Status starts with your mouth. Seriously, people who have unattractive or missing teeth often make concerted efforts not to smile.
And society judges people with missing or discolored teeth harshly. Journalist Mary Otto demonstrates, with many examples, in her book Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality and the Struggle for Oral Health in America.
Inequality is a big part of the story, because the benefits of good dental health are not evenly distributed. And teeth don't get the same insurance as the rest of the body. Mary Otto visits to lay out the many issues with teeth.
