White Lies

“Have you ever looked at Selena Gomez’s teeth? Like, really looked at them? Have you studied the undulating Pepto-pink curvature of her gums? Have you clocked the angle at which her two front teeth rest on her fricative line — the wet-dry equator of the lower lip, where the oral mucosa transitions to the vermilion — when she smiles? Did you notice, approximately four years ago, that Gomez’s teeth appeared to change shape, color and position — that they were suddenly whiter than ever, aligned in a ramrod-straight row at the front of her face?” WaPo (Gift Article): Have you noticed that everyone’s teeth are a little too perfect?

+ “His work has informed the highlighter a college student uses to mark up a textbook, the permanent marker a construction worker uses to indicate cuts on lumber, and the basic ballpoint pens a gainfully employed journalist can’t help swiping from hotel rooms … Increasingly, he’s applying his expertise to a new kind of handheld writing instrument: pens designed specifically for whitening teeth.”