The rich and famous seem to have everything they could ever want in life, and that includes
the means to deal with dental problems. From braces to whitening to veneers to closing
a gap, these are the best celeb tooth transformations ever.
Before Cardi B became a global superstar, she was on the reality show Love & Hip Hop:
New York. She won many people over with her comedic remarks, but she also faced her fair
share of trolls who made some awful remarks about her supposedly less-than-perfect smile.
During one episode, an etiquette coach encouraged her to dress more conservatively for business
meetings, which prompted her to admit:
"I got crooked teeth. So I don't want people to look at my crooked teeth. So I'd rather
them look at my t-----s."
"Okay."
In a later episode, Cardi returned with a remodeled smile and boasted,
"I know y'all see my teeth. Now Imma use this mouth for what it's really intended...to kill
these rhymes."
In response to the makeover, one viewer tweeted,
"Cardi B getting her teeth fixed shows how harsh and cruel people on the internet can
be."
This was, unfortunately, spot on, considering that someone else tweeted,
"Cardi B teeth need work when these #LHHNY checks come in this year, cus that s--- ain't
acceptable."
Cardi acknowledged her new teeth in the lyrics of her 2017 song "Bodak Yellow." The track
blew up, and so did the bank account of her dentist, who told TMZ that her business tripled
after Cardi shouted her out.
The Tom Cruise who appeared in the 1983 film The Outsiders looks very different than the
major movie star he's since become. A lot of that had to do with his teeth. As it turns
out, that crooked look in The Outsiders was achieved by Cruise voluntarily removing the
cap from a front tooth that he'd chipped while playing hockey. He eventually went back to
his Hollywood smile, with some maintenance in between. In 2002, his publicist confirmed
to Entertainment Weekly that he got braces at age 39 with the stipulation that he would
take them off for movies.
"You know what we should do?"
"Yes?"
"You should donate them to us and we'll auction them on eBay. That's what we should do."
"Can you imagine, someone showing up with my braces?"
"Sure, that would be great!"
That's not all when it comes to Cruise's notable dental issues. He has what's known as a "middle
tooth," which means that one of his front teeth is right in the center of his face.
It's certainly unique, and Cruise should consider himself lucky, because when it comes to memorable
teeth, things could certainly be way worse.
Demi Lovato was already a showbiz veteran when she got her big break in the Disney Channel
Original Movie Camp Rock in 2008 at just 15 years old. She'd previously been on Barney
& Friends starting in 2002, and she was introduced to the Disney crowd on the As the Bell Rings
series of shorts that aired from 2007 to 2008. She had a gap between her teeth during those
roles, but that wouldn't last long. In 2016, when Allure asked her about the worst beauty
advice she'd ever received, she replied,
"I signed with Disney Channel when I got Camp Rock, and I had a gap between my two front
teeth. They were like, 'Would you be willing to fix it?' I wish today that I hadn't, because
my gap was really cute."
Lovato isn't the only one who wishes that she hadn't closed the gap, as a fan of hers
tweeted in 2020,
"I miss the disney channel era demi lovato sound, back when you could really hear the
gap tooth."
Another person even tweeted the idea of a petition to bring back the gap tooth. While
it's unlikely that it will ever actually come back, her original smile will continue to
be revered by her longtime fans.
Unfortunately for country star LeAnn Rimes, getting a picture-perfect smile was easier
said than done. She's incurred a lot of pain, surgeries, and legal battles just to get a
smile that she's happy with. Her tooth pain was once so awful that she even had to cancel
some performances in July 2012. She revealed on Twitter that she got an endodontist to
do a nighttime root canal. And as rough as that sounds, that wasn't even the end of her
pain. By October of that year, she had to reschedule another show due to an infection.
She shared her pain by tweeting,
"I feel like I got hit in my right side of my face with a baseball bat."
The issues became so bad that Rimes would eventually sue her dentist for giving her
faulty veneers in addition to crowns that caused severe tooth pain, gum inflammation
and chronic gum bleeding. To fix those issues, she had to undergo bone grafting, nine root
canals, a temporary bridge, and physical therapy. In the lawsuit, she mentioned her inability
to perform, as she sought money for loss of wages as well as emotional and psychiatric
injuries. In February 2015, she took to Instagram to share a photo of her 29th dental surgery,
as she noted that she was almost done. Thankfully, her long dental nightmare is now finally over.
Even Zac Efron had a bit of an awkward phase growing up, which fans caught a glimpse of
during his early 2000s stint on The WB series Summerland. His co-star Lori Loughlin was
surprised that he became such a heartthrob, telling Entertainment Tonight in 2018,
"He was just such a young kid with a gap between his teeth when he starred on our show. It
was so funny. I think he was 14 years old, and he was always cute, you know, but he really
morphed into quite the hunk."
Before Efron closed the gap, Vanessa Hudgens felt a spark when they met at their High School
Musical audition. As she told Us Weekly in 2010,
"I think everybody could see it. When we had our audition, they paired us together. And
he was adorable. I mean, he wasn't the guy that he is today. Like, he had a gap in his
teeth."
Efron's grin has remained consistent since the gap went away, but he made some adjustments
to play Ted Bundy for the 2019 film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, as he wore
some fake teeth on his bottom row.
"Our top teeth were very similar. I had a lot of similarities with Ted that were a little
bit unnerving."
For years, Jordyn Woods was adamant about her refusal to get rid of the gap between
her teeth. In December 2017, someone tweeted at her to ask if she was closing it, and she
responded,
"No I'm keeeping it!! Just straightening some of my teeth."
A few months earlier, she had declared on Instagram,
"I will not fix my gap to blend in with the rest of society! My gap makes me who I am.
Your individuality is one of your special powers in this generation where everyone's
trying to fit in and keep up."
But everyone has the right to change their mind, and a year later, Woods took to Instagram
to share a photo showcasing her new smile. Her dentist later shared a video of himself
at work on her. In February 2019, she told Refinery29,
"I never disliked my smile or anything, I wanted to try something new and I found the
doctor that I trusted. It may take a second for people to get used to it, but life is
about evolving. It was a bittersweet thing. I wouldn't say it's better or anything, it's
just the new version of me."
Some celebs ditch a gap tooth to fit in with Hollywood beauty ideals, but Dakota Johnson
didn't actually intend to change her smile. When she stopped by The Tonight Show in 2019,
host Jimmy Fallon mentioned that some fans were heartbroken that her gap had been closed.
So Johnson explained that she'd had a permanent retainer since she was a teenager. It was
glued to the back of her teeth, and she was having neck problems, so her orthodontist
decided to take off the retainer to see if her jaw expanded. That helped her, and the
gap closed by itself.
Johnson was also sad about losing her gap, while also noting that it created some new
problems, like getting food stuck in her teeth. Although she did then promise that it was
going to come back.
"The gap'll come back?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
"Other retainers."
Despite the medical benefits of removing the retainer, some of Johnson's fans were so affected
by the change that they needed to share their feelings. One person posted a "celebration
of life" video dedicated to Johnson's smile, while another tweeted,
"Is grieving over dakota johnson fixing her tooth gap a valid reason to not work"
In a 2005 interview with E! News, Hilary Duff revealed that she had to get dental work done
after she spit her two front teeth out in her hand after she chipped them on a microphone.
After that painful snafu, she went on to get some veneers. However, they appeared to be
too big for her mouth, and it looks like she's had to get that set replaced or shaved down.
But the internet hasn't forgotten about her old smile, to the point that saying "Hilary
Duff 2005 teeth" is a shorthand for remembering how things used to be. For example, in 2016,
someone tweeted,
"Gucci Mane's new teeth are very reminiscent of Hilary Duff's 2005 teeth."
And in 2020, someone else tweeted,
"Hilary Duff's 2005 veneers think that Gwen Stefani's current set are 'a bit much.'"
The reference isn't even always about aesthetics, as in the time that someone tweeted,
"Today i'm feeling like hilary duffs 2005 veneers."
While many people agree that Duff's original veneers weren't the most flattering look,
they do have a place in pop culture history, with some fans even considering them iconic.
They'll forever be reminiscent of a different Duff era, though her current teeth appear
to be a much better fit.
During a video for Glamour in 2016, Gwen Stefani shared some words of wisdom about how to make
braces look cool, as she declared:
"When you're wearing braces, you need to just totally, totally accept that they are part
of your whole look."
That positive outlook isn't at all surprising considering how much pride Stefani had when
she was able to afford braces when she was 29. She reflected on the memory in 2019 as
she told Vogue,
"I had gotten famous. I got to buy a house. I moved out of my parents' house. Like, so
much had happened...The braces were like me coming home and being like, 'You see this
money I got? Boom. I'm getting braces finally. Ha Ha!'"
As happy as she was, though, it wasn't initially easy for her to rock the braces. During her
first performance with them, her lips were getting caught, and she had to come off stage,
and then she went into a closet and cried for the rest of the night. Luckily, she was
able to get through that adjustment, and now she can enjoy her absolutely beautiful smile.
The one major drawback of Niall Horan finding success early in life is that his awkward
phase was very public. During an interview on the British talk show This Morning, the
One Direction singer was asked what one thing he would change about his body if he could.
So he shared,
"My teeth and they're on the mend."
Then he grinned to show off his braces. While he wasn't particularly happy with his teeth,
his fans loved the hardware. In 2018, a Directioner tweeted,
"Can u believe i used to beg my mum to get me braces because niall horan had them."
Another declared,
"I'm officially a fan account for Niall Horan's braces cause fine art deserves to be recognised."
His smile may have been the one thing he wanted to change, but he got plenty of love for it
at the time. Even so, he kept his fans in the loop on his orthodontic work. In October
2012, he tweeted,
"Just been to the dentist , gettin the braces off in the new year !"
The following February, he shared,
"goodmorning lovers! just [to] let ya know...as i always get asked...the braces are coming
off 3rd of april forever!"
Indeed, on April 3rd, 2013, he posted,
"Morning. ! This is it ! I'm goin to the dentist! I think this is my last hour with braces!
Oh how I'm gona miss them !"
Unfortunately, that isn't exactly what happened, as it wasn't until that August that Horan
confirmed that he was officially free of his braces. But no matter what's on his teeth,
it's clear that he'll always have tons of fan support.
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