How did the smile become what it is today?

Colin Jones discusses the ‘smile revolution’ in eighteenth-century Paris, which broke with centuries-old conventions to introduce the white-toothed smile we know today. What prompted this change? Jones attributes it to the emergence of dental science and changing technologies of mouth care, and the development of a cult of sensibility, subjectivity and politeness.

[moeezS]

Fascinating history! Dentistry, classism, picture taking many minutes so can't maintain a smile for that long before Kodak's faster cameras.