I understand the premium that's placed on perfectly straight pearly white teeth in American society (or at least I think I do) but one thing that really irks me is the dental perfection on display in post-apocalyptic/dystopian films and television series and other instances where it's not realistic.

I'm thinking of such films as the Terminator series and series like The Walking Dead, where let's face it, there are much more pressing things to worry about than veneers and braces. We're now into S5 of TWD and still the teeth are perfect there! You could (IMHO) reasonably expect a little bit of decay and yellowing to have taken place.

Let's even forget about the future and look to Downton Abbey - not a crooked canine to be seen there either, even among the downstairs crew...

Why don't the show runners choose to abandon this fiction and inject a dose of realism into things?

I understand the premium that's placed on perfectly straight pearly white teeth in American society (or at least I think I do) but one thing that really irks me is the dental perfection on display in post-apocalyptic/dystopian films and television series and other instances where it's not realistic.

I'm thinking of such films as the Terminator series and series like The Walking Dead, where let's face it, there are much more pressing things to worry about than veneers and braces. We're now into season 5 of The Walking Dead and still the teeth are perfect there! You could reasonably expect a little bit of decay and yellowing to have taken place.

Let's even forget about the future and look to Downton Abbey - not a crooked canine to be seen there either, even among the downstairs crew.

Why don't the show runners choose to abandon this fiction and inject a dose of realism into things?