在西方，一口整齊潔白的牙齒不僅代表健康，也是身份的象征。但有些人美白牙齒到了癡狂的地步，連牙醫(yī)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.

對(duì)于越來越多的女性來說，美白牙齒已經(jīng)變成她們美容護(hù)理項(xiàng)目中不可分割的一部分，跟染發(fā)或者除腿毛一樣稀松平常。在美國(guó)，牙齒美白產(chǎn)品的銷量從1996年到現(xiàn)在增長(zhǎng)了300%。過度漂白牙齒的風(fēng)潮已經(jīng)如此平常，以至于牙醫(yī)們?yōu)檫@種現(xiàn)象造了一個(gè)新詞——“牙齒美白癖”，意思是對(duì)牙齒美白的一種不健康的癡迷。

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

牙齒美白癖的癥狀包括牙齦火辣辣地痛、牙齒感染以及堅(jiān)信無論牙齒多么白都可以再白一點(diǎn)。

（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 江巍 ）