In the Cape Town area of Africa, it is being done as a way of connecting with past societies and practices. Check out:

Friedling, L. J. and Morris, A. G. 2005. Pulling teeth for fashion: Dental modification in modern day Cape Town, South Africa. Journal of the Dental Association of South Africa 62(3): 106-113.

Friedling, L. J. and Morris, A. G. 2007. The frequency of culturally derived dental modification practices on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape. Journal of the Dental Association of South Africa 31(4): 195-200.

Thank you Joel!!!

Best,

Claudia

Perfect way - it does not interfere in the creation of the human body. Provided that a person is healthy at birth. But our world is full of sweet and bitter, suspicious of the effectiveness of paste for cleaning teeth. All this does not go unnoticed. Developing endocrine and inflammatory diseases. In conjunction with the violation of caring for the whole body, this situation is accompanied by damage to the enamel. In this case, the time has come to do the aesthetics of the mouth. And maybe in the early stages to prevent the irreversible process?

Dear Claudia:

Aesthetics is a subjective factor depending on each culture...

From a clinical point of view, any alteration of the tooth and its tissues, either chemical or mechanical, undoubtedly will affect the short, medium or long term. 

Personally i perform only tooth whitening treatments after endodontic treatment and only when i see a remarkable change and contrasting color. But always I try to create awareness among patients about the risks involved in making whitening in healthy teeth, only because of the standards that society creates about cosmetic dentistry.

The film industry and their "stars" also has a negative impact on the population on this issue, and many patients wish to have artificial teeth following a trend. 

Health priceless, but people do not understand.

And just talking about the health. Now, imagine the amount of dental traits that are deleted because of the aesthetic perception by patients and greed of some dental professionals.

Best.

Gracias, Jaime!

Me duele el corazón al pensar en rasgos dentales borrados!!! :D

Do you have references on the social analysis of these treatments nowadays?

Best,

Claudia

Something related  ; )

http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v216/n12/full/sj.bdj.2014.524.html

http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v208/n2/abs/sj.bdj.2010.53.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25390865

http://www.ijdr.in/article.asp?issn=0970-9290;year=2009;volume=20;issue=2;spage=195;epage=200;aulast=Akarslan

http://www.uan.edu.mx/d/a/publicaciones/revista_tame/numero_1/Tam121-06.pdf

http://www.ortoplus.es/descargas/estetica_ortoplus.pdf

Um abraço.

Thanks! ;)

Claudia