This season, the longest waiting list isn’t for a Birkin bag, a Dyson fan or even an iPhone 14. It’s for a dentist appointment. So it stands to reason that the fashion industry is encouraging us to start dressing like one.
Fresh one-button lab coats with sharp lapels opened the summer runways at Balmain, Courrèges and were also a key look for the late designer, Issey Miyake. The neon perspex goggles, designed to protect the eyes from splashing water or salt rock, are strikingly similar to the oversized acetate sunglasses in the Versace and Kanye West Yeezy Gap collaboration. Even Dansko white clogs, the NHS shoe of choice, have competition in a new line of industry-approved Birkenstock “super Birki” polyurethane clogs that are routinely sold among non-NHS workers.
But it was the dental term “flossing” that planted the seed. Popping up on TikTok, as these things often do, and referencing dresses, swimsuits and pants held together precariously with super-thin straps — or “floss” — the look has become a designer trademark. in development like Nancy Dojaka and Supriya Lele, and has been worn by actors Julia Fox, Zendaya and half the cast of Love Island.
There are pages dedicated to evaluating “dental appearance”. According to Nurse.org, Figs is the top brand for scrubs, while YouTube offers hundreds of tutorials on “scrub reviews.” Current sales from Fig and the more expensive Italian brand Pastelli are not available, but the white scrub remains Pastelli’s top seller.
Fashion likes to pick a uniform and sell it to us, often at a profit. In the last five years, the catwalks – and the high streets – have encouraged us to dress for the outdoors (hiking wear, or as it’s become known), for the great indoors (think hooded tech bros expensive grey), or simply with doors – In 2017, New York Magazine claimed that we all want to look like architects, and the British high street followed suit.
But with the UK in the midst of an NHS ‘dental desert’, is this trend simply a case of poor value, dressing not for the job you want, but for the treatment?
“I’m not surprised at all and I’ll bet social media has helped spread this,” says Anjli Patel, a Derbyshire-based orthodontist and spokeswoman for the British Association of Orthodontists, pointing to dental colleagues posting about ” Their “Jordans”. on Instagram.
“But it’s really about [casualisation] of industry. What I wear to work has changed tremendously. Like any workplace, uniforms are out and comfort is in. The things we’re wearing are work-friendly, but much more comfortable to wear.” Patel sees a lot of Crocs “and I was sure they were for the garden.”
Patel mentions cuffed hem pants and “trackie b scrubs” that look like the kind of waiting clothes you might find at Arket, but are from uniform suppliers like Cherokee. For sunglasses, the Euronda is the pro’s choice, although they bear a striking resemblance to the glasses worn by musician Steve Lacy.
However, there are guidelines. “The main concern is cross-infection, so whatever dentists wear to practice, they don’t wear in public,” says Anshu Sood, a specialist orthodontist. “The clothes should be washed, with the sleeves slightly shortened so you don’t pull the sleeve over the patient, but otherwise it’s quite relaxed.”
Like most quirky trends, the key is in style. Dressed up from head to toe, you run the risk of looking tacky on Halloween. Throw on a few staples—a lab coat or some white slippers—and no one would know you’re actually wearing clinical clothes. The white lab coat in particular “means you can put your clothes on underneath it and then just put it on and be someone else while still being yourself underneath it,” adds Sood. “You know, like Superman.
“Before the pandemic, and certainly before the so-called [current dental] crisis, people took dentistry for granted, avoided it or put it off,” says Sood. “The NHS used to tell us that a uniform inspires clinical confidence, especially given reputation,” she says, referring to the theory of implicit recognition, or the use of clothing to influence opinion. “Based on that, we tried to look the part.
“Now I think people are appreciating our value.”
