Too-perfect smiles

They have perfect smiles, but celebrities such as Julia Roberts and Britney Spears are making young people too anxious about the state of their teeth.

Images of stars beaming from the pages of glossy magazines have led to soaring demand for cosmetic procedures such as bleaching teeth, according to a dental expert.

Professor Jimmy Steele warned that the problem was putting unreasonable extra pressure on dentists to perform 'small miracles' at a time when the NHS was already badly overstretched.

He spoke out after a study revealed that young people complain more about their teeth and gums than older generations, who are more likely to have real dental problems.

'There are very few celebrities who don't have a perfect smile these days,' said Professor Steele, of Newcastle University's School of Dental Sciences.

'You only have to open some of the glossy magazines to see pictures of famous people with perfect, unblemished teeth, or features about cosmetic procedures, such as bleaching.

'There is a strong psychological element to health and well-being and, despite the fact that oral health has been steadily improving-over the years, young adults are more likely to believe they have unhealthy teeth and gums because they compare themselves with the high standards set in the celebrity world.

'Patients have developed unreasonable expectations of their dentist and they are putting increasing pressures on the profession.'

Many stars are believed to have had their teeth whitened, a procedure which costs up to £775. But NHS dentists are unable to cope with demand for treatment.

Britain recently came bottom of a league table ranking countries according to the number of dentists per head of population - with Greece having nearly three times as many as we do.