西方特色“牙齿美白癖”

在西方，一口整齐洁白的牙齿不仅代表健康，也是身份的象征。但有些人美白牙齿到了痴狂的地步，连牙医都受不了了。

For an increasing number of women, whitening their teeth has become an integral part of their beauty routine - as normal as colouring their hair or waxing their legs. In America, sales of tooth whitening products have risen 300% since 1996, and the trend for excessive bleaching has grown so commonplace there that dentists have coined a new word for it - "bleachorexia", meaning an unhealthy obsession with whitening one's teeth.

对于越来越多的女性来说，美白牙齿已经变成她们美容护理项目中不可分割的一部分，跟染发或者除腿毛一样稀松平常。在美国，牙齿美白产品的销量从1996年到现在增长了300%。过度漂白牙齿的风潮已经如此平常，以至于牙医们为这种现象造了一个新词——“牙齿美白癖”，意思是对牙齿美白的一种不健康的痴迷。

Symptoms include burning gums, tooth infection and the conviction that, no matter how much a tooth has been whitened, it could be paler still.

牙齿美白癖的症状包括牙龈火辣辣地痛、牙齿感染以及坚信无论牙齿多么白都可以再白一点。

（中国日报网英语点津 江巍 ）