Teeth chiseling of Mentawai tribe

Typical image of beautiful teeth
Credit to Google

Beautiful teeth have always been an important asset of beauty all around the world. I have read about teeth whitening, dental surgeries, for example using braces to align and straighten teeth in the name of beauty, but the terms teeth chiseling is really something new to me. It's unique, yes, and it tells another story of how painful it is to be beautiful.

 Do you know that for a group of people, beautiful teeth means chiseled teeth? A tribe of people in Indonesia, which is called Mentawaian, believed that chiseled teeth makes women look more attractive and beautiful, apart from the belief that the beauty ritual of teeth chiseling maintains the balance between the soul and body.

Chiseling the teeth makes their teeth become narrow and pointy. The process is agonizingly painful. Local sharman sharpens a crude blade as best he can to make the chiseling as least painful as possible. During the chiseling, crude instruments are used and there is no anesthetic at all. Using careful strikes, the blade carves the corner of the teeth, leaving behind pointed ends similar to shark teeth.

Mentawai woman, flashing her pearly, chiseled whites
Credit to Google

Here is a video on Mentawai chiseled teeth tradition: