However， the critical reception of White Teeth is not overwhelmingly positive. There are also voices of dissent， with some complaints of the inability to have her linguistic play of the novel under control and untamed. Some are also not satisfied with the ending of the novel， thinking it is a clumsy denouement designed to unite all the storylines and themes. Whether praise or criticize， the themes of the novel are generally agreed upon.
Besides the book reviews， there also appear many theoretical studies on White Teeth and its author. A year after the novel's first appearance， a critical guide White Teeth: A Reader's Guide， as one of the series of Continuum Contemporaries， was published by Claire Squires. In the book， Squires provides an accessible and informative introduction to the novel， drawing out most of the novel's major elements， especially muhicuhuralism and hybridity， and making a summary of how the novel was received when it was published. She regards Smith as representing a real world zeitgeist with her observations and depictions of immigrant life. Besides， Squires effectively inquires into the relation between the present and past or "root canals"， a metaphor that evokes the novel's title.She concludes that "Smith can treat her characters with empathy while avoiding the sanctimony of political correctness sees her performing one of the most delicate transactions that a novelist can make， and when she succeeds it elevates her novel far above the majority of contemporary fiction" (Squires， 2007 : 67) .
A concentrated criticism on the novel by Dominic Head is included in Contemporary British Literature edited by Richard Lane in 2003， and as a representative of millennial literary sensation， Zadie Smith is also listed among Contemporary Novelists: British Fiction since 1970 by Peter Childs published in 2005. In Volume 12 of the Oxford English Literary History published in 2004， Randall Stevenson introduces Smith in " The Late 1970s to 2000" section，focusing on the study of gender and the immigrants' life in White Teeth. Bruce King in Volume 13 entitled The Internationalization of English Literature concentrates on the theme of hybridity. He describes it as " the desired muhicuhural novel of a new multiracial England" (King， 2005 : 290). Barbara Wohlsein (2008) in Englishmen Born and Bred? examines Britishness/Englishness， and hybridity in everyday life in the background of immigration history. Besides， Tracey L. Wahers (2008)， Sesay (2005)， Laura Moss (2003)， Carly Phillips (2000)， together with some other scholars， write about the issues like Englishness， muhicuhuralism， and hybridity， too.
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