We’ve come a long way in terms of body neutrality, but there’s one body part where the pressure for perfection only seems to be getting worse: our teeth. Online, we’re bombarded by influencers flashing their symmetrical pearly whites and ads flogging teeth whitening kits. Scroll enough and you’ll soon come to the conclusion that anything less than the perfect smile is somehow unhygienic.

Two-thirds of teenagers feel pressure to have a ‘perfect’ smile, according to research by Bupa Dental Care, while other surveys suggest 93% of the UK agree that having a nice smile and straight teeth would improve their overall self-confidence.

I’ve had a long and complicated relationship with my mouth. It took ages for my front two adult teeth to grow in, so I was nicknamed ‘gappy’ for two years. When they finally came through, I had an overbite so large I couldn’t close my mouth without my top teeth sitting on top of my bottom lip. To remedy the issue, I spent a year wearing blocky plastic retainers before graduating to painful metal train tracks. Finally, my dentist finally declared my teeth as ‘good’ and ‘healthy’, and I’ve been irritated with how my smile looks ever since – a feeling that only intensified during the Zoom-heavy days of lockdown.

“Oral health is linked to everything from gynaecological conditions to dementia – here’s why I started taking mine seriously”