Passion gap or Cape Flats smile is a dental modification originating in

Cape Flats The Cape Flats ( af, Die Kaapse Vlakte) is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lie ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in which people deliberately remove the upper front teeth (maxillary

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...

s) for fashion and status. The practice is popular among

Coloureds Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

and has occasionally been done by

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

and

Chinese South Africans Chinese South Africans () are Overseas Chinese who reside in South Africa, including those whose ancestors came to South Africa in the early 20th century until Chinese immigration was banned under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1904. Chinese indu ...

in the area.

Reception

For many years, Cape Town residents had their upper front teeth extracted due to regional cultural fashion. A 2003 study performed by the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

found that the main reasons for extracting teeth were fashion and peer pressure followed by gangsterism and medical purposes. The dental modification is particularly popular in the Cape Flats section of Cape Town. In an interview of 2,167 Coloured people in the Western Cape, 41% have had teeth extracted. Of those who have undergone the procedure, 44.8% were male. Children as young as 11 have had their front teeth extracted for aesthetics. Other reasons for a passion gap include the belief of improved

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth) and the throat. Cunnilingus is oral sex p ...

and kissing. Another belief is that fishermen extract their teeth to whistle louder to one another. Though the practice is still popular in the region today, perception is changing. Some employers specifically forbid the display of a passion gap.

History

Dental modification in

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

has been documented for 1500 years. Other forms of dental modification are more prevalent in the northern regions of Africa. Deliberate incisor removal in Western Cape remains an exception. During the mid-seventeenth century, slaves often removed their teeth as a means to "take back control of their own bodies".

Medical implications

While there are no specific medical problems caused by aesthetic dental extraction, the passion gap is described by

anaesthesiologists Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine ...

in the region as a potential cause for difficult

intubation Intubation (sometimes entubation) is a medical procedure involving the insertion of a tube into the body. Patients are generally anesthetized beforehand. Examples include tracheal intubation, and the balloon tamponade with a Sengstaken-Blake ...

References

{{Reflist, 2, refs= {{cite web, url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/6268127/Cape-Towns-passion-gap-sexual-myth-or-fashion-victimhood.html, title=Cape Town's passion gap: sexual myth or fashion victimhood?, publisher=

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

, author=Fran Blandy, date=2009-10-07, accessdate=2014-04-03 {{cite web, url=https://www.vice.com/read/smile-and-say-passion-gap, title=SMILE AND SAY "PASSION GAP", publisher=

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

, author=Jamie Clifton, date=2012-03-06, accessdate=2014-04-03 {{cite web, url=http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/No-passion-gap-supermarket-staff-told-20110202, title=No 'passion gap', supermarket staff told, publisher=News24, author=Ezelle Solomons, date=2011-02-02, accessdate=2014-04-03 {{cite journal, title=Dental mutilation in southern African history and prehistory with special reference to the "Cape Flats Smile", publisher=University of Cape Town Medical School, author=Morris AG, year=1998, pmid=9760932, volume=53, journal=South African Dental Journal, issue=4, pages=179–83 {{cite web, url=http://www.citypress.co.za/news/toothy-truth-of-the-cape-flats-smile/, title=Toothy truth of the 'Cape Flats smile', publisher=City Press, author=Biénne Huisman, date=2013-08-25, accessdate=2014-04-03, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320075314/http://www.citypress.co.za/news/toothy-truth-of-the-cape-flats-smile/, archive-date=2014-03-20, url-status=dead

External links

Passion gap on Metropolis TV
Body modification Cultural trends Cape Town Teeth

Reception

History

Medical implications

See also

References

External links