<p>Most of this is cultural. The British National Health System is not great at basic dental care, meaning long waits for routine care and far less considered medically necessary than in the US. Paying for private care is not affordable for most residents. They also see no point in cosmetic straightening and many think the “All American smile” is fake and often looks like Chiclet teeth. Several Brits I know didn’t fix their teeth until they came to the US as adults and had never given it a thought previously. I do think it’s changing, though. Although, now there are more UK dentists going private and even longer NHS wait times. Years ago, unless it hurt no-one cared and there was no stigma since most had bad teeth. It’s also a class system over there so that issue doesn’t really exist in the UK. It’s a given. The working class is the working class. Royalty and the socialites have nice teeth.</p>