The American Dental Dream

Abstract

The American Dental Dream—the cultural desire for straight, white teeth—is difficult, if not impossible, for poor and working-class people to achieve. Using ethnographic fiction, autoethnography, poetry, and qualitative interviewing, I brush away the taken-for-granted assumptions about teeth. I explore the personal, relational, and structural consequences of this cultural desire, and show how social class writes itself on our bodies. I write these culture-centered teeth tales to show how one might cope with their teeth.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Art Bochner, Ambar Basu, Mariaelena Bartesaghi, Heather Zoller, and two anonymous reviewers for sinking their teeth into my article and giving me a lot of ideas to chew on. Thank you, Krystal Bresnahan, for giving me reasons to smile and for the incredible suggestions on the article, too! Thank you, Mom, for sharing your story and for always loving my smile no matter what.