[E]veryone in my family, and every other adult that I grew up around, had false teeth by the time they were 30.I think English dentistry and general oral hygiene have improved a lot since those days. Nevertheless, one of the first things I did when I got to the States was have some dental work done.
[...]
I didn't even own a toothbrush—my parents had never brushed their teeth, and as adults their oral hygiene was achieved by soaking rather than brushing. I'd never even heard of dental floss, and I ate far too much candy. I prefer not to think about the excruciating pain that decay and resulting abscesses caused—pain that you can hear, that stops the world, that makes listening to the teacher or concentrating on homework impossible.
And I've still got English teeth.
