Teeth are a manifestation and signifier of class: the ability to which you are able to care for and maintain your chompers. Physically, one of the most interesting differences I have seen between Cubans and Americans is their teeth.
When I was two I fell in the tub and took a big chip out of my front tooth, but the dentist filled it in so even I can hardly see it even when I’m looking for it in the mirror. In Cuba, some of my friends have chipped teeth — chipped front teeth. I had never really been around people with imperfect teeth. I was so confused why person after person had not fixed their teeth. But after realizing it wasn’t just university students or young people, but people trained as doctors who I know who not only have chipped teeth but rotten teeth, I began thinking of the politics of teeth.
I always thought teeth important to Americans, and not important to other countries for aesthetic reasons… which I think may be true on the one hand. Approaching teeth from this angle I looked at teeth in the context of Cuba which I have grown to know during my time here. Unsurprisingly, the root of my answer traced back to economics. In Cuba, toothbrushes and toothpaste are sold in CUC. Being sold in essentially dollars rather than cents which is what people receive their salaries in, oral hygiene products are very expensive and, if purchased, comprise a substantial portion of one’s salary. This not only prevents people from maintaining their teeth as part of a daily, weekly, yearly regiment but also creates a culture in which even if you do have the money, no one else does it so why would you?
I have had this discussion in my head multiple times, and round and round the discussion goes every time I stumble into one of two friends. And it is always these two Cuban friends who make me think of teeth – American teeth and Cuban teeth – because both of them will be immigrating to the US shortly, and both have a sizable chip missing out of one of their front teeth. I don’t know if they have thought of this, but after researching so much about emigration and interviewing so many people and the difficult times people have, I am left harping on teeth. When I see them I think to myself: “oh no, this person doesn’t even know that when they finally get the US of everything they have to worry about, they will have broken teeth! They won’t know a single person with a broken tooth? Americans don’t have chipped teeth!” But above all… Will they even know that they stand out?
Americans are obsessed with teeth: straight teeth, white teeth, perfect teeth. This obsession stands unique not only comparatively with Cuba but compared with most other countries. In the US, if you chip your tooth on a Monday, you are at the dentist on a Tuesday to fix it. Americans are bracing, brushing, whitening and filing their teeth to keep them as gleaming symbols of class and perfection. If you encounter someone who does not have a spread of pearly whites because they are missing a tooth or have a chip or they are all crooked, I see it to be socially looked down upon. Teeth are a reflection of hygiene and class. A chipped front tooth is not professional. A chipped tooth is not educated. A chipped tooth is not cute. A chipped tooth is, however, needing to be fixed.
Understanding this, I realized that the incongruity between American and Cuban dental standards – and by no means using standards as an elitist word, but rather what is considered socially acceptable and what is not – is very different because of economic and cultural reasons. In the US, you make it a priority to keep your teeth nice. I know friends whose parents can’t pay the bills, but both of their kids had braces for two years. Teeth in the US are an investment. In Cuba, teeth are simply too expensive. Cost, plus when everyone around you has a mouth full of teeth that are not all in a straight line, it creates a culture of teeth which sustains itself. So even when Cubans do have the money, they don’t fix their teeth because it isn’t culturally a thing to do.
Looking to the future, I am very very curious to see if my two friends change their teeth when they get to the US, and if so, how long it takes for them to do so.
[Disclaimer: this entire blog post was written while listening to Crooked Smile by J. Cole]