I got to thinking about Grandma’s facial profile. It’s something we don’t see a lot nowadays, especially in leaner people, but I think it’s a caricature of the effects of extensive tooth loss. There’s an example shown in this textbook. Without the teeth in place, the lips sink inwards, causing the nose and chin to appear more prominent. Furthermore, because the teeth aren’t in the way, the mandible can swing further towards parallel, causing the chin to stick out even further.
I remember seeing a picture of J T Saylors when I was a kid and wondering how the heck he did that. I realize now that he must have been missing a bunch of teeth.
Wikipedia says that “gurning” (making ugly faces) contests are a tradition in rural England, and that tooth loss gives you a big leg up.Report
Someone was commenting elsewhere about “why do old people look younger now than they do when we were kids?” (thinking of the fact that many of our parents are now the age our grandparents were at when we were kids, yet they look younger) and I said one reason was “better dental care.”
I mean, I suspect the fact that dying ones hair has become more common (my mother, though, does not dye hers, and she looks younger in her early 80s than her mother did in HER early 80s). Perhaps better health care in general?
But yeah: improved dental care (especially in terms of dental work being faster and less painful) is probably one of the unsung advances of the late 20th-early 21st century. Also more of us may be able to afford that care thanks to dental insurance plans – I had a tooth crowned that I probably would have just had pulled if I didn’t have dental coverage.Report
Brandon Berg’s awesome comment:
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I remember seeing a picture of J T Saylors when I was a kid and wondering how the heck he did that. I realize now that he must have been missing a bunch of teeth.
Wikipedia says that “gurning” (making ugly faces) contests are a tradition in rural England, and that tooth loss gives you a big leg up.Report
BITTER BEER FACE
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Someone was commenting elsewhere about “why do old people look younger now than they do when we were kids?” (thinking of the fact that many of our parents are now the age our grandparents were at when we were kids, yet they look younger) and I said one reason was “better dental care.”
I mean, I suspect the fact that dying ones hair has become more common (my mother, though, does not dye hers, and she looks younger in her early 80s than her mother did in HER early 80s). Perhaps better health care in general?
But yeah: improved dental care (especially in terms of dental work being faster and less painful) is probably one of the unsung advances of the late 20th-early 21st century. Also more of us may be able to afford that care thanks to dental insurance plans – I had a tooth crowned that I probably would have just had pulled if I didn’t have dental coverage.Report