What is it about the sight of a person missing a tooth (teeth) that makes us cringe? Isn’t it interesting that we can see an individual with a large scar, a missing limb, or some other type of disfigurement and not have the same reaction as we do to a person with dentition concerns? Someone with an unfortunate circumstance in their mouth is much more likely to be looked down upon by their peers.
This isn’t merely an opinion, either. Research has actually been done on this subject, albeit very little. There was a study done in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, back in 2008 entitled “Social Perceptions of Individuals Missing Upper Front Teeth.” The only information about this study I could find was the abstract, but there was some interesting information there.
What was discovered was that a person who was lacking in the dental department was much more likely to be viewed negatively in terms of a whole slew of traits including aggressiveness, attractiveness, educational attainment, etc.
So, what is it about being in an edentulous state that causes us to look so negatively upon another individual? It seems to me to be more of an instinctual reaction which occurs before thought can even really be registered. I’ve experienced this, myself, upon seeing people who are missing teeth. The moment I see the lack of dentition, I immediately begin to formulate a negative perception of the individual – unfairly, I should stress.
So, why is this?
