lol at the thought of “this part of your body that you use multiple times every day for vital survival functions and various other functions like communication is mostly cosmetic, you’ll do just fine without!”

Teeth bleaching is cosmetic, crowns and fillings and whatever are restoration of normal functioning.

If we were meant to be ok without properly functioning teeth, we wouldn’t have teeth in the first place. That’s a stupid argument biologically speaking. (No offense intended to you personally, ofc)

I understand that Americans have a disproportionate focus on the -specifically cosmetic- aspects of oral hygiene, whiteness and straightness, primarily, but to say that most oral care is unnecessary and purely cosmetic is just absolute hogwash.

Mind you this is from someone who intends to get all her teeth ripped out and replaced with implants because no matter what I do, I average a cavity every 2-4 years. It’s cheaper in the long run to get implanted dentures than to fight my genes. So I understand entirely the being toothless by 30 (tho I’m 36 and still have all of them, I think I have more fillings than teeth at this point, and if most of those weren’t done free in the military I’d just have no teeth) but I disagree vehemently with the idea that that’s totally fine and won’t cause problems.