In his eye-opening book *On the Teeth: What They Say About Us and the Social War*, journalist Olivier Cyran exposes stark inequalities in oral health access. This vital organ's fate often hinges on one's position in the social hierarchy. It's hard to imagine today, amid dazzling smiles in ads and on screens, but for centuries, royal court etiquette demanded laughing and smiling with mouths closed—teeth discreetly hidden.
In the 18th century, two bold works shattered this norm: Rousseau's novel Julie, or the New Héloïse describes his heroine's wide, open smile, while painter Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun scandalized with a self-portrait baring her teeth. Hollywood later cemented the era of gleaming, open-mouthed grins.
Journalist Olivier Cyran recounts these anecdotes with sharp irony in Sur les dents. What they say about us and the social war (Ed. La Découverte). The core insight? Dental health is impossible to ignore in social journalism on power imbalances—yet it's glaringly absent from public discourse. As a 2011 Ministry of Health document notes, quoted in the book: "Oral health inequalities are strongly correlated with social inequalities."
"We can't deny it—even public authorities acknowledge it," says Cyran. "But there's a contradiction: speeches individualize the issue, blaming poor hygiene, diet, alcohol, or tobacco. In reality, social determinants create unequal starting points for oral health."
This guilt-tripping narrative fosters deep shame among those affected. Beyond physical pain, teeth serve as both an intimate zone and a public-facing identity marker.
For some, life's hardships have ravaged this territory, disrupting daily life.
Cyran's book brims with harrowing testimonials from the toothless and suffering: women fleeing domestic violence, refugees, and the impoverished sidelined by unequal care systems. Teeth become barometers of those abandoned by healthcare. "Even reforms like zero-charge restoral leave reimbursed, capped care competing with unlimited non-reimbursed options," Cyran explains. "Dentists, to survive, prioritize high-value procedures."
Abdel Aouacheria, vice-president of La Dent Bleue—which educates on dental rights—and founder of the anti-Dentexia collective, knows this firsthand. Born from the 2016-2017 liquidation of low-cost Dentexia centers (sparked by the 2009 Bachelot law easing health center rules), it united over 3,000 victims. Deregulation let non-dentists open centers; patients prepaid, often via credit, endured shoddy equipment and assembly-line care. Liquidation halted treatments mid-course. "I witnessed horrors: elders toothless, others with exposed wires. Some contemplated suicide," recalls Aouacheria.
A victim himself, Aouacheria fields 34,000 despairing emails. His collective fights for state accountability and victim care—many dentists shunned them as "troublemakers." State aid exists but is rigidly conditional: of 1,000 claims, about 500 got partial help. This spurred empowerment via La Dent Bleue, amplifying user voices.
"Early dental issues lead to neglect; decades of woes demand impossible trade-offs—gas, education, food. It's not just money; it's rooted in social realities," Aouacheria stresses. He urges centering an "ethics of care," equalizing practitioner-patient dynamics. Echoing Cyran: "This is a collective issue damaging society's fabric. Time to politicize dental care."
(*) Julie, or the New Héloïse by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Flammarion-GF. Available on Place des Libraires or Amazon.
(**) On the Teeth. What They Say About Us and the Social War by Olivier Cyran, La Découverte. Available on Place des Libraires or Amazon.
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