Consumed by prestige: the mouth, consumerism and the dental profession

Abstract

Commercialisation and consumerism have had lasting and profound effects upon the nature of oral health and how dental services are provided. The stigma of a spoiled dental appearance, along with the attraction of the smile as a symbol of status and prestige, places the mouth and teeth as an object and product to be bought and sold. How the dental profession interacts with this acquired status of the mouth has direct implications for the professional status of dentistry and the relationship between the profession and society. This essay examines the mouth's developing position as a symbol of status and prestige and how the dental profession's interaction and response to this may have important effects on the nature of dentistry's social contract with society. As rates of dental disease reduce in higher socioeconomic groups, dentistry is experiencing a reorientation from being positioned within a therapeutic context, to be increasingly viewed as body work. This is not in of itself problematic; as a discipline dentistry places a very high value upon the provision of enhanced or improved aesthetics. This position changes when the symbolic exchange value of an aesthetic smile becomes the main motivation for treatment, encouraging a shift towards a commercialised model of practice that attenuates professional altruism. The dental profession should not welcome the association of the mouth as a status and prestige symbol lightly; this article examines how this paradigm shift might impact upon the social contract and dentistry's professional status.

A disability‐based exploration of psychosocial barriers and enablers to accessing dental services for people with clinically severe obesity: A qualitative study

“…PwCSO are not perceived as a priority population and qualitative studies in the disability literature regarding access barriers reveal a lack of overriding responsibility for the oral health of people with disabilities 27 . Patients presenting with poor oral health, dental disease and poor dental aesthetics may be subject to an attached stigma, with “bad teeth” perceived by society as a negative character attribute or element of the individual's social identity, a concept discussed by Goffman 28,29 . By not understanding the multidimensional barriers faced by PwCSO, dental professionals can inadvertently perpetuate the inequity.…”

“…By not understanding the multidimensional barriers faced by PwCSO, dental professionals can inadvertently perpetuate the inequity. They may “victim blame” PwCSO for their oral health problems 29 . This sentiment is further compounded by weight related stigma and discrimination, both imposed by dental and other HCPs, or self‐imposed.…”

What do Australian health consumers believe about commercial advertisements and testimonials? a survey on health service advertising

“…Commercialised healthcare may frustrate this process through advertising which makes individuals feel obliged to undergo services through highlighting societally defined flaws in appearance. The way that this has occurred in the dental industry has been described by Otto [14] and Holden [15], where the public are provided with oral healthcare services that they did not perceive they needed before it was 'sold' to them. It is difficult to draw a definitive line between treatments which are solely elective; provided to enhance appearance and cosmetic outcomes, and those which are primarily concerned with advancing health and which have a secondary purpose of improving aesthetics.…”

Regulation in dentistry: An opportunity for change

“…Whilst in the past dental health was defined as the absence of dental disease it is now seen by large cohorts of the population as having 'perfectly aligned, white teeth' . 10,11 Ultimately, our relationship with the public is changing and the way we interact with them along with it, fuelled by factors such as the rise of social media. It is important that our understanding of professionalism within dentistry reflects the times and remains dynamic enough to help us rise to contemporary challenges.…”