British actor Aimee Lou Wood is having what she described as a “full-circle” moment. The unwitting star of it?
“I can’t believe the impact my teeth are having because the Americans can’t believe [it],” Wood explained on the Jonathan Ross show.
Taken out of context, it’s hard to make sense of what the HBO star is talking about. But, as someone born with a class 2 malocclusion and skeletal imbalance — fancy medical terms for a severe overbite and deformed jaw — I didn’t need to know what Wood’s teeth looked like in order to know exactly what she was referring to.
The immense popularity of “The White Lotus” in the United States has meant that Wood’s decision to do absolutely nothing about her overbite would not go unnoticed. The reaction to her teeth was so outsized that the actor even cautioned audiences against a DIY approach to emulating her smile. Social media orthodontists and dentists have, predictably, clambered to diagnose the position of Wood’s teeth.
Leave it to Americans to hyperfixate on a person’s dental structure.
Wood, with her rather common set of misaligned front teeth, made their debut on “The White Lotus” earlier this year, during the first episode of Season 3. Set at a wellness resort in Thailand, the show follows Wood’s character Chelsea, who meets Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon), another resort guest. In what might turn out to be one of the most striking and memorable scenes of the season, Chloe said to Chelsea, “I love your teeth. You’re from England, right?” Fans of the show would later learn that the line was improvised and, much to Wood’s delight, included in the final cut.
I’m certainly not surprised by the reaction to Wood’s teeth. American culture is historically known for our obsession with perfect teeth. Millions of children become new orthodontic patients each year, according to the Orthodontics Association; an estimated 50% to 70% of U.S. children will wear braces before adulthood. Adult orthodontics is also on the rise in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom, where Wood is from.
In Hollywood, World War II-era dentist Charles Pincus manufactured the smiles of the movie stars of the moment, including Judy Garland, James Dean and Shirley Temple.
I know firsthand that anyone who lived life with so-called “bunny teeth” is equally pleased and perplexed by the positive attention Wood is receiving. By the time I turned 8 years old, I was diagnosed with “bad teeth” — both officially…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Culture & Arts…