Word Of Mouth – A Dental Blog

Robert M. Sorin, DMD

I’m angry and sad today.  I’m angry that blatantly false and inaccurate information is being disseminated to the public in the name of beauty.  And I’m sad to see some in my profession “hawking” cosmetic procedures, to an increasingly susceptible public, that have no scientific basis for success.

But let me digress.  Several days ago my attention was directed to an episode of a nationally syndicated TV show, “The Doctors”.  A guest on this panel of doctors was a cosmetic dentist who has received prior national exposure as the result of his appearances on other cosmetically related television shows.  Now let me say that I accept the fact that reality makeover shows are now part of our culture.  Ever since December 2002 when the first episode of “Extreme Makeover” aired on television, cosmetically related procedures have become a regular feature on numerous TV shows.  And I accept the statement by sociologist  Victoria Pitts-Taylor in her book “Surgery Junkies” when she states “in postmodern cultures our bodies have been positioned as signs of personal, individual identities”. 

It’s been said that we live in a fifteen second culture.  That’s how long it takes someone to look at someone else and decide if they’re interested.  We live in a society in which more of us than ever before are concerned about how we look, because how we feel about how we look significantly impacts on our self image and how we feel about ourselves.  Ms. Alex Kuczynski, a well know writer for  The Style section of The New York Times, in her book “Beauty Junkies”, describes “a world in which images hold more power than words, and language has been replaced with symbols and sound bites”. 

So the potential influence on the public perception of cosmetic improvement by shows such as “The Doctors” is huge and as such, shouldn’t we expect that the truth will be told? Don’t they have the responsibility to tell it like it truly is?

 In the show I saw, the participant from the audience shared with the studio and television audiences her concern about her “gummy” smile.  When she smiled she felt that too much gum showed.  From a cosmetic point of view, her concerns seemed to be well founded.  But the procedure that was demonstrated was not one that could address the patient’s concerns and correct her problem in a professionally accepted manner.  In fact, to correct the patient’s problem, a much more extensive procedure(s) was needed, one that fully took into account the anatomy and histology of the structures involved.  The solution was not one that could be accomplished in just a few minutes!

At the conclusion of the segment the hosting MD showed before and after photographs; this was a sham.  Photographs before the demonstrated procedure showed lots of excess gum tissue.  Photographs after the procedure showed less exposed gum tissue.  But this was only because in the photographs taken after the procedure was completed on camera, the patient’s upper lip didn’t move as much because she had received an injection of local anesthetic!  So while the procedure did remove the barest minimum of gum tissue, the procedure shown was not one that is clinically accepted to achieve the results purportedly demonstrated. The result shown on camera was highly misleading if not an outright lie. 

 So I’m curious.  I’ve got some questions.  Why can’t we expect some truthful “reality” here?  Are these TV shows just pandering to a viewing audience drinking the Kool Aid of looking better? Should the public accept all that is shown as factual?  Who and where are the professionals who are fact checking to evaluate risks, benefits, accuracy and truthfulness?  And is my colleague appearing just for the exposure that drives his entrepreneurial empire? 

There is nothing wrong with wanting to look better.  That’s the world in which we live.  It’s an essential part of what I do every day. But the real problem for all of those concerned about looking better is who are the good guys and who are the bad guys and how do you tell the difference?

Thanks for listening.