you’ll never brush your teeth lightly again

September 28th, 2009

I met June Thomas in 1987 or so. I knew her because she worked at the feminist monthly off our backs, which ran my cartoons. So when I went on tour with my first book, she offered to put me up in D.C. We were on our way to a reading together, and I was a little nervous. To lighten the mood, I said, “Do I have anything in my teeth?” and bared my fangs at her. She said rather curtly, “No. You have big, perfect American teeth.”

Now June works for Slate. And now I know why she was so touchy on the subject of teeth. This week Slate will be rolling out, one installment a day for the next week, her in-depth report, The American Way of Dentistry: A Look at the Coming Crisis. Here’s the very riveting first installment, The Story of my Teeth.

And here’s the Facebook fan page where you can share dental horrors of your own.