Bruce Jenner: It’s Vanity, but it’s hardly Fair.

[T Howard]

dcbii wrote:

I would assume that cosmetic surgery to change or reduce size of features we have would be closer, so I wonder what we should think about cosmetic surgery to “fix” appearance, even if it’s not so drastic as changing gender.

It starts with the slippery slope of getting braces for your child’s crooked teeth. Much of this industry is fueled by wanting your children to have the “perfect smile.”

It’s worth noting that orthodontia (my stepbrother is an orthodontist, I had braces twice) is not just about having a perfect smile. It’s about how the teeth work at cutting and grinding your food, and whether they stay in your mouth. There are all kinds of health consequences related to bad teeth—and it’s worth noting that the “English” way of steaming vegetables into a pulp simply was their way of compensating for bad teeth. Not much Vitamin C in those veggies after you do that, though—there are consequences to a lack of good dental care from heart disease to diabetes and even cancer.

Medicine for vanity vs. medicine for health is a big issue, but I don’t know that most childhood (or even adult) orthodontia qualifies.