Britain’s men and women have a Mona Lisa attitude to their smile, according to a recent survey by the British Dental Health Foundation.
While a clear majority of people said they felt confident about their smile (81 percent of men and 79 percent of women), over three-quarters of men and women (76 percent) said they are not confident about smiling for the camera.
The two most common reasons for not feeling confident for a quarter of the population were irregular teeth and discoloured or stained teeth.
If money was no object, tooth whitening was the first treatment they would have (men 39 percent and women 47 percent) and the second most desirable treatment was to have teeth straightened (men 27 percent and women 29 percent).
The benefits of an attractive and healthy smile are clearly recognised by the British public. When they were asked which situations they think an attractive smile can be helpful nearly nine out of ten people said socially, three quarters said psychologically and two-thirds said romantically.
Although white straight teeth were identified as desirable, and with the current celebrity craze for cosmetic dentistry costing up to £25,000, few members of the public are that motivated.
When asked how much money they would spend on dental treatment over half of men (52 percent) and almost half of women (45 percent) said they would pay nothing.
One in three people said they would spend up to £1,000, but only 7 percent were prepared to pay more than £3,000.
The National Smile Week Survey, 2003 was funded by Listerine Mouthwash, part of Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, in association with the British Dental Health Foundation (January 2003 - sample group of 1,000 with regional splits across the country).
