During a recent photo op at the White House, America’s oldest-ever presidents, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, shook hands, grinned at the cameras and, with the poise of synchronized swimmers, revealed dual sets of glistening white teeth.
Now think back to the many photographs you’ve seen of President Ronald Reagan. Nearly as old as Biden and Trump at the end of his second term, his teeth not only looked great, but revealed his Hollywood lineage: they were solid, well shaped, what Europeans sometimes call “American teeth.” Yet they lacked the otherworldly oral opalescence of Misters Biden and Trump, rivals in the world of politics forever bound, at the very least, by their mutual approbation of dental bleaching.
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
In fact, if there’s one thing that can unite Americans in this moment of deep division, perhaps it’s the knowledge that while most of the world grins at our focus on dental artifice, tooth whitening has become a beloved activity among Americans of all political persuasions.
About 19% of Americans have worn braces — the same percentage as have gotten their teeth bleached. Adults under 45 are about twice as likely as older Americans to have undergone a whitening procedure (26% vs. 14%), according to a poll by YouGov.
And luckily, teeth whitening is very safe, said Dr. Cary Goldstein of Goldstein Dental Center in Sandy Springs.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Teeth whitening involves applying hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide-based gel to the surfaces of stained teeth.
These substances create a chemical reaction in the mouth that creates oxygen bubbles. The bubbles eliminate the staining in the teeth, Goldstein explained. “I liken it to exercise — the more you do it, the better the results.”
Goldstein wrote one of the first books on dental bleaching over 25 years ago, and says the cosmetic technique is growing in popularity because it has become cheaper and easier to do. He says dentists stumbled upon the technique after a gel they had been applying to teeth after surgery to help gums heal was making patients’ teeth whiter.
Two ways — and many reasons — to whiten
There are two ways to whiten teeth — at home and in the dentist’s chair — and both methods are safe, Goldstein said, but store-bought versions are less effective.
Dentists take molds of a patient’s teeth and then make clear trays that hold whitening gel. Patients need to wear the trays for several hours a day. “It takes three weeks to a month to obtain a gorgeous color,” he said.
Store-bought options, in contrast, work less effectively. “The companies that make these tell you that in three days, you’ll have white teeth, but that’s inaccurate,” Goldstein said. “That’s why when people come into the office and I tell them ‘you need to wear those trays for three weeks’ they are surprised because advertising has made them believe that it can happen in three days, and that’s not true.”
Approximately 37 million Americans had their teeth whitened in 2020, according to U.S. Census data and Simmons National Consumer Survey, and North America remains the largest market for teeth whitening products, a study by Research and Markets concluded. The value of the global tooth whitening market amounted to about $6.14 billion in 2020, and is forecast to grow to $8.21 billion by 2026, according to Statista.
Americans, especially in the fields of politics and entertainment, are interested in having strong, white teeth because such teeth are a sign of both health and virtue, said Tavia Nyong’o, a professor of American Studies at Yale and author of “The Amalgamation Waltz (2009).”
“Health, beauty, and virtue ... it’s a trifecta,” Nyong’o explained.
But this sends a mixed message, Nyong’o says, because America has conflicting attitudes toward makeup, which used to be a sign of artifice, and therefore deception. And yet, he says, the idealized “natural” beauty in America is as constructed as the artificial painted face.
“America’s love affair with tooth whitening reflects a cultural lineage that equates a pristine exterior with inner virtue — a modern echo of 19th-century anxieties, where polished surfaces were seen as proof against the stains of moral corruption,” Nyong’o said.
It’s a uniquely American phenomenon. In Japan, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, the opposite has been true: an ancient practice of teeth blackening has resurfaced as a form of beauty.
In Japan, the custom is called ohaguro, and it was seen as elegant and a way to protect teeth from cavities until it was banned by the Meiji government in 1870 as it sought to Westernize Japanese culture.
Today in Japan, one of the most prominent representatives of the black teeth practice are geisha, and it’s not uncommon to see blackened teeth in Kyoto, Japan’s former capital, according to a Japanese government cultural blog.
While black teeth haven’t caught on in the U.S., other decorative elements — like metal or gold sleeves or grilles — are safe as long as they aren’t glued to the teeth, Goldstein said.
Moreover, he tells patients to avoid social media fads like charcoal toothpastes, which lack evidence of efficacy.
Toothpastes based on activated charcoal are also considered less safe due to their high abrasive potential, a study in Spain concluded. The use of abrasive toothpastes can be counterproductive because it wears away the tooth enamel and allows the darker colored dentin underneath to appear more visible.
The American Dental Association maintains a list of stain-removing toothpastes that are safe for daily use.
About the Author
