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In January 2006, Dr. Malkemus began writing dental health articles for The Community
Voice newspaper. He wanted to give back to the community and share his passion for
health, as well as his observations of the remarkable planet around us. Current
and past articles are provided here. To view his articles as they appear, see the
Health, Beauty, and Fitness Section at www.thecommunityvoice.com.
Other Resources
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
By George Malkemus D.D.S.
Large straight white teeth are the mark of beauty in our American Hollywood culture. Not long ago, natural looking, slightly off-white teeth was the norm of beauty in our culture. Now whenever I do a smile design for a patient, I give them the choice between natural shades and bright white. More and more people are opting for the whitest white smile. With the recent access to whiting systems, white teeth have become the standard. Ten years ago, super white shades were not even available for veneers and crowns. Now dental laboratories have many whiter shades with which to fabricate white restorations.
Other cultures have different views of dental beauty. The white craze has not hit Europe yet. Natural off-white is still the norm throughout Europe, but with the influence of American cultural, especially through movie stars, that is starting to change. In most third world countries, gold is considered the standard of beauty.
A few years ago, I placed a full gold crown on a young woman’s front tooth. My staff members thought she was crazy. In actuality, she was a bright, beautiful Tongan princess. In Tonga, a gold tooth represents wealth and royalty and is a sign of beauty. There are few professional dentists in the Pacific Islands, and there were no dentist in Tonga at the time of her treatment. In Tonga, when a tooth becomes infected, it is just pulled, so a tooth restored with gold is special. In 1990, I was on the Fijian island Vanua Levu where there was no dental care except for treatment by an old retired German physician. His only dental procedure was tooth extractions, usually for trade for fish or fruit. Most of the islanders were missing various teeth and had happy jack-o-lantern smiles.
Gold front teeth are also a culturally accepted restoration in some American ethnic cultures. Mike Tyson, the infamous heavy weight boxing champion, used his gold front tooth to bite off a piece Evander Hollifield’s ear. While in dental school at UC San Francisco in 1982, I treated a 68-year-old black male with a gold veneered front tooth. Due to severe gum disease, he needed all his remaining teeth extracted and full dentures fabricated. He asked me if he could have the same gold tooth in his new denture. He told me, “My gold tooth is part of my sophisticated character.” His wish was granted; his denture fit well and looked just like his original teeth. He was happily smiling with a gold tooth grin.
My bother Larry is a hardcore San Francisco Giants fan and still plays softball at the ripe old age of 57. He still pitches and hits well, but is a sight for sore eyes when he wobbles [runs] around the bases. I have placed three gold crowns with different baseball related designs etched on the side of each. One says Giants, a second says SF, and the third has a baseball inscribed. The crowns are all on back molar teeth. We kept his front teeth white.
In 1978, I was on the Pacific Island of Yap. All Yapese chew beetle nut; they pride themselves on having the best beetle nut in the world. Beetle nut is extremely addictive, which is why you don’t see many Yapese outside Yap; they can’t leave their beloved beetle nut. It has a powerful euphoric and sedative feeling, similar to tobacco, along with a strong bitter numbing sensation like cocaine or Novocain. Lye is chewed along with beetle nut to improve the release of the active alkaloids. The lye erodes teeth and causes massive decay. Like chewing tobacco, beetle nut causes juices to flow, but rather than spitting black juice like tobacco, beetle nut is bright red and is drooled out of the mouth. You can imagine my surprise at my first encounter with grass skirt-wearing Yapese women, dripping red down their topless breasts from Dracula-like, sharp, eroded, toothy smiles. To me, they looked like island vampires! To them, it was pure island beauty.
The ancient Mayans in Central America would inlay jade in their front teeth for beauty. Archeologists have found many Mayan skulls with inlayed jade teeth. Most of the Mayan skulls found with inlays have an abscess in the bone above the root tip caused by the infection injury from the jade inlay procedure. The tooth abscess was the actual cause of the death in most the skulls found. Can you imagine what it would be like to have your tooth slowly hand drill and chiseled without numbing a thousand years ago? Ouch!
So whatever your image of beauty, whether inlayed teeth, gold teeth, sharpened vampire teeth, or natural-looking teeth, your desires can be met. You can even have a Hollywood smile if that is what you desire.
ENJOY LIFE AND KEEP SMILING!
George Malkemus has had a Family and Cosmetic Dental Practice in Rohnert Park for over 22 years at 2 Padre Parkway, Suite 200. Call 585-8595, or email info@ malkemusdds.com. Visit Dr. Malkemus’ Web site at http://www.malkemusdds.com
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