HELLO! magazine and Hollywood smiles

We all know a lot has changed; in times gone by, there were no gloves, no safety glasses and we used to put tinsel around the light at Christmas! There were no Google reviews, no practice website and no washer-disinfectors. When I began working as a dental nurse, the practice where I worked didn't really offer teeth whitening. If they did, I can't remember doing any – and there certainly weren't posters or ‘before and after’ pictures in portfolios. Our patients wanted healthy teeth and gums. They wanted pain-free dentistry, functional teeth and seemed to accept their natural tooth colour. Maybe society was less judgemental? Maybe the influence of Photoshopped magazine covers and the Hollywood smile hadn't made an impact on the folk of the south coast? Either way, I think their expectations were more limited – some would argue, more realistic – than the general public of today.