I know it's a bit of cliche about the US and the UK being more different culturally than you might expect, but every now and again I run into something that really brings it home to me. A week or so back while I was in New York I realised I had forgotten to pack any toothpaste and popped into a chemist to get some. My usual toothpaste is American, so I didn't think I'd have any trouble finding it. I was wrong. While browsing (fruitlessly) through the vast section of dental hygiene products on sale, something struck me. The vast majority of the toothpaste boxes didn't mention anywhere that they were actually any good at cleaning teeth or reducing cavities, all they touted was how white they could make your teeth. One brand even going so far as to proclaim that it now had twice as much bleach as before!* This is in stark contrast to the UK where we naively seem to think that people clean their teeth to stop them falling out and only smokers need to worry about anything else.
Clearly we still have a lot to learn.
*I was pretty tired and dopey so it may not have actually used the word "bleach" but the point remains valid.
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