Britain actually has better teeth than America despite stereotype

Researchers examined data for thousands of people from the English Adult Dental Health Survey and the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey before reaching their conclusions.

In 2004, an OECD study of dental health found that Britain had the lowest number of people with decayed, missing or filled teeth from among all member states. The belief has dated back to at least a century, with toothpaste adverting praising the virtues of American smiles.

The news goes against popular wisdom about teeth-health, with pop culture from The Simpsons to Austin Powers ripping it out of Brits for our not-so-pearly whites. Furthermore, oral health across the American population was shown to be greatly unequal and have greater disparities compared to the British population.

In other words, rather than mocking the English for bad teeth, it’s likely we Americans should be looking in the mirror and asking why we can’t take better care of our own.

The study was included in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The U.S. ranked in the middle.

The British were slightly more likely to say they had lifestyle problems due to their teeth – like pain, trouble eating, and avoiding smiling – but the difference wasn’t statistically significant.

The investigation also revealed that better-educated and wealthier Americans tended to be in better overall oral health than their British equivalents.

But among those over 65, British seniors had lost an average of 13 teeth, while American seniors were missing just under 12 teeth, on average.

“The British have reason to smile after researchers found their oral health was in some cases actually better than their US counterparts”.

Notably, there was also higher reported levels of teeth inequality in the U.S., which researchers attributed to differences in access to welfare treatment and higher sugar consumption.

Watt is optimistic about the results, and wondered if “perhaps now Americans will not laugh at English teeth anymore?”

A 2013 study by the British Dental Association found that one in eight toddlers in England have tooth decay.