Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
College student Sant runs a food channel, where he devours desserts, and his sweet tooth leads him to the path of romance with dental student Jay in Thai romantic-comedy ‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’.
Directed by Pepzi Banchorn Vorasataree (‘My Stand-In’, ‘KinnPorsche’), the 11-episode series stars Ohm Thipakorn Thitathan and Mark Pakin Kuna-anuwit as lead pair foodie Sant and dental student Jay, respectively. Abandoned by his parents, Sant grows up with his grandparents and is constantly doing multiple part-time jobs to fund his education. But he has the most fun running a food channel with best friend Gugg (Poon Mitpakdee), and it’s on his recommendation that he goes to see dental student Jay for a cheap procedure, as he cannot afford professional dental care. Jay begins to romantically pursue Sant, although a rival makes their romance slightly complicated.
While the first few episodes of the series were very cute, ‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’ soon ends up being a typical run-of-the-mill romantic comedy by GMMTV, with good-looking actors, a generic plot, and some forcible conflicts thrown into the mix to make it seem like the story has layers. The primary comedic conflict in the series is Sant’s fear of dental procedures, so every time he musters up the courage to see Jay at the dental college, he ends up running away mid-appointment. Meanwhile, Jay is portrayed as a rather composed, happy-go-lucky, straightforward, romantic chap, but the second half of the series introduces some past trauma that really wasn’t necessary in a fluffy comedy show like this.
Ohm Thipakorn Thitathan (last seen in ‘Kidnap’) and Mark Pakin Kuna-anuwit (‘Only Friends’/‘Moonlight Chicken’) have cutesy onscreen chemistry as Sant and Jay, although Sant’s platonic friendship and antics with Poon Mitpakdee’s Gugg were more entertaining. That’s not to say Ohm and Poon should’ve been the primary romantic leads, it’s just that if they were to star in a regular comedy about two bumbling friends running a comedic food channel, it might make for a fun watch. That said, Ohm Thipakorn Thitathan as Sant is like a human dessert (a “total snack,” if we’re using slang), and Mark Pakin adorably wins his character over in the show.
Jimmy Jitaraphol Potiwihok, who played Ohm’s romantic rival in ‘Last Twilight’, interestingly vies for Sant’s affection in ‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’. Jimmy plays Captain in this series, a close friend of Jay’s who runs a café where Sant joins as a part-timer, and sparks fly between the two over their shared love for food and desserts. Benyapa Jeenprasom plays Jay’s dentist friend Yada, who Gugg develops a crush on. Their subplot wasn’t very interesting, but it does get a fresher take than the main couple.
While ‘Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist’ serves up plenty of sugary moments, it starts to lose flavor from episode 7 onward. The pacing dips, the jokes feel repetitive, and the charm wears thin. GMMTV’s ‘Ossan’s Love’ also felt a bit stretched, but at least it delivered more genuine laugh-out-loud moments. This one? Not so much. There also seems to be a new trend in BL series these days: the bathtub scene with candles, also seen in the recently concluded ‘My Golden Blood’ from the same production house.
Anyway, if you don’t mind recycled plots and just want to watch cute leads navigate predictable conflicts, this might just be your comfort snack of a series.
You can watch the series on YouTube.
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