Some of you may have gathered by now that I have a tendency to get a little obsessive about some odd little thing. Ya think?
So, in keeping with that, I’d like to take just a moment to discuss our nations disturbing tolerance, nay acceptance, of bad oral hygiene.
Let’s start with two of my favorite movies this year – Django Unchained and Les Miserables. Is there an award for best dental makeup? If so, it would be a dead heat.
I think the attention to detail is fantastic but the quantity of sheer gore in Django did nothing to turn my stomach like Leonardo Dicaprio’s mouth.
Though, I do posit this question: How could his teeth be so nasty while his skin is still so….luminous?
Why did I still find him repugnantly attractive?
It was a similar experience with visiting early 1800’s France. There wasn’t a pearly white in that country, evidently.
Not only could I feel the winds of revolutionary change, I could smell the thick fog of halitosis wash over me along with the national pride.
Thank God John Waters didn’t take this one on and add Smell-O-Rama to the experience.
I think tooth decay is the new terminal disease with actors and a sure-fire road to an Oscar nod.
You have Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Irritable Bowel Syndrome? You acting hack! Smear some green gunk on your teeth and look odiferous and you are a THESPIAN!
So, now on to the smaller screen and some actual, real people who clearly do not have a dental staff.
**Disclaimer: I have seen a combined 90 seconds of all the hillbilly TV shows that are on right now. So, yes, I am making a leap of judgment. But, I feel OK with that. I can be judgey, don’t judge me for that.
Not sure there is much to say, really, with titles like Hillbilly Handfishin’ (one must always remember to drop the “g” to be authentic), Duck Dynasty (I actually thought this was some sort of homage to Daffy Duck but I was very wrong), and Swamp People (obvious), I think we can safely surmise that Hillbilly Dentist is not doing a gangbuster business.
Which brings me to my idea for an awesome new show called….you guessed it….Hillbilly Dentist, where a Doctor’s Without Borders type group of dentists travel the Bayou in search of the most disgusting maw.
Look Mama, I’m on the television box!
I think our tolerance for watching icky things has run amuck. I can watch people do unspeakable things that are usually reserved for the privacy of ones home (or are deemed illegal by the health department in many states) and not blink an eye.
I make one exception for Zombies. It is a fact that they do not floss so I give them a pass on the whole dental thing.
Brains! Sonicare! Brains! This is so hard!!
None the less, I sit squarely in the shallowness of simply not liking to look at non-Zombie rotting bridgework.
And, remember kids, in the words of the prophet, Dr. Seuss:
“Don’t gobble junk like Billy Billings, they say his teeth have fifty fillings.”
