Some movie characters have missing teeth. How is this look achieved? I find it hard to believe that a dentist with a conscience would pull an actor’s teeth and then put crowns in after shooting. And I find it hard to believe that an actor would go for that, even when getting paid millions for the role.
The only example I can think of is Chris Cooper in Adaptation.
Well, in the case of The Hangover, the tooth that was missing from Ed Helms’ mouth was a dental implant that had been there for a while. So I believe he had it removed professionally, by a dentist.
Yeah, tooth black can be very convincing if applied well. I have to imagine that it’s still the favorite method used in movies today if only because other options are so expensive.
I found Bubbles’ obviously black tooth in HBO’s *The Wire *a little distracting. I couldn’t tell if they were going for the missing tooth look, or if it was supposed to be a real, but black tooth as part of his overall bad hygene.
I thought Bubbles’ tooth was missing, but my TV isn’t HD, so maybe it was a black tooth If it was, I figured there’d be some pain and he never said anything about a toothache or acted like it pained him.
Plenty of guys like Bubbles have a black tooth or two - I see 'em all the time in real life.
Boris Karloff achieved the hollow cheek look in the original *Frankenstein[//i] by taking out his (fake) teeth. You can tell he isn’t doing that in Bride of Frankenstein (did he get too famous?) which is a shame because that was a very creepy look.
I’m recalling that he got a tooth capped in gold for Pirates, because he needed it fixed anyway, and figured having the gold permanently would be amusing.
Sadly, all I can google-fu at this time is the following: Crooked Teeth (news article) regarding his *prosthetic * crooked pirate teeth not getting removed promptly after filming.
ETA - Wikipedia tends to agree with me. Scroll down to the Johnny Depp section - second section.
Before all the modern dental techniques of today, plus Invisalign, and other orthodontia for grown-ups, actors with less-than-perfect teeth frequently had their teeth capped.
For any toothless acting roles, a capped tooth is easily “uncapped” and then put back together once the shooting is finished.
~VOW
The Big Hollywood studios all employ ex dentists, though with budget cuts, quite often ex boxers, who if the part requiries it ,either extract the offending teeth, or give them a smack in the mouth .
I really,really must complain to the mods for people not bothering to Google this fact which is well known to everyone.