Cyberbullying About Teeth

Posted on March 28, 2017

Question:

My daughter came crying to me last night that some kids were posting on social media about her smile having fangs. One post said that her dad must be Dracula. Is cyberbullying about a person’s smile common?

Answer:

Cyberbullying on almost anything is a large problem, however, a recent study found that cyberbullying about a person’s smile was very common. The study reviewed 321 relevant posts about poor smiles and found the trend in bullying was categorized into four areas. First, posts about smile features such as gaps, fangs, overbites, underbites. Second, posts referring to smiles categorized by name calling such as “vampire,” “horse face,” and “bulldog.” The third area related to psychological posts. For example, why people would not like you or want to be associated with you. Fourth, posts relating to someone needing to get a smile fixed.  Unfortunately, cyberbullying is very prevalent. Our office would love to see what we can do to remedy this issue for your child.