system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are British people known for having bad teeth?
gpt
Dental treatment on the NHS is subsidised, rather than free, for adults. However this only covers treatment for dental health -- much cosmetic dentistry, in particular tooth whitening treatments, are not covered. Therefore anyone in Britain wanting to have their teeth artificially whitened would have to pay the full market price, and in a country where nearly all medical treatment is either free or heavily subsidised at the point of use, it's a very hard sell indeed to get people to pay large sums of money for any kind of healthcare.

Note that although cosmetic dentistry requires payment, orthodontic work such as braces *is* usually covered by the NHS.

This means that Britons tend not to have the artificially-whitened teeth that American films and television have popularised, however Britons' general dental health and hygiene is among the best in the world. Teeth can be completely healthy without being pure white.