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NOTICED: POWER SMILES

By KAREN VON HAHN
Saturday, July 6, 2002 - Print Edition, Page L3

In a recent episode of Friends, the joke was on Ross when he overdid it with a teeth-whitening kit just before a big date: His smile was so brilliant that when he attempted to conceal it with low lighting, his teeth actually glowed in the dark.

Silly, of course, but right on the money. Back in the '80s, the standard, embroidered on throw pillows in Connecticut living rooms and stenciled on T-shirts in Jersey, was "You can never be too rich or too thin." Today, judging from the blinding grins of Hollywood celebrities and the rash of new high-tech brightening formulations at the corner drugstore, it would seem that your teeth can never be too white. Standards do change: The new power accessory is the perfect smile, and the standard is nothing less than dazzling.

"In dentistry, there are universal shade guides for teeth," Toronto dentist Dana Colson says. "In the '70s, white teeth were judged to be A3 on the scale, in the '80s there was a shift to A2. White teeth today are more like A1 -- they've had to totally redesign the charts."

A trip down the "oral care" aisle of any pharmacy is a rude awakening for those who simply wanted to pick up another tube of Crest. The newest toothpastes, boxed in sparkly holographic silver wrappers, don't only fight cavities and tartar, they "keep teeth looking whiter with an icy cool blast." Whitening Sensation, Sparkling white and Platinum toothpastes promise "micro-cleaning crystals" for "shiny white teeth" and "fresh confidence."

Colgate-Palmolive alone has introduced 12, count 'em 12, new whitening toothpastes; you can also opt for at-home tooth-whitening systems (the newest and flashiest being the $72 Crest Whitestrips), whitening dental floss (clinically proven to whiten between teeth), even whitening chewing gum.

Clearly we want it: Colgate's market share is up three percentage points this quarter to 34 per cent of the toothpaste market in North America; Crest Whitestrips, whose poster children are the vigorously toothy Salé and Pelletier, have been embraced by more than four million consumers in their first year on the shelves. Over-the-counter whitening, one of the fastest-growing segments of the personal-care market, is a booming $350-million-a-year industry. In a recent survey conducted by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, tooth whitening -- the No. 1 request from patients aged 20 to 50 -- grew by more than 300 per cent in the past five years.

Colson studied cosmetic dentistry under the tutelage of New York dentist-to-the-stars Larry Rosenthal, who counts Kathie Lee Gifford, Donald Trump, Wayne Gretzky and Joan Rivers among his clientele. In her opinion, the current popularity of the whitest whites for teeth is a matter of fashion. "You know how styles change and colours go in and out of fashion," she says. "Well, that's exactly what has happened with teeth. We're into a whole new spectrum of whites."

Just like skin, which is now subject to an arsenal of costly anti-aging creams and paralyzing injections, teeth can reveal our age. As we get older, our teeth get stained from quarts of red wine, daily caffeine and the odd smoke, and the lovely white enamel gets worn away through eating and brushing, exposing more of the ugly yellow dentine inside. Dazzling white teeth, in comparison, appear fresh as a baby's.

What is truly interesting about our fascination with the new standard for absurdly white smiles is that here in the West, white is our colour for the young and the new. The whitest white is frequently used to invoke purity: brides and newborns wear it, fresh as they are on their life's journey. After the millennium, and post-Sept. 11, fashion designers resorted to palettes of brilliant white as a spiritual nod to rebirth and renewal.

"Today, if you pick up any fashion magazine, all the models have bright, white teeth," Colson says. "What I have found is that if the colour of your teeth matches the whites of your eyes, it makes a total energy difference. You look bright, alive and full of energy."

Fashion magazine editor Viia Beaumanis has become hooked on the effects of Crest Whitestrips. "If I have a big party to go to, I start using them day before," Beaumanis says. "Or if I've had a crazy night with tons of red wine, I think okay, it's time to clean house, pop in a strip and brighten up a little."

To her mind, a smile can never be too fresh or too white. "You always think, when you see somebody with a great mouth, 'Oh, your mouth is so beautiful, I could kiss you.' But really, the reason we all want white, white teeth is that they make you look pretty, fresh and young."

Looking untouched by time may be an old beauty standard. The news is how white you have to go to get there.