Pointless Quiz part one yaaay! Do you know how many times the word "tooth(teeth)" appears in this message?

You know, very few kids have orthodontics in Japan. Sometimes I hear someone saying "Big double teeth are the cuteness."

American's aesthetic feeling for teeth is quite strong! Teeth alignment and teeth whiteness I mean. When looking at just their teeth, not a few people look like robots. I mean it. Some have this look like "Don't laugh with your mouth open, it's too bright!". (I'm serious!) These days we see the TV ads for "self-whitening-at-home" kits quite a lot of times, and from time to time I hear some tragic stories of those who melted the surface of their teeth too much from overuse of it. (Sounds so pained . . . especially what if they open their mouth in winter . . . Ugh! I just imagined it and got goose bumps)

When I was in elementary school in NY one quarter of my class were having orthodontics. Those guys went for it right after they lost their baby teeth and got all new ones. And also, it's not the complete orthodontics but, do you know those denture-looking things separated upper and lower, which need to be taken out when eating? They're called retainers. Some guys left their retainers at the cafeteria after lunch hours once in a while, and we all fussed and yelled "Yuck!" or "Who the heck left it!" . . . (Uh, I was at the all-girls school filled with preppy girls, in a sort(lol))

They mean that it's common to change the shape of body parts cosmetically, and the younger they have it the easier, right. America is so advanced in that kind of things isn't it! The old-time corsets were probably used for skeletal correction. There's also a custom to pierce ears at very young age and most of the girls had their ears pierced until they were in the 5th grade in elementary! I had my ears pierced around 7 years old at the hospital!

I wonder what it is like in other Asian countries? I heard that plastic surgery is getting popular in South Korea, so orthodontics - namely facelifts for teeth - may be popular there as well!

I think there's no problem as long as we take a good care of our teeth and the bite is good, but still, I have tight teeth myself! The other day when I had my wisdom teeth pulled out, my dentist told me "You now had your wisdom teeth pulled out, so why don't you think about the dental makeover? Your lower jaw is so small that your gums are packed tight." (Say do you remember the old TV ad of gum dental rinse? The one that a white man in a white coat warns us "(it begins) before you know it!!!". I'd been worrying if my gums were thin because of gum disease like that ad, but was then relieved to find out that I didn't have it! (lol) That TV ad sowed too much seeds of fear in our heart, didn't it!)

Because of my profession there were many things to care about to have orthodontics, like how much it would be visible to others (everyone would worry about it, but I think I wouldn't mind to have it myself for about a year if I weren't doing this job!) and how much it would affect pronunciation and vocalization (this seriously matters to me), so first I took a walk to the orthodontic office introduced to me for advice as it was in my neighborhood and I thought it wouldn't be bad just to have an interview there - expecting I might be able to have it, since I heard some famous actress had it there too and the technology was improved there days!

I was told "Let's see, there's nothing I can do about your small jaw, so first of all I'll have to pull 2 teeth from the upper set and 2 from the lower."

Eeeeeeeeek!!
I've just had 4 teeth pulled the other day and 4 more teeth again? That's too much isn't it!! I feel like "Give me a big jaw!", Mr. Old man! (Yes, he was a gentle old man . . .)

I feel so depressed, having some other problems also.
*shrugs* I was really on it you know . . . sigh . . . this holds the number-one position of my sad things this year. I wrote that I took a walk there, but actually I got up early in the morning for the appointment at half past eight and headed there walking briskly in the raging icy storm . . . (It's pretty hard to get up early when you've been working through midnight hours)

I was talking with my dad about things like that the other day, and got to know his surprising past secret . . .
He said when he was in junior or senior high, he was awarded as the Number One Teeth-alignment Championship in Tokyo(what's that?!), nope, such a championship doesn't exist, what was the name of it, anyway, the Number One of the teeth-alignment.

What the heck is that.
It sounds great but come to think of it . . . I don't quite get it.