Dentists have a keen eye for teeth problems. I can’t remember how many times one of my classmates let someone talk to them about something for a while only to randomly respond with “How about I do that diastema for you?” or “Hey, you have a peg-shaped lateral.”
During the 2018 world cup, one of my friends shared a photo of a girl fan (If you watch football, you’ll know what I mean). I think she was Croatian.
This post does not contain the photo of the girl, sorry.
Anyway, the girl was good-looking (of course), and apart from the fact that I think you just shouldn’t encourage that kind of thinking, it was my friend’s comment on the photo that caught my interest. He said something along the lines of “She had had her canine recontoured as a lateral.”
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I really just stopped scrolling through my Facebook feed and stared at that comment for a while. I didn’t know whether I should laugh or be worried. You just don’t look at a beautiful woman’s teeth if you’re a normal guy, right?
Ideally, you don't look, but, you know, if you did look, you just don't immediately notice teeth.
I even had this happen to me. I have a small space and some slight brown discoloration on the midline aspects of both my centrals. More than once, I’d talk to one of my classmates for like 10 or 15 seconds and when I’ve finished, they’d just be like: “Hey, is that a class III there?”
Here is a close-up of my anterior teeth:
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Here is a high-saturation low-brightness version of the photo so you can better notice the discoloration:
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Even then it's not immediately visible, but they still see it!
I know, I know, something is wrong with my midline. See what you did there? That's what I have been saying ... Keen eye!
Having a Keen Eye
I had heard about this from my seniors before I started my clinical courses, but I thought it was impossible to just zone people out and focus on their teeth while they spoke. Not anymore!
I admit to doing this myself. I have caught myself a couple of times involuntarily observing someone’s teeth either while they spoke to me or while they were speaking in general. I try not to do it but it just becomes an instinct.
It serves your detection and diagnosis skills well to have a sensitive eye and indeed a keen eye is invaluable to a dentist. Its just that when it’s been a while since you’ve had a vacation, your eyes start automatically turning to the pearls and you have to do a conscious effort to revert them.
I wonder whether I should be worried about my love life .. you know, if I ever have one.
Does this ever happen to you?!
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