Serbia: The Land With A Perfect Smile
Who would have thought it: You can tell a Serb by their smile. While a smiling Serb isn’t necessarily the World’s most familiar image of the region, maybe it’s time to rewrite the book of cultural clichés.
One thing was staring me in the face when I recently visited Belgrade – the jaw-dropping increase in facial furniture being worn by Belgrade’s beautiful young things. It seemed like every third person was proudly sporting a dental brace. Honestly, I have never seen so much mouth metal outside of Los Angeles.
Indeed, Serbia reminded me more of the image-conscious USA, thanks to the embarrassing wealth of good dental work filling faces in Belgrade’s bars and restaurants. Clearly, this is something of a trend.
Braces, retainers, train-tracks: whatever the version, either full metal tooth jackets or virtually invisible, these dental realignment devices cropped up in almost every business meeting I had. Belgrade has been bitten by the desire to have a killer smile.
As someone whose dental symmetry leaves a lot to be desired – I’m British remember: dodgy dental work comes with the territory – I did find it slightly unnerving to meet so many sweet toothed Serbs with bleached white teeth, straight smiles and braces to correct any dental imperfections.
By some fluke, I seem to have found myself at the front of this curve, having been flying to Banja Luka for dental work at the hands of a Serb since 2007. That’s right, I make a 3,300 kilometer round trip to visit my dentist. For that sort of commitment to an improved smile, there must be a good reason. It’s not just because I have more friends in Serbia and Bosnia who are training to be dentists than I have ever even met in the UK.
Compared to rip-off Britain, the low price of treatment and ease of getting an appointment in Serbia sealed the deal and had me on a flight and ready to go under the drill. At home, I’m not even registered with a dentist – mainly due to the lengthy waiting lists to get on their books as a patient and the extortionate cost of going private.
As Serbia has so many well-trained dentists with clean modern surgeries, it is unsurprising that there is a growing trend among Western Europeans, and Brits in general, to fly south (and east) for more affordable attention. Dental tourism is big business. I should know: my dentist is in Banja Luka.
“When people come to Belgrade, we like to send them home with a smile,’ said Ivan Agbaba, of Belgrade’s premier comprehensive concierge service Belgrade VIP, who has noticed an increase in enquiries about dental tourism. “Thanks to our excellent and affordable dental services, we can ensure that smile’s a good one. We’re in the business of providing what the customer wants, everything from motor boats and helicopters to personal shopping and now cosmetic services.
More and more people are looking for something special from their time away from home, something to make it even better value. Having quality dental work at competitive pricing can make that difference.”
So, there you have it: a possible new tourism strapline: Serbia – The land with a perfect smile.
Marcus Agar has been commissioned by Wannabe Magazine to write a series of observations from Serbia. Click here to read the Serbian version.
8 / 8 / 2011 9:20 am
I’m wearing braces, which you might have noticed, but not for aesthetic reasons – for medical ones: I was told it was the only way to stop my periodontitis, since my teeth were making too much pressure on my gums. Could be the reason why many other adult Serbs are seen wearing braces.
8 / 8 / 2011 10:09 am
I agree that many people are wearing them for medical/dental reasons. The improved affordability of such treatments and the better designs definitely contribute to the visible increase in dental braces. If I had the sense to listen to my dentist and wear a brace as a child, I would have a better smile today.