A Brief History of the Smile (Pgs 133-200)

Summary:
As the book comes to an end, I am introduced to the last section, Deceit (the fake smile). In this section I learned about the origins of the word "cheese" whenever someone wants to take a photo. This word originated in British public schools in 1920. There are equivalent words to cheese that are used in other languages. Spaniards use patata (potato), the Dane use appelsin (orange), the Japanese use the English word whiskey (as I was reading this it reminded me of my childhood and how in DR we used this word rather than patata). Photographers used the word "cheese" when the person has difficulties to smile naturally. He mentions how the person that gives the news sometimes have to faint a smile so the person that is watching them does not get so traumatized depending on the degree of the information. But there are people that have confessed that no matter the degree on the information it does not affect them because it goes in one ear and out the other. He mentions how the Cheshire Cat is a memorable symbol of a posed smile. As the chapter goes on he mention the scientific development and clinical practice of dentistry changed a lot of people's lives because the ones that had really bad teeth were able to fix their problem. In the conclusion of the book, he confesses that his teeth are not perfect but that he would not consider changing the way they are because by doing this he will change his smile as well.

Quote:
" Who knows what will happen to the smile in the future? If current trends in dental science develop as they have in the last thirty years, we may expect more and more effective cosmetic treatments to enhance and improve the function and appearance of our teeth " (Trumble 162).

Reaction:
When I read this quote the first thing that came to my mind was plastic surgery and how it connects to what he says about scientific advancements. The other day I was watching Jessica Simpson's show "The Price of Beauty" and they went to Rio de Janeiro to find out what makes a women beautiful there. During the show they showed a women who has had 42 surgeries and she said that whenever she looks in the mirror and she sees something that does not make her happy she goes and get a plastic surgery. As times passes people are becoming more obsessed with plastic surgery without thinking on the consequences that it might bring. When connecting this to the quote, I think the same will happen with the teeth because people will start doing things that are unnecessary just to make them "perfect."

PS: I did my third post that was not on my page when you checked the first 2 but my blogger is not letting me show more than three posts so that you were able to see it.