!'ll not question whether or not the actors in John Adams were appropriately, dentally attired. But actors do often wear fake teeth in portraying the reality of their roles. If they wanted real actors with teeth in deplorable condition they should have gotten English actors. Now that would have been quite the irony.

I had thought floridation of water being helpful was debunked as a myth? Didn't recent studies show that it was great when applied topically, but swallowing/drinking water which contained it wasn't helpful?

Did I mishear?

Nice way to draw traffic to an article. Make it about a recent mini-series premiere and have the article's contents focused on anything but the series itself.

I was raised in Cal where the drinking water was floridated. Now I live in the northwest and my dentist tells me that he knows instantly which of his patients are from Ca because their teeth are in good shape. I do not know if the floridation worked because it was ingested or if it adequately bathed the teeth while in the oral cavity. But, my dentist swears it works and I know that I've had very little trouble with my teeth. That said it is no dental panacea. My brothers teeth are a nightmare. But, he did not take care of his teeth and he's an alcoholic, etc.... His teeth are literally falling out of his mouth.

As to this being nit picky about the show I can understand both sides of the argument. More frequently we see woman depicted in film much thinner and prettier than the time frames of their movies. In this case they went to a lot of trouble and expense to keep the historical context accurate. How much more would some cosmetic teeth have cost to render that even more realistic?

I don't have HBO so I'm not watching the series. However, I suspect that if it shows Abigail and John Adams naked in bed, Abby's armpits will be hairless. It's called willing suspension of disbelief.

I was born in (gasp) 1963. The water where we lived wasn't flouridated at that time, and my teeth and their zillion fillings are proof of that. It was the same with most of the kids in my class. We all had those nasty old-fashioned silver caps on some of our rotten baby teeth as well as a mouthful of fillings.

Fast forward five years, and my brother comes on the scene, coincidentally one year after the city decided to add flouride to the water. He has had two tiny fillings in his entire life.

Apparently, flouride in the water helps babies even in utero to have better, stronger teeth. Flouride in toothpaste reinforces that. Sigh. Born too late! I have one tooth that's going to have to be crowned if that filling goes. Ka-ching, there goes a thousand bucks.

MessyONE:

I was born in (gasp) 1963. The water where we lived wasn't flouridated at that time, and my teeth and their zillion fillings are proof of that. It was the same with most of the kids in my class. We all had those nasty old-fashioned silver caps on some of our rotten baby teeth as well as a mouthful of fillings.

Fast forward five years, and my brother comes on the scene, coincidentally one year after the city decided to add flouride to the water. He has had two tiny fillings in his entire life.

Apparently, flouride in the water helps babies even in utero to have better, stronger teeth. Flouride in toothpaste reinforces that. Sigh. Born too late! I have one tooth that's going to have to be crowned if that filling goes. Ka-ching, there goes a thousand bucks.

no kidding. i was born before you, and not only was there no fluoride, flossing wasn't in vogue. imagine. and now, they have dental sealants for those fissures on top of the molars where i ended up with big silver fillings that are now all being crowned. thousand bucks; try 1200 each. dental "insurance" pays 1/3, until you hit the limit of course.

Between the braces (paid for by parents, let's be fair), the fillings, changing out the silver fillings for white ones, the one veneer, the gold on-lays because ceramic wasn't sturdy enough, the rest of the maintenance...There's a Porsche Turbo in my mouth, I swear.

So far no crowns. My mother-in-law has several times heard her dentist say "Oh, sh**!", when he's using a probe and a tooth falls apart around a good, sturdy filling. Sigh.

Scoot'r-d:

If they wanted real actors with teeth in deplorable condition they should have gotten English actors. Now that would have been quite the irony.

Here's even more of an irony: They did get English actors! In the accompanying picture, both messrs Wilkinson and McKenzie are English (or at least British).

Wow, imagine that, somebody besides Yanks has good teeth! Maybe you guys had better teeth than the rest of the world, once -- but it may also be that the rest of the world has caught up, and you didn't notice.

Yet another piece of the American superiority complex turns out not to be too well-founded...

As an Englishman I've never quite understood where this big American joke about 'English teeth' comes from. Everyone I know has teeth in perfectly good physical condition, and most kids at school had braces to straighten them out if needed. Perhaps we're not as bothered about spending huge sums on getting them nicely lined up and veneered but big deal, so long as they're not rotten I've got better things to do with my cash. Of course we have lots of favourite jokes about Americans being ignorant lard-cakes which are also no doubt unfounded (yeah right). I'd be happy to demonstrate the strength and effectiveness of English teeth on an American nose/ear any day :-p

C-Tips

Admittedly my comment was cheap shot. I do not know the cosmetic status of the preponderance of Brits enameled pearlys. My sole first hand experience has been from watching what you would call "the tube"; English television programs. Next time you get a chance watch the British version of "Antiques Roadshow". I can assure you that the teeth you'll see on this program will generally be nightmarishly craggly and discolored. If these poor souls do not reflect the entire country then my assumption is entirely misplaced. I apologize.

Sorry, but no. One of my best friends is English (truly, though that sounds funny, I know). Her teeth are horrid. And she HAD braces as a kid. There's just something in the teeth genes across the pond, I swear.

That said, lots of Americans are fat. No argument there.

I would watch episode 3 of the series. At the nation's first inauguration, Adam's smiles. If teeth are not accurately portrayed, I would guess Paul Giamatti isn't embarrassed of his hygiene.