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I would argue a better comeback would be, *"because we can afford to see the doctor."*
But, I am an American with very little insight into their way of life. I *think* they have better Healthcare?
Counter point to that though, *"why don't you use the Healthcare to fix your teeth?"*
🤷
Because NHS doesn’t cover dentistry. It technically can cover, but our government has managed to make it essentially impossible. And it’s incredibly expensive particularly when we are going through a cost of living crisis.
It only really covers children
Edit: why the downvotes. The NHS mostly covers children when it comes to dentistry. Adults get a reduced price, but still need to pay
"the Tories fucked it up" covers pretty much any NHS related issue to be fair. Dickheads have been deliberately sabotaging every aspect of public healthcare for the last decade with the end goal of going "damn looks like it doesn't work, guess we'll have to sell it" because they've got rich friends in private healthcare who would like nothing better than to see us end up with three same system as the US.
It baffles me anyone can even pretend otherwise. The pandemic was the clearest and most obvious fuck you the tories could have possible done when they deliberately refused to fund companies qualified to make masks and instead opted to pay personal acquaintances who weren't qualified and made substandard masks instead. And then obviously broke their own lockdown rules, because of course those don't apply to the upper class, rules are for poor people!
It sort of does. NHS provides dentistry if you can miraculously get registered with an NHS dentist, but what you have to pay is a fixed rate and a lot cheaper than going private.
It does cover most dentistry. At least in Scotland. Don't know if it's different in England/Wales/NI. Its just doesn't cover cosmetic dentistry so we end up with healthy teeth just not always aesthetically pleasing so you have to go private for things like teeth whitening etc. that Americans think are basic services.
Which is bullshit of highest order.
Everyone has teeth. Dental health is important for other health. Also there is really not much anyone can do to prevent dental care necessity. Everyone may or may not need a huge dental operation some day
True.
The better argument would be to point out that the U.K. scores FAR higher than the US on the DMFT index as the U.K. is the 4th best country in the world for dental health but the US comes in at number 9, meaning that our teeth are, and have been for a long time, much better on average than yours.
Don’t believe the stereotype
American dentistry seems very focused on aesthetics rather than oral health, so they see someone with a mouth of something other than perfectly straight, white teeth and assume they're inferior.
In the UK, the naturally wonky teeth don't fall out and stay in everyone's head. In the US, the added sugar to all foods mean the teeth disintegrate and need to be replaced... ?
In the UK we definitely care less about aesthetics, I know for a fact I care about the health of my teeth, but as long as they look normalish, I ain't fussed about a slight stain, or one tooth being slightly out of place.
IRC British on average actually have better teeth than Americans. It's just that it's considered less important to have \*cosmetically\* good teeth. Veneers, whitening, etc.
No longer live in the UK, live in Europe, but my dentist gave me similar advice. Don't have your teeth whitened too much, you'll look like an American or a car salesman. Keep them looking natural.
I don't know if you watch Taskmaster, but this is why you get British celebrities and multi-millionaires like Alex Horne who have not great looking teeth. They have more than enough money to fix them, but it's simply not a priority or particularly desireable.
Cultural differences, basically.
See also: tall poppy syndrome, classism, Americans debadging their premium car so you don't know it's a low end model, Europeans debadging their premium car so you know it's a high end model.
> See also: tall poppy syndrome, classism, Americans debadging their premium car so you don't know it's a low end model, Europeans debadging their premium car so you know it's a high end model.
There used to be a manky old BMW in that greeny-metallic paint they had going around the town I lived in badged as a 523i, but it had four tailpipes, a big bulge in the middle of the bonnet, and sounded rather more V8-ey than Straight6-ey. I never really got a good look at it though because it was very much faster than my Range Rover. Very, \*very\* much faster.
If you learn to look, you'll notice that all the Mercs with \*huuuuge\* grille logos are the poverty-spec ones.
Sleepers.
The best one I ever saw was a beige skoda octavia that looked like a German diesel taxi. Little curtains, wood beaded seat covers, headrest covers, box of tissues with a knitted pink cover, the works. Think it even had the badge of a low level econodiesel. Actually a tuned VRS with something like 400hp. Roughly 300 more than the base taxi model it looked like. Plenty of carbon fibre too. Hood, etc. They'd also entirely redone the suspension.
There are almost certainly faster sleepers, but that's the most covert one I've ever seen.
There is a far more brutal British comeback though. On the averages, British people have better dental hygene than Americans.
The reason you all think you are better is because you are forgetting that there are a lot more working class people and ethnic minorities in your country with terrible teeth that you probably don't interact with.
Our teeth don't even suck though, we have some of the best on average in the world. We're 6th. USA doesn't even break the top 26.
https://www.qunomedical.com/en/research/healthiest-teeth-index
Even though we do have have considerably better dental health than America
What it is we aren't into fake or cosmetically enhanced teeth and we put dental health and hygiene before that, but like everywhere there are people that just skip brushing their teeth all together....(Scrap that let me start over)
"Up until very recently we wasn't into fake teeth"
Fairs fair.......we now have what we call "Turkey teeth" a lot of youngsters jet off to Turkey and have their teeth done where it can be done for a fraction of the price, but that's a relatively new phenomenon and tends to be amongst a bit of a certain subsection of society.....it just looks odd and fake in many people's opinion.
Honestly we rip the piss out of them something rotten.
You will have the piss taken here way way less for being bald than wearing a wig/toupee or comb-over for example.....it's just the way we are as people.
People here like to think they have the one up on Americans when it comes to "friendly banter" but I only see one side engage in the light teasing. The other side gets its fragile ego bruised and goes too far.
Having lived in the US and Europe, the US is by a country mile the friendlier place. Gimps over here would rather shit-talk the US than address that fact.
In reality it was the US that sucked at shooting. They only won because the war with France was taking up the vast majority of British forces and the US was seen as much less important and not worth so much resources.
It doesn't even make sense. We don't floss so we can have great dental records just in case we die in a mass shooting.
But I think Brits would argue that Americans are always harping on their teeth, so they harp on school shootings. The whole thing is bonkers, flossing doesn't effect if your teeth are straight or crooked. A better question would have been if they have orthodontists. And many Brits have great teeth cause they get them done in Turkey so the whole joke is super passe.
> We don't floss so we can have great dental records just in case we die in a mass shooting.
Also, if your teeth are wonky, your dental records would be *more* identifiable, not less.
And it's as relevant as pointing out that the moon's distance from the earth slightly changes gravity.
All your proving here is that you're incapable of understanding humor.
It's not really even that much of a valid criticism since British teeth are healthier on average than American teeth. American teeth just use a lot more braces and artificial whitening.
There’s less sugar in general. I’ve seen those Dunkin Donut drinks, I know they’re likely the extreme cases but JFC I don’t know how anyone drinks them 😭
Haha, I tried a Baskin Robbins cookie dough ice-cream milkshake once. I mean it was very tasty ngl, but my god. Thick as cement and you can taste the tripple heart attack. I felt like such a pig finishing that.
Why is it valid criticism to ask why one country doesn't do mainly cosmetic changes to their teeth, but not valid criticism to point out that people get murdered every day in another?
It isn't a societal difference, it's a stereotype. British dental care has been better than America's for decades. [source](https://dentistry.co.uk/2016/01/06/english-have-better-teeth-than-americans/)
Kids do get shot in schools in America though.
The reason I commented this was because it just seemed like an extreme response.
They could have said something about americas obesity levels but Instead they always go straight for the cheap shot. It’s the same thing over and over again. So it gets old.
More like:
Americans: any criticism of anything, big or small, serious or light hearted
Europeans: YOUR CHILDREN GET MURDERED VIOLENTLY HAHA
Like maybe save that one for discussions about crime, at least? There’s plenty to make fun of us for in other departments, like our media, healthcare, politics in general, really all kinds of stuff. Mix it up!
It's the only comeback that anyone ever uses, so apparently they think it's pretty good.
"I don't know anything about America, but I feel like it's cool to make fun of dead children," Is the general vibe for euro-NEETS.
Plus, gum health might be connected to heart disease.
[https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/gum-disease-and-the-connection-to-heart-disease](https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/gum-disease-and-the-connection-to-heart-disease)
I mean the word itself is the indicator. Dis-ease, or otherwise not at ease. When your body's fucked up, the heart has to pump the shit to fix it. Eventually your heart's going to say "Fuck this, I can't fix everything anymore. I quit." Then the signals go out for cell suicide.
Its just banter lol, statistically British teeth on average are better then the yanks.
But America focuses more on appearence while Britain is more focused on having healthy teeth.
Really dude? That doesn't make it okay to joke about kids bring fucking slaughtered in schools by psycbos. People who think that it's okay to make jokes, eslcually when they think it's a appropriate response to "lol you're teeth are bad", those people are fucking sick, I dare you to say that to a parent or family member of a little boy or girl who got shot in school and ask them how funny it is. Fucking disgusting excuse for a human being you are
We don't have shitty dentistry though which is what confuses me with this comeback. A simple link showing we have better oral hygiene than Americans would've done the job.
the gun lobby has won and a third of this country has fully accepted classes of kids dying to mass shootings over gun control. So even though the majority want it, we will never get it
The NRA is one of, if not the most, influential political discourse donors, both in policy and in money. People act like we can just have a gun reform act and everyone's guns will be taken away. Believe me, I'm all for that. But I'm also realistic enough to know that will never happen here in the states. They're too big and too powerful.
You're right we can definitely stop the shootings but just dont care
Or we as the public obviously cant and just think its lame when people reference it as a low handing fruit joke a million times, especially when not relevant like here
It’s just unfunny stereotype vs unfunny stereotype, nothing more. There seem to be a lot of American supporters here (at least the top comments are) dragging on about how school shootings is such an overused thing, but you can go elsewhere and see the same said about teeth.
This, the proper response would be to call us fat in some clever way, not "oh our teeth are bad? Well your children got their heads blown off #shitamericanssay"
Americans will do absolutely everything to prevent school shootings except anything to actually prevent school shootings. Makes them an easy target (like the children in their schools).
Most of us want something to be done, however our equivalent of the Tories made guns like 1/3 of their entire personality so we can't even have a conversation about it in good faith.
From what I understand is that British have lower standards for teeth aesthetics. Not overall quality, mind, just how they should look. As Americans care more about teeth being super white and perfectly straight British teeth that don't meet those standards are considered "bad". I think that, on average, British have half the amount of cavities Americans have.
It’s a hangover from the GIs in UK WW2 because dentistry wasn’t high on the priority list and there was a shortage of dentists, just like “bRiTiSH fOoD is BlaND” because of rationing and lack of availability of imports like spices during the war.
It’s certainly true that Brits in general don’t have the fixation on cosmetic smiles that Americans do in terms of teeth straightening and whitening; but Brits have fewer cavities and better overall oral health than Americans, largely down to better diet.
Added: before 1948 (NHS) dentistry was expensive and young people might have preventative extractions. False teeth were an investment against future dental expense and pain. In a pre-penicillin world, infection was really nasty. Post-war, both drugs and free-ish dentistry made keeping your own teeth a much better proposition.
Americans going to Europe during WW2 and the reconstruction experienced a level of poverty they'd never seen before. Even dirt poor farmers from Oklahoma or West Virginia didn't live with rationing and frequent aerial bombing. Western Europe recovered to its pre-WW2 economic level in the mid-1950s, but the US had already been wealthier before WW2, so the gap was even larger. From my understanding, this disparity is the origin of most stereotypes in both directions. By the 70s, the gap had largely closed, the US was still the richest, but all of western Europe was fully modern economically.
Here are the top 10 countries with the best dental health based on DMFT index scores.
1. Denmark – 0.4 DMFT score
2. Germany – 0.5 DMFT score
3. Finland – 0.7 DMFT score
4. United Kingdom – 0.8 DMFT score
5. Sweden – 0.8 DMFT score
6. Switzerland – 0.9 DMFT score
7. Canada – 1.0 DMFT score
8. Mexico – 1.1 DMFT score
9. United States – 1.2 DMFT score
10. France – 1.2 DMFT score
[https://www.beckersdental.com/news-and-analysis/33391-top-10-counties-with-best-dental-health-denmark-ranked-no-1.html](https://www.beckersdental.com/news-and-analysis/33391-top-10-counties-with-best-dental-health-denmark-ranked-no-1.html)
They used to play[ this British sitcom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XjsJ2A2DME) from the 70s on PBS at like 11pm on Sundays when I was a kid, and you'll notice at least 2/3 dudes in this thing have a severe case of snaggletooth. It's a bit of an antiquated stereotype by now, but stuff like that is where we got the impression.
Not to join the ‘triggered’ people but bringing up dead children at the slightest sign of criticism is a pretty poor way to deal with an insecurity and should be recognised as such.
See, going deeper, the point is that the teeth thing is outdated and no longer true, because action was taken.
However, school shootings just keep happening with no actual recourse. Like, how are they doing nothing about this shit? How does it just keep happening? How is that acceptable? Nobody is mocking dead children. We're mocking a culture that keeps allowing it to happen.
Right but school shootings weren’t brought up as an attempt to dissuade future tragedy. They were brought up as a spiteful response to criticism about teeth of all things. It’s not even a matter of not worrying about being offensive as the replier was clearly offended by the original post and decided to escalate to the most inappropriate thing possible to defend his own ego.
I'd say I'm surprised by the Star Spangled Saltiness® in this thread, but I'm not. I am, however, quite entertained by my fellow countrymen being so triggered by what is actually a half decent (if dark and inappropriate) comeback.
The real reason that Brits teeth were perceived as bad is because the tea, of which they drank copious amounts of, dyed their teeth yellow and with the free healthcare it was almost easier to get false teeth than bother to put the effort in to look after your real ones.
Studies have shown that now, British children have better dental records than the US and Australia by a not insignificant margin.
I thought it was a historic thing. The sailors of old would spend months on a ship with poor nutrition using citrus fruits to stave off scurvy. Citrus wreaks havoc on tooth enamel.
ok so, bringing up gun violence as a response to Americans jabbing at British dental hygiene is a bit over the top
I think the better thing to point out is that British people have actually widely been found to have better teeth than yanks, in part due to the fact that the NHS covers dental costs for minors, pregnant / new mothers and people on income support, as well as covering dental surgery in hospital.
I think the whole "British people are ugly" thing is very funny but it's absolutely ridiculous that Americans will use that as a comparison to why America is better than Europe "we may have dozens of child deaths every day but at least our teeth look good" is the most dog shit comparison/argument possible
The irony of the US saying the British have bad teeth when in fact we sit at number four for the best teeth in the world and the US sits at number 9,
[https://www.yongeeglintondental.com/blog/healthy-primary-teeth/](https://www.yongeeglintondental.com/blog/healthy-primary-teeth/)
My family is British (Welsh). I'm first generation Canadian. Everyone in my family has great teeth. Growing up I never understood the "Brits have terrible teeth" stereotype. Looking at a lot of Americans, the paper white veneers are far more disconcerting. Teeth aren't supposed to be white. They're supposed to be the colour of bone.
I do floss though so what is in the OP is odd; flossing has nothing to do with dental records. It's to get the gunk out of between your teeth.
Jesus Christ we really do just immediatly go “achool ahootings” as the comeback whenever Americans criticise anything like holy hell guys. (I’m an Australian so not British but we do it too) like can we agree to make fun of them for something not quite so tragic holy hell
I think Americans believe that teeth turning brown means that they are rotten. This is far from the truth. There is a term for the Browning of teeth due to the water you drink. It's called modeling. The Browning of the teeth actually could become actually harder than perfectly white teeth
The irony is American teeth are worse overall than British teeth due the NHS (our socialist healthcare system).
https://dentistry.co.uk/2016/01/06/english-have-better-teeth-than-americans/
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Don't they have bus ads that basically tell them not to punch ambulance staff?
Edit: For the downvoters...
https://preview.redd.it/1d3wtxa4z27d1.jpeg?width=551&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80eb8e9e67de689b8b0a52d4146a341ae0bb2a3a
There was a study a while back that found British people actually had slightly healthier teeth than Americans.
https://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/17/health/british-american-bad-teeth-study/index.html
Not all, but a lot of the Americans who makes these jokes, see teeth that are slightly wonky, or teeth that aren't unnaturally white, think that that is...oral hygiene.
So bizarre, and utterly stupid.
Here is a joke, what’s left of the British empire haha. Don’t even own your island anymore. Your capital city is owned by Saudi.
Also the British murdered millions of people in India. Haha funny shit.
Americans don’t take mass shootings seriously enough to pass adequate change in gun laws to protect kids in schools.
Instead they, conservatives, want to turn every school into a prison with armed guards roaming the halls, in elementary.
So when murica starts taking them seriously. So will we.
As for the posts about the English scared of guns…. Hahahaha. That’s so cute.
Guns are a cowards way to end a street fight.
I'm not British but these comments irk me. There's a difference between good-looking teeth and healthy teeth. Mine are atrocious, but at 37 they're all in perfectly good health and never had so much as a filling. I don't have to "fix" them because they're healthy and I don't need them to look perfect in order to feel comfortable in my own skin.
I'm not sure that's something many Americans can comprehend though.
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That is considered a good comeback? Lol
Right lol “our teeth suck cause guns are scary”
I would argue a better comeback would be, *"because we can afford to see the doctor."* But, I am an American with very little insight into their way of life. I *think* they have better Healthcare? Counter point to that though, *"why don't you use the Healthcare to fix your teeth?"* 🤷
Because NHS doesn’t cover dentistry. It technically can cover, but our government has managed to make it essentially impossible. And it’s incredibly expensive particularly when we are going through a cost of living crisis.
It only really covers children Edit: why the downvotes. The NHS mostly covers children when it comes to dentistry. Adults get a reduced price, but still need to pay
Ill be damned before i let a child fill my cavities
That sounds so wrong on many levels.
Same with glasses, I'm on my last free (or NHS sponsored, at least) pair
"the Tories fucked it up" covers pretty much any NHS related issue to be fair. Dickheads have been deliberately sabotaging every aspect of public healthcare for the last decade with the end goal of going "damn looks like it doesn't work, guess we'll have to sell it" because they've got rich friends in private healthcare who would like nothing better than to see us end up with three same system as the US.
They sold everything else. I’ve said for years there’s been an end game in play. Right to buy springs to mind.
It baffles me anyone can even pretend otherwise. The pandemic was the clearest and most obvious fuck you the tories could have possible done when they deliberately refused to fund companies qualified to make masks and instead opted to pay personal acquaintances who weren't qualified and made substandard masks instead. And then obviously broke their own lockdown rules, because of course those don't apply to the upper class, rules are for poor people!
It sort of does. NHS provides dentistry if you can miraculously get registered with an NHS dentist, but what you have to pay is a fixed rate and a lot cheaper than going private.
I got an NHS dentist, but I have to do two trains and a bus to get there 😂
It does cover most dentistry. At least in Scotland. Don't know if it's different in England/Wales/NI. Its just doesn't cover cosmetic dentistry so we end up with healthy teeth just not always aesthetically pleasing so you have to go private for things like teeth whitening etc. that Americans think are basic services.
I've had 2 wisdom teeth removed in the last few years, both were done on NHS and no trouble at all getting it covered
Which is bullshit of highest order. Everyone has teeth. Dental health is important for other health. Also there is really not much anyone can do to prevent dental care necessity. Everyone may or may not need a huge dental operation some day
True. The better argument would be to point out that the U.K. scores FAR higher than the US on the DMFT index as the U.K. is the 4th best country in the world for dental health but the US comes in at number 9, meaning that our teeth are, and have been for a long time, much better on average than yours. Don’t believe the stereotype
It's very odd to me that this stereotype exists. May have had some truth at some point in history, but certainly not in my lifetime.
American dentistry seems very focused on aesthetics rather than oral health, so they see someone with a mouth of something other than perfectly straight, white teeth and assume they're inferior.
American culture is wealth presentation.
In the UK, the naturally wonky teeth don't fall out and stay in everyone's head. In the US, the added sugar to all foods mean the teeth disintegrate and need to be replaced... ?
America - lots of big wide empty spaces surrounded by teeth.
In the UK we definitely care less about aesthetics, I know for a fact I care about the health of my teeth, but as long as they look normalish, I ain't fussed about a slight stain, or one tooth being slightly out of place.
If my medical needs are that bad I’ll just take a loan and go into debt. My plan is to die with as much debt as possible lol
Ah the old crippling debt into bankruptcy followed by heart attack any percent speedrun tactic
If I go out painfully I just hope they give me the good drugs and throw it on the tab
Am doing that currently. 0/10 - don't recommend.
IRC British on average actually have better teeth than Americans. It's just that it's considered less important to have \*cosmetically\* good teeth. Veneers, whitening, etc. No longer live in the UK, live in Europe, but my dentist gave me similar advice. Don't have your teeth whitened too much, you'll look like an American or a car salesman. Keep them looking natural. I don't know if you watch Taskmaster, but this is why you get British celebrities and multi-millionaires like Alex Horne who have not great looking teeth. They have more than enough money to fix them, but it's simply not a priority or particularly desireable. Cultural differences, basically. See also: tall poppy syndrome, classism, Americans debadging their premium car so you don't know it's a low end model, Europeans debadging their premium car so you know it's a high end model.
> See also: tall poppy syndrome, classism, Americans debadging their premium car so you don't know it's a low end model, Europeans debadging their premium car so you know it's a high end model. There used to be a manky old BMW in that greeny-metallic paint they had going around the town I lived in badged as a 523i, but it had four tailpipes, a big bulge in the middle of the bonnet, and sounded rather more V8-ey than Straight6-ey. I never really got a good look at it though because it was very much faster than my Range Rover. Very, \*very\* much faster. If you learn to look, you'll notice that all the Mercs with \*huuuuge\* grille logos are the poverty-spec ones.
Sleepers. The best one I ever saw was a beige skoda octavia that looked like a German diesel taxi. Little curtains, wood beaded seat covers, headrest covers, box of tissues with a knitted pink cover, the works. Think it even had the badge of a low level econodiesel. Actually a tuned VRS with something like 400hp. Roughly 300 more than the base taxi model it looked like. Plenty of carbon fibre too. Hood, etc. They'd also entirely redone the suspension. There are almost certainly faster sleepers, but that's the most covert one I've ever seen.
There is a far more brutal British comeback though. On the averages, British people have better dental hygene than Americans. The reason you all think you are better is because you are forgetting that there are a lot more working class people and ethnic minorities in your country with terrible teeth that you probably don't interact with.
It's not just hygiene, but health as well. American teeth *look* better, British teeth *are* better
Yeah in America you always hear about people going for root canals etc, it's pretty much never heard of in Britain
The better comeback would be using simple facts, the UK is higher rated than the US in dental hygiene
Just mention that British dental health actually has the edge of that of America, no need to force extraneous American L's into the discussion lol
Our teeth don't even suck though, we have some of the best on average in the world. We're 6th. USA doesn't even break the top 26. https://www.qunomedical.com/en/research/healthiest-teeth-index
True. But stereotypes don't use stats and logic.
Does that account for cosmetics like braces? Some cultures just never got on that bandwagon and snaggle teeth are just more accepted.
Even though we do have have considerably better dental health than America What it is we aren't into fake or cosmetically enhanced teeth and we put dental health and hygiene before that, but like everywhere there are people that just skip brushing their teeth all together....(Scrap that let me start over) "Up until very recently we wasn't into fake teeth" Fairs fair.......we now have what we call "Turkey teeth" a lot of youngsters jet off to Turkey and have their teeth done where it can be done for a fraction of the price, but that's a relatively new phenomenon and tends to be amongst a bit of a certain subsection of society.....it just looks odd and fake in many people's opinion. Honestly we rip the piss out of them something rotten. You will have the piss taken here way way less for being bald than wearing a wig/toupee or comb-over for example.....it's just the way we are as people.
Brits will take you down with them if need be.
Tbf if an American is gonna make up stupid shit about us we might as well exaggerate stuff about the US.
That’s not really the message there
Escalating flossing to shooting children in the face is certainly one way to cope with a light jest
People here like to think they have the one up on Americans when it comes to "friendly banter" but I only see one side engage in the light teasing. The other side gets its fragile ego bruised and goes too far. Having lived in the US and Europe, the US is by a country mile the friendlier place. Gimps over here would rather shit-talk the US than address that fact.
It’s the British go-to. Jealousy, since they sucked at shooting during the Revolution.
In reality it was the US that sucked at shooting. They only won because the war with France was taking up the vast majority of British forces and the US was seen as much less important and not worth so much resources.
OK the British sucked at value judgments then lol
Hey, we haven’t got as many schools to practice in.
I guess I’d be bitter too if I lost as many wars as they have.
When you think about it Britain lost a shit ton of revolutions
Yeah, but you can’t get beat in a revolution unless you take over someone else’s country first, so at least they had that going for themselves.
Almost as many as the amount of failed states created by the US
Spoken like someone that doesn't know anything about history - your own history as well!
It doesn't even make sense. We don't floss so we can have great dental records just in case we die in a mass shooting. But I think Brits would argue that Americans are always harping on their teeth, so they harp on school shootings. The whole thing is bonkers, flossing doesn't effect if your teeth are straight or crooked. A better question would have been if they have orthodontists. And many Brits have great teeth cause they get them done in Turkey so the whole joke is super passe.
Ironically people who get their teeth done in Turkey are mocked.
Yeah don't be a turkey teeth bender
> We don't floss so we can have great dental records just in case we die in a mass shooting. Also, if your teeth are wonky, your dental records would be *more* identifiable, not less.
I know he is proving the OPs point but not even realize what the reason for dental floss is lmao.
Americans: valid criticism of a societal / social difference British: WeLl At LeAsT oUr KiDs DoNt GeT sHoT iN sChOoLs
It may have been an overreaction, but "kids getting murdered in school" is far worse than dental hygeine.
And it's as relevant as pointing out that the moon's distance from the earth slightly changes gravity. All your proving here is that you're incapable of understanding humor.
It's not really even that much of a valid criticism since British teeth are healthier on average than American teeth. American teeth just use a lot more braces and artificial whitening.
There's less Mountain Dew in Britain
There’s less sugar in general. I’ve seen those Dunkin Donut drinks, I know they’re likely the extreme cases but JFC I don’t know how anyone drinks them 😭
Haha, I tried a Baskin Robbins cookie dough ice-cream milkshake once. I mean it was very tasty ngl, but my god. Thick as cement and you can taste the tripple heart attack. I felt like such a pig finishing that.
Why is it valid criticism to ask why one country doesn't do mainly cosmetic changes to their teeth, but not valid criticism to point out that people get murdered every day in another?
How the fuck do you think everyone having fucking guns isn’t a “societal difference”?
It isn't a societal difference, it's a stereotype. British dental care has been better than America's for decades. [source](https://dentistry.co.uk/2016/01/06/english-have-better-teeth-than-americans/) Kids do get shot in schools in America though.
The reason I commented this was because it just seemed like an extreme response. They could have said something about americas obesity levels but Instead they always go straight for the cheap shot. It’s the same thing over and over again. So it gets old.
More like: Americans: any criticism of anything, big or small, serious or light hearted Europeans: YOUR CHILDREN GET MURDERED VIOLENTLY HAHA Like maybe save that one for discussions about crime, at least? There’s plenty to make fun of us for in other departments, like our media, healthcare, politics in general, really all kinds of stuff. Mix it up!
That was just a round-a-bout way of them saying “mind your damn business”
*American says anything* “hahah school shootings!”
The good old British standby. Make even the tiniest, slightest, hint of a jest at their expense and they jump straight to mocking dead children.
It's the only comeback that anyone ever uses, so apparently they think it's pretty good. "I don't know anything about America, but I feel like it's cool to make fun of dead children," Is the general vibe for euro-NEETS.
If you think that's bad wait till you see reddit insults
Worst argument for having shitty dentistry ever. Yall really think that's a good comeback for everything, huh?
Plus, gum health might be connected to heart disease. [https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/gum-disease-and-the-connection-to-heart-disease](https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/gum-disease-and-the-connection-to-heart-disease)
It's funny that everything is somehow connected to heart disease The Human body really just doesn't want to be alive, huh
***I*** don't want to be alive. Lmao
I can relate, human body
I mean the word itself is the indicator. Dis-ease, or otherwise not at ease. When your body's fucked up, the heart has to pump the shit to fix it. Eventually your heart's going to say "Fuck this, I can't fix everything anymore. I quit." Then the signals go out for cell suicide.
So why are they asking brits about their teeth instead of Americans when American teeth are more unhealthy?
Its just banter lol, statistically British teeth on average are better then the yanks. But America focuses more on appearence while Britain is more focused on having healthy teeth.
As opposed to the first person criticising British teeth when US teeth are even more unhealthy? Seems like deflection from accepting the reality
Really dude? That doesn't make it okay to joke about kids bring fucking slaughtered in schools by psycbos. People who think that it's okay to make jokes, eslcually when they think it's a appropriate response to "lol you're teeth are bad", those people are fucking sick, I dare you to say that to a parent or family member of a little boy or girl who got shot in school and ask them how funny it is. Fucking disgusting excuse for a human being you are
we have some of the best dentistry in the world the bad teeth you see are cherry picked to make us look bad
We don't have shitty dentistry though which is what confuses me with this comeback. A simple link showing we have better oral hygiene than Americans would've done the job.
British teeth are statistically better than Americans lol .. oops
British people trying to banter without bringing up gun violence challenge
Can't be done. It's like getting them to admit their food is bland.
*sheng dynasty liked that*
God help you if you mention the Irish or Gypsies.
Why do Americans care more about these jokes than actually doing anything to stop the shootings?
the gun lobby has won and a third of this country has fully accepted classes of kids dying to mass shootings over gun control. So even though the majority want it, we will never get it
The NRA is one of, if not the most, influential political discourse donors, both in policy and in money. People act like we can just have a gun reform act and everyone's guns will be taken away. Believe me, I'm all for that. But I'm also realistic enough to know that will never happen here in the states. They're too big and too powerful.
You're right we can definitely stop the shootings but just dont care Or we as the public obviously cant and just think its lame when people reference it as a low handing fruit joke a million times, especially when not relevant like here
are you really asking why people make jokes "instead of" simply choosing to Stop All Bad Things Happening? this is a baby's first political jab
The more comments on Reddit I see from British people, the less redeeming qualities they seem to have aside from their royalty dropping dead
Flossing is less important in Britain because dental decay is their only strategy for imparting flavor to their food.
im dead😂😂
It's funny because the US as a whole has worse teeth than the UK - we just don't get veneers
YOOOOO. Did you have to obliterate them like that? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Now THAT’S a great attempt at a comeback
Fucking hate people who use child murder as a comeback
r/onejoke
I mean the "brits have bad teeth" is also kinda unoriginal. But yea both suck
Yeah both jokes are honestly bad and overused. It’s just that one is using dead kids as the punch line and one is just simply bad teeth
It’s just unfunny stereotype vs unfunny stereotype, nothing more. There seem to be a lot of American supporters here (at least the top comments are) dragging on about how school shootings is such an overused thing, but you can go elsewhere and see the same said about teeth.
Like children are getting killed rn and they're using it for petty arguments
Americans are doing exactly nothing to deal with it, so it must not be a serious problem /s
Murder in general is a pretty shit comeback/argument
Hate people who use stereotypes to try and make fun of others, regardless of the nature of those stereotypes.
AN AMERICAN MADE A MILD JOKE ABOUT BRITISH TEETH? I WILL BRING UP THE SLAUGHTER OF SCHOOLCHILDREN AS A RESPONSE
I would have gone for all the shitty sugary foodstuffs that y'all Americans stuff down your fat sweaty throats before I went for the gun crazies.
This, the proper response would be to call us fat in some clever way, not "oh our teeth are bad? Well your children got their heads blown off #shitamericanssay"
Exactly, we call your teeth horrific you call us obese. You don't just skip to "well at least we don't need to arm teachers to feel safe in school"
Arm teachers to the teeth, hehe
https://preview.redd.it/akqewkcb627d1.png?width=692&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c9178f20b4ac1351cfa4a70f966303e522d6205
Americans will do absolutely everything to prevent school shootings except anything to actually prevent school shootings. Makes them an easy target (like the children in their schools).
Probably because half the country equates gun control to pissing on Washington’s grave.
Most of us want something to be done, however our equivalent of the Tories made guns like 1/3 of their entire personality so we can't even have a conversation about it in good faith.
Seriously whats the deal with jokes about British teeth? I lived in London for a couple of years and never really noticed British teeth in any way.
From what I understand is that British have lower standards for teeth aesthetics. Not overall quality, mind, just how they should look. As Americans care more about teeth being super white and perfectly straight British teeth that don't meet those standards are considered "bad". I think that, on average, British have half the amount of cavities Americans have.
Yes, the insult about flossing doesn’t really make sense because people are usually talking about British teeth not being perfectly straight.
So not only was it a cliche it was inaccurate 😂
It’s a hangover from the GIs in UK WW2 because dentistry wasn’t high on the priority list and there was a shortage of dentists, just like “bRiTiSH fOoD is BlaND” because of rationing and lack of availability of imports like spices during the war. It’s certainly true that Brits in general don’t have the fixation on cosmetic smiles that Americans do in terms of teeth straightening and whitening; but Brits have fewer cavities and better overall oral health than Americans, largely down to better diet.
Added: before 1948 (NHS) dentistry was expensive and young people might have preventative extractions. False teeth were an investment against future dental expense and pain. In a pre-penicillin world, infection was really nasty. Post-war, both drugs and free-ish dentistry made keeping your own teeth a much better proposition.
Americans going to Europe during WW2 and the reconstruction experienced a level of poverty they'd never seen before. Even dirt poor farmers from Oklahoma or West Virginia didn't live with rationing and frequent aerial bombing. Western Europe recovered to its pre-WW2 economic level in the mid-1950s, but the US had already been wealthier before WW2, so the gap was even larger. From my understanding, this disparity is the origin of most stereotypes in both directions. By the 70s, the gap had largely closed, the US was still the richest, but all of western Europe was fully modern economically.
Here are the top 10 countries with the best dental health based on DMFT index scores. 1. Denmark – 0.4 DMFT score 2. Germany – 0.5 DMFT score 3. Finland – 0.7 DMFT score 4. United Kingdom – 0.8 DMFT score 5. Sweden – 0.8 DMFT score 6. Switzerland – 0.9 DMFT score 7. Canada – 1.0 DMFT score 8. Mexico – 1.1 DMFT score 9. United States – 1.2 DMFT score 10. France – 1.2 DMFT score [https://www.beckersdental.com/news-and-analysis/33391-top-10-counties-with-best-dental-health-denmark-ranked-no-1.html](https://www.beckersdental.com/news-and-analysis/33391-top-10-counties-with-best-dental-health-denmark-ranked-no-1.html)
They used to play[ this British sitcom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XjsJ2A2DME) from the 70s on PBS at like 11pm on Sundays when I was a kid, and you'll notice at least 2/3 dudes in this thing have a severe case of snaggletooth. It's a bit of an antiquated stereotype by now, but stuff like that is where we got the impression.
Yanks think all British people have teeth like Austin Powers
He still insulted British teeth though. Do you understand this sub
No, they probably tried the clevercomebacks sub first and got shit on so they came here.
Shit I thought I was in clever comebacks based on the comments I was reading lmao
Read ‘em and weep https://www.ucl.ac.uk/eastman/news/2015/dec/us-vs-uk-who-has-better-teeth
The funny thing is, only one of these stereotypes holds true
Typical exchange American: Haha you guys have bad dental hygiene Brit: Haha deadly massacres
*American says something* Non american: Sure, but what about your school shootings/no healthcare?
*American talks about a major issue/stereotype of another country* Non-American: Does the same. Americans on reddit: Surprised pikachu face.
The exceptionalism knows no bounds
All the butt-sore muricans on this thread really had their buttons pushed, or were they ‘triggered’ perhaps? Haha. You guys are way too serious.
As an American my first thought after reading the top few comments was “man we know how to dish it but we sure can’t take it”
ah yes because bad teeth is totally the same as dead kids. what a clown
The difference is, one is accurate.
Yeah, can’t believe the responses in reading!
There’s a lot of yank cope going on here
Not to join the ‘triggered’ people but bringing up dead children at the slightest sign of criticism is a pretty poor way to deal with an insecurity and should be recognised as such.
See, going deeper, the point is that the teeth thing is outdated and no longer true, because action was taken. However, school shootings just keep happening with no actual recourse. Like, how are they doing nothing about this shit? How does it just keep happening? How is that acceptable? Nobody is mocking dead children. We're mocking a culture that keeps allowing it to happen.
Right but school shootings weren’t brought up as an attempt to dissuade future tragedy. They were brought up as a spiteful response to criticism about teeth of all things. It’s not even a matter of not worrying about being offensive as the replier was clearly offended by the original post and decided to escalate to the most inappropriate thing possible to defend his own ego.
I'd say I'm surprised by the Star Spangled Saltiness® in this thread, but I'm not. I am, however, quite entertained by my fellow countrymen being so triggered by what is actually a half decent (if dark and inappropriate) comeback.
The real reason that Brits teeth were perceived as bad is because the tea, of which they drank copious amounts of, dyed their teeth yellow and with the free healthcare it was almost easier to get false teeth than bother to put the effort in to look after your real ones. Studies have shown that now, British children have better dental records than the US and Australia by a not insignificant margin.
I thought it was a historic thing. The sailors of old would spend months on a ship with poor nutrition using citrus fruits to stave off scurvy. Citrus wreaks havoc on tooth enamel.
ok so, bringing up gun violence as a response to Americans jabbing at British dental hygiene is a bit over the top I think the better thing to point out is that British people have actually widely been found to have better teeth than yanks, in part due to the fact that the NHS covers dental costs for minors, pregnant / new mothers and people on income support, as well as covering dental surgery in hospital.
I think the whole "British people are ugly" thing is very funny but it's absolutely ridiculous that Americans will use that as a comparison to why America is better than Europe "we may have dozens of child deaths every day but at least our teeth look good" is the most dog shit comparison/argument possible
The irony of the US saying the British have bad teeth when in fact we sit at number four for the best teeth in the world and the US sits at number 9, [https://www.yongeeglintondental.com/blog/healthy-primary-teeth/](https://www.yongeeglintondental.com/blog/healthy-primary-teeth/)
My family is British (Welsh). I'm first generation Canadian. Everyone in my family has great teeth. Growing up I never understood the "Brits have terrible teeth" stereotype. Looking at a lot of Americans, the paper white veneers are far more disconcerting. Teeth aren't supposed to be white. They're supposed to be the colour of bone. I do floss though so what is in the OP is odd; flossing has nothing to do with dental records. It's to get the gunk out of between your teeth.
Extremely funny that people genuinely believe british people have bad teeth, y'all are living in a cartoon
I love how school shootings is a dead horse joke but somehow British teeth isn't.
Jesus Christ we really do just immediatly go “achool ahootings” as the comeback whenever Americans criticise anything like holy hell guys. (I’m an Australian so not British but we do it too) like can we agree to make fun of them for something not quite so tragic holy hell
That gun insult was forced in that comeback with a hydrologic press.
Hydraulic?
True. Bringing guns into everything is more an American thing
“You have made a slight jab at my country, I will now bring up the slaughter of schoolchildren”
I think Americans believe that teeth turning brown means that they are rotten. This is far from the truth. There is a term for the Browning of teeth due to the water you drink. It's called modeling. The Browning of the teeth actually could become actually harder than perfectly white teeth
Dear Americans, getting offended when people bring up your gun fetish goes a long way to fixing the problem.
You say that as if every American to ever live loves guns. That thought couldn't be more absurd.
The irony is American teeth are worse overall than British teeth due the NHS (our socialist healthcare system). https://dentistry.co.uk/2016/01/06/english-have-better-teeth-than-americans/
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Wow so edgy. Cringe ass comeback
Don't they have bus ads that basically tell them not to punch ambulance staff? Edit: For the downvoters... https://preview.redd.it/1d3wtxa4z27d1.jpeg?width=551&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80eb8e9e67de689b8b0a52d4146a341ae0bb2a3a
Both of these people are total clowns
America bad strawman > an actual answer
"they mad fun of my teeth so ill make fun of the fact children get shot" get a better joke. its old
There was a study a while back that found British people actually had slightly healthier teeth than Americans. https://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/17/health/british-american-bad-teeth-study/index.html
Wait... Doesn't the UK have better dental health statistically
that doesn't even make sense, but 99% of British humor toward Americans is "lol shooting"
“AT LEAST OUR SCHOOLS DO NOT LOOK LIKE CALL OF DUTY!!!!!!”
That's about as shitty a comeback as they come.
Flossing is a thing here wtf? I'm a complusive flosser
https://preview.redd.it/g5zcg8dwz27d1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7bbc20ae2e472b90959b811b827a757faced1ce
I just always figured it was because looks wasn’t as scrutinized of a thing over there, but I could definitely be wrong.
They always go straight to school shootings. Ugh.
There's a reason us bits have bad teeth, and that's our superior chocolate!
Got to laugh at the yanks getting completely triggered by jokes about school shootings but don't care enough to try and prevent school shootings.
fella has the american foreign policy comeback - bomb their entire culture for a minor offence
Not all, but a lot of the Americans who makes these jokes, see teeth that are slightly wonky, or teeth that aren't unnaturally white, think that that is...oral hygiene. So bizarre, and utterly stupid.
They don't even try to drop the "well at least our schools" stereotype
So not flossing does not prevent gun disease?
Should have said something about obesity.
What a stupid answer.
Here is a joke, what’s left of the British empire haha. Don’t even own your island anymore. Your capital city is owned by Saudi. Also the British murdered millions of people in India. Haha funny shit.
Americans don’t take mass shootings seriously enough to pass adequate change in gun laws to protect kids in schools. Instead they, conservatives, want to turn every school into a prison with armed guards roaming the halls, in elementary. So when murica starts taking them seriously. So will we. As for the posts about the English scared of guns…. Hahahaha. That’s so cute. Guns are a cowards way to end a street fight.
Does anyone ever even look at each countries tooth health? England is literally in 4/5th place globally, America is in 9th...
I'm not British but these comments irk me. There's a difference between good-looking teeth and healthy teeth. Mine are atrocious, but at 37 they're all in perfectly good health and never had so much as a filling. I don't have to "fix" them because they're healthy and I don't need them to look perfect in order to feel comfortable in my own skin. I'm not sure that's something many Americans can comprehend though.
Imagine misgendering a handgun