I mean, how else can you explain the clumps of hardened and discoloured plaque, the greyish, translucent colour and the brown etched stains not only along the gumlines, but also on the flat surfaces of their teeth?Okay, when I was young, I hated brushing my teeth. I remember my grandma used to brush her teeth in the bathroom while I hovered over the bathtub to brush mine, but all I did was brush the bath tub faucet w/ my toothbrush to make it seem like I was brushing my teeth too (it sure fooled her! ;)) Of course, ultimately, I had to get all my front teeth pulled cuz they were all rotted with yellow and brown holes, and I eventually learned my lesson.
Nowadays I brush mainly cuz I don't want to have a mouth full of stains and plaque. That's a good enough reason for me. But what I don't understand is, what's with these people who don't have good dental hygiene. For one, how do they expect to ever kiss or be kissed???? *blech*
7 comments:
HII
I randomly found ur blog online...and just thought i comment how great ur posts are :)
I should be following your blog from now on, so please keep it up! =D
Hi Lola. I noticed this as well, and was later surprised to find out that the teeth staining was a side effect of tetracycline (an antibiotic) when taken by children and pregnant women. Apparently at one time this was prescribed more commonly in HK than in other parts of the world.
Angela - thanks for the encouragement! :)
Anonymous - I heard about that too, but that only explains the people with grey teeth. Again, I'm not trying to pick on people who have bad teeth from (somewhat) natural reasons. What I'm grossed out by are the people who obviously just don't brush enough (and they seem to be the majority in HK...) *shakes head*
PS. um, where'd you get "Lola" from??
My deepest apologies Ms Fong. I'm at a loss for an explanation and I fear it may be an early sign of dementia.
I think the antibiotic is not the main cause of the widespread phenomenon; maybe smoking is part of the reason as well? I think people in Hong Kong generally neglect about their dental hygiene as you said. They rarely go to their dentist for check ups or dental hygienist for a regular clean! Why? maybe because of the cost or lack of insurance / employee benefits?
I have a crazy idea about the cause of it! I think it is due to the following common items consumed by Hong Kong people:
(1) Iced Lemon Tea (strong tea base)
(2) HK style hot milk tea (same strong tea base)
Even brushing teeth daily would be a very difficult task to get those colors off !!!
Here's a scholarly link for the skeptics:
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:rk6t_m-8m7AJ:http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/23/2300478.pdf+tetracycline+teeth+hong+kong&hl=en&ct=clnk
This is so true - I work in a kindergarten and some of the kid's teeth are literally black. I thought one had just eaten chocolate only to be told 'no... her teeth are just like that'. My colleague has taken to using a napkin to rub off debris from some of the kids' teeth (I couldn't - too grossed out!). *shudder*
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