into obesity, crime, broaden the middle class and unemployment, and give birth to culture, music, television, and film that belittles art and corporatizes our youth. This is just the start, am I right?
BUT, what we do do right is learn from day one that a smile goes a long way. We may not have health care but at least we have our teeth. I want to know what Brits spend their money on over oral hygiene. Lager?
Oh, and 46% is NOT "just over half".
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