Teeth Are for Chewing, Not Flashing

Why is it, that since the invention of the camera, the thing to do is to flash one's teeth? Though the crisp, white, dry-looking teeth of a model or actress on a magazine cover may be easy on the eyes - after the airbrush artist gets to them - let's face it: Most people's teeth are disgusting to look at.

Think about it: What are teeth for? Chewing and grinding food. What's on teeth? Plaque, tartar and bacteria. Who really has white teeth? Teeth are perhaps the grossest part of the body.

One time when I was at work (when I had a traditional job-working in an office), a woman there had a camera. I forgot the occasion, but she was taking photos of several people, and kept telling them to smile wide. I just happened to be nearby and said, "Kim, teeth are for chewing, not flashing." Her precise response: "Well I disagree."

This idea of flashing teeth really gets out of hand, and the evidence is when you view photos of people- ordinary unglamorous people - smiling for the photographer. This is particularly evident in those photos of real estate agents. At this particular job, I did work on full-page real estate ads, and sometimes, these ads included a bunch of photos of Realtors.

Because I did computer manipulation of the ads, I had the entire advertising packet - which included the original photos of the Realtors. My goodness, they all had their mouths open in a full smile. And on most of these faces, this did NOT work. Just about all of them had crooked, yucky, yellow, shiny teeth - the shininess obviously from saliva and tartar and plaque.

Furthermore, because these were average-looking people, it was usually the case that the big smile distorted their faces. Who wants to see a mouth full of yellow, brown, stained, wet-looking teeth? A pose for a photo should show you at your physical best, not at your most gimmicky or happiest - these are business photos, not birthday party photos.