# Do your teeth touch the fork/spoon when you eat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2026, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599 "2026-01-12T16:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/21 "2026-01-13T07:06:08Z")
Well, heck, if there’s a morsel of dried cheesy goodness that had the unmitigated gall to stick to my fork instead of making my taste buds happy, I can’t let it just GET AWAY with such behavior. I will simply have to gnaw it off. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/22 "2026-01-13T08:45:32Z")
I don’t think so but until I next eat I can’t be certain, I don’t really pay any attention in an attempt to avoid it happening. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/23 "2026-01-13T15:14:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I have a side question- on Blue Blood and some other TV shows I see people eating with what i consider the fork upside down. In other words the tines are turned down, not up. What’s up 😀 with that? In some UK circles that was apparently considered the ‘polite’ way to use a fork. I don’t know how seriously it was taken, and it might have been a somewhat lower-class attempt at being ‘posh’. Like adding extraneous ‘h’s to the start of certain words. Which to the really educated just sounded ludicrous, of course. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/24 "2026-01-13T16:12:28Z")
I’ve noticed it in more than one show recently but for the specific scene that ultimately made me run to the Dope to post about it… I can’t find a youtube but if anyone has Disney+, Andor S2 E3 during the dinner scene with Dedra and Syril about 17:15ish into the episode. The foley in this scene is just WTF, and there’s a part where Dedra takes a bite of whatever and it makes an audible metallic clank when she puts the fork in her mouth ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/25 "2026-01-13T17:48:28Z")
I’m not aware of anything touching my fork or spoon except my lips. I have made the painful mistake of biting the fork. That’s extremely rare. I eat slowly and that helps avoids accidents. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/26 "2026-01-13T19:33:19Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > In some UK circles that was apparently considered the ‘polite’ way to use a fork. > > I don’t know how seriously it was taken, and it might have been a somewhat lower-class attempt at being ‘posh’. Thanks. Since the guy who used it went to Harvard, that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/27 "2026-01-14T04:10:20Z")
Apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/28 "2026-01-14T04:21:11Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > I think I’m the weird one (for this and many other reasons) but I am 100% against teeth touching anything metal, ever, for any reason. You’re not the weird one. I never let knives or forks touch my teeth! ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2026, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/29 "2026-01-15T16:00:48Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I don’t think so but until I next eat I can’t be certain, I don’t really pay any attention I had no idea and kept forgetting to notice. But having finally thought of this thread while eating: yes, my teeth often touch the utensil. I’m neither doing it deliberately nor avoiding it deliberately, and I hadn’t noticed I was doing it. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/30 "2026-01-15T16:28:34Z")
I just watched the scene in question, and did notice the sound effect you’re referring to, though it didn’t particularly bother me. But of course that entire Dierdre meeting Cyril’s mother sequence was supposed to be intensely uncomfortable, so clearly they added that effect intentionally. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2026, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/31 "2026-01-15T16:39:59Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > > > I don’t think so but until I next eat I can’t be certain, I don’t really pay any attention > > I had no idea and kept forgetting to notice. But having finally thought of this thread while eating: yes, my teeth often touch the utensil. I’m neither doing it deliberately nor avoiding it deliberately, and I hadn’t noticed I was doing it. Same, and also, it doesn’t make any noise i don’t hit my teeth hard enough to go “clank”. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/32 "2026-01-15T17:37:04Z")
yeah i did consider that, and i think i’m just “highly sensitive” to that particular scenario. but i’ve noticed it in other shows, too (again, surely because i’m just preparing myself to cringe every time 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/33 "2026-01-15T19:18:39Z")
TBH, I thought it was going to be the silverware on plates sounds that Foley artists love to emphasize in family dinner scenes (like The Godfather), but yeah, in that scene it’s clearly a “tink” as Dedra puts the fork in her mouth. But that’s the least uncomfortable part of that whole interaction. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2026, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/34 "2026-01-15T21:28:08Z")
appreciate you taking the time out of your day to review the scene in question 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599/35 "2026-01-20T23:41:55Z")
I waited three years to replace a bottom molar at the back of my jaw. I was shocked that my new implant bit my cheek and tongue. It took over a week to adjust. I don’t know how it happened. It’s a response to the pain. Our cheeks and tongues learn how to stay out of harms way. That’s similar to forks and spoons. Biting metal is unpleasant. Instinctively our mouths adjust and most people don’t bite down. It is a remarkable, learned response. I will lick ice cream off a spoon. That’s the only time that I willingly touch the metal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-your-teeth-touch-the-fork-spoon-when-you-eat/1026599.md?page=1)