Karin:
Thanks for your reply and comments.
I have done some glazes over the background and it is receeding nicely.
I certainly don't like painting teeth either, but have made the decision that when the subject is best captured with teeth showing, I won't shy away.
The whole teeth in portraiture thing, IMO, evolved from antiquity. Even Leonardo in his treatise on painting advises against painting teeth - why - because everyone in his time had very bad teeth. This continued to be true to about 1920. The other reason is that they can be hard to paint.
