You will no doubt have read many articles and seen photos of the amazing dental transformations that have resulted in turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Dentists have spent years undergoing training to be able to create such everyday miracles for their patients.
On the flip side of the coin, not having teeth can also change one’s life journey dramatically. People who have missing teeth are unable to chew and speak properly – their dental condition can affect their career opportunities and income (that’s a topic for another blog post !!)
The newspapers reported recently that a singer in another country was being investigated for his drastic attempts to evade mandatory military service. Apparently, while every able bodied male is required to serve in the military, there are several situations where an exemption applies – including a dental disability.
The singer was officially exempted from military service a few years ago due to poor dental health – the dental disability exemption applied if a person had 12 or more missing teeth because he would not be able to chew properly and thus, be unsuitable for the army. Reports were that he allegedly had three healthy teeth extracted in order to fall within the exemption threshold.
The issue (at least from a dental point of view) is that in this day and age, especially for a successful young artist like him, how could he let his teeth and gums deteriorate so badly that he lost 12 teeth? Surely it was not because he could not afford to see a dentist?
Lack of teeth can exempt one from military service in certain countries… and in the singer’s case, the story behind his missing teeth has certainly cast a large shadow on his career. He is now seen as a military dodger and this may cost him his fans.
