#the remake center
I had a dental cleaning today - a genuinely unpleasant experience - and it made me wonder for the first time whether anything was done to the tribute’s teeth in the Remake Center (whitening, straightening, etc.). I know it’s a ridiculously superficial detail, but the Capitol is a ridiculously superficial place, and considering all the other “prettifying” they put the tributes through, it seems impossible they wouldn’t at least have whitened the teeth.
Katniss doesn’t mention this in the account her remake, but maybe - being better-nourished than the average tribute from Twelve - she had decent enough teeth to avoid this step. Thoughts?
My first thought was a thoroughly horrified, “What fresh hell does 3 hour braces feel like?!!” Then I decided that 1) All tribute teeth are definitely fixed up imo and 2) Sedation dentistry is probably the name of the game.
I imagine all the tributes get a general “good enough for government work” treatment before the Games (maybe some quick crowns?) and then the really serious work is done on just the Victor.
@roseymama - thank you for not giving me a colossal eyeroll! It had never occurred to me before, but once it did, I couldn’t imagine they didn’t at least get a perfunctory whitening. And I totally agree with the standards you mentioned: quick clean-up for all the tributes in the Games and thorough fixes on the Victor -prob while they’re recovering, so they look like this in the recap… :D
randomnoteforfuturereference said: Nah, Katniss’ teeth probably looked gross by our standards and especially Capitol standards. That doesn’t mean she didn’t care for them, but… However, a side-effect of things is that she probably did not have significant tooth decay due to an infrequency of sugar in her diet; at an older age there could be issues from calcium deficiency had she not become a Victor. If anything, Peeta likely had more teeth issues by our standards.
And@randomnoteforfuturereference - agreed. I didn’t mean to imply that Katniss would have great/pretty teeth - sorry if it came across that way! :( - just that hers might be healthier than others’ in Twelve. Her diet as a child (i.e., before her father’s death) was more nourishing than most, and her mother was a trained apothecary who probably taught Katniss some rudimentary dental care. (I’m guessing that in her line of work she probably had to treat abscessed teeth and wanted to spare her daughters that if possible. :/) And yep, I was thinking about the sugar thing too (i.e., minimal sweets in the Seam to contribute to decay) - because of the fact that bears get cavities too! :D
I had a dental cleaning today - a genuinely unpleasant experience - and it made me wonder for the first time whether anything was done to the tribute’s teeth in the Remake Center (whitening, straightening, etc.). I know it’s a ridiculously superficial detail, but the Capitol is a ridiculously superficial place, and considering all the other “prettifying” they put the tributes through, it seems impossible they wouldn’t at least have whitened the teeth.
Katniss doesn’t mention this in the account her remake, but maybe - being better-nourished than the average tribute from Twelve - she had decent enough teeth to avoid this step. Thoughts?
