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© KYODOOrthodontist setting Japan straight on teeth
By Dave Hueston TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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© KYODO
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indigo
woke up suddenly??
huuu, I heard Japanese men love crooked teeth, it is KAWAI according to them.
kurisupisu
Spend of millions of yen on teeth and run to the part time jobs.....
oldman_13
About time.
So tired of the annoying cracks about Japanese women and their teeth.
zones2surf
Good one, JT Editors!!
Leo
I think it looks charming on women. If they were born with teeth a certain way, no problem.
Trapped
I dislike fangs on humans, but obviously fake coloured straight teeth are less impressive.
indigo
in many country in Europe, Orthodontist is 100% free until 16 years old.
regor
Very expensive!! compare to other countries also not covered by insurance.
Mayunia82
"Hey, hey! No Japan Teeth 'Bashing' over here!" "You foreigners just don't understand our crooked teeth culture"
Sarcasm
OneEyedMan
Lol! Those costs are definitely not gonna encourage people to fix there teeth.
savethegaijin
This is such a strange article...
Contrary to a long-held belief in Japan that "personality is more important than how one looks...
What Japan is he talking about exactly? Very few countries are more obsessed with looks than Japan.
Japanese jaws are naturally smaller than Western jaws
First of all, what is a Western jaw?
Second, NE Asians typically have wider jaws than (what I presume he means by 'western') NW Europeans. The problem is more that, the size and shape of your teeth are pre-determined by your genes and they evolve very slowly compared to the jaw. The jaw also can be affected by eating habits and your environment. Sexual selection over the last 100 years or so leaning towards more and more 'petite' and 'child-like' women being the sexual 'ideal' in Japan has put the Japanese teeth alignment in a strange position. Most Japanese people have 'shovel-type' teeth which, while normally would fit well in a typical NE Asian Jaw but because the narrow V-shape jaw line is en-vogue, such teeth cannot fit correctly in that space.
I'm all for this. Having crooked teeth may be okay in Japan (although very misaligned teeth causes a lot of dental problems beyond simply how it looks) but if Japanese people want to occupy a more cosmopolitan role in the wider world, straight(er) teeth are going to be necessary.
I knocked out a few permanent teeth in a sports related injury when I was 13 and it forced me to have 6 years of orthodontic surgery, braces, a herbst appliance, etc. It was pretty agonizing but now I have very straight and nice teeth. Like it or not, straight teeth are a crucial advantage in the wider world. I'm glad I went through it all, in the end.
Pukey2
This is one reason why I've always thought Japanese should try and eat most crusty and healthier bread, instead of the marshmallow here that passes off as bread. Hell, bite into a whole apple instead of peeling it and cutting it into small pieces - it's not rude!
Jessie Lee
Start with regular flossing to get rid of halitotic breath.
kurisupisu
Straight teeth for the rich and ....crooked for the poor...
OneEyedMan
@kurisupisu
Rich people tend to be healthier than poor people in general.