I have white teeth which are quite crooked. Due to the fact that most people are likely trying to be polite I have no gage of how bad my situation is. I have no cavities or the like but what I am concerned with is the soical impact of this. I plan on paying to get them fixed but before I do I was wondering how much it actually affects people’s impression of me.
How much do people (you) notice someone with crooked teeth?
Can crooked teeth be overcome by "force of personality? The reason I ask this is because if this is true maybe it would be better to leave them alone as a way to weed out shallow people who might try to enter my life.
And finally, since I am thinking of becoming an EMT, is this going to be a factor there?
I think it depends how bad is bad, yano? My teeth aren’t perfectly straight, and some people certainly notice them, but I dont think it’s prevented me from being reasonably successful.
I think clean teeth and breath is more important than actual straightness of the teeth.
I’m not sure this is a General Question though - maybe more like an In My Humble Opinion, because I’m not sure there’s a factual answer. I’ll report it for you so a mod will move it to a better forum and you’ll get more responses.
Top or bottom? I’ve noticed crooked/overly crowded bottom teeth are usually more easy to subconsciously ignore. They can be a distraction but I don’t think I’ve really passed major judgment onto someone solely because of a crooked smile.
I find less than perfect mouths sort of endearing. As long as they’re not the kind that **Mhendo ** linked too, which is disgusting.
I’ve found different people attractive with one dead one up front, with crooked front teeth, and with tetracycline teeth. Makes me wonder why I’m paying for braces on my sons, whose teeth aren’t all that bad.
My bottom teeth are quite crooked but my uppers are not. No one has ever commented on them without me pointing them out, not even when I was a kid. Drachillix’s ** uppers are slightly crooked and very very cute. He can look forbidding and stern until he smiles, then he’s an adorable 6 year old.
With a beard.
I obsessively notice crooked teeth. I have a bad habit of staring at people’s mouths when they are talking instead of at their eyes. I have no idea why but I am fixated on perfect teeth, and if a person has even one tooth out of place I notice it instantly. It doesn’t make me think any differently about the person though, unless they are horribly out of place. If I assume the person is “well-off” money wise (even if I have no way of actually knowing) and they have crooked teeth then I think that is odd. But I generally have no idea of knowing how much money these people have, if they have dental insurance, what have you.
I think I have teeth issues! I think about it way too much.
Unless they are really awful (thanks mhendo) crooked teeth are endearing. If they are white and a little jumbled that says, “I am clean and sweet, but not perfect!” which is, of course, adorable
I mean, look at Tom Cruise; crooked teeth, mega hearthrob. He gets them fixed- total wackjob. So, watch it; braces may ruin whatever good thing you have going.
Oh, and for an EMT, no one cares. Really, I just don’t think it will come into play at all.
To add to this, if I was lying in a ditch, bleeding from a sucking chest wound and an EMT showed up and was administering first aid, I wouldn’t much care if they had ANY teeth…
I don’t think how they look (if they are clean, of course) so much as how they affect your dental health that is important. If they are healthy, and you are able to clean between them - not a problem.
I had very crooked, crowded teeth, and had to get braces - not just for appearances but because my wisdom teeth were going to be a horror. Talk to a good dentist about dental health - then worry about a few crooked teeth.
(FWIW, my husband met and fell in love with me before I got braces.)
Tough question to answer. However, if you have moderately to severely crooked teeth near the front of your mouth, people will definitely notice when you smile. For slightly crooked teeth, it would be a bit difficult to notice unless I could fixate on your mouth for a minute or two. But, by then you would think I was hitting on you.
Slightly crooked teeth are no biggie. Most people probably wouldn’t even know. Besides, teeth naturally get slightly crooked as you age.
Overally, I would prefer to get my teeth straightened out (like I’m doing right now with my braces) so that they are easier to brush and floss. Crooked teeth can make it hard to get dental floss in between all the teeth because some are probably pushed tight together.
If your teeth are severely crooked, yeah, people will notice them, but they won’t care. As long as your teeth are healthy and aren’t a problem crooked as they are, it doesn’t matter. My husband’s best friend has front teeth that are like this --/-- turned almost 90 degrees in. It is not a concern at all. I have crooked teeth top and bottom - I had a nice vampire eye tooth for a long time (true fact - the pressure of your lips over time pushes your teeth in - my eye tooth has come in a long way now), and crowded bottom teeth. I don’t think most people who know me even notice them.
I suspect you focus on your teeth waaaaaaay more than anyone else does. Everyone seems to have something about themselves that they obsess about, that other people either don’t notice, or actively like. I like big noses and buck teeth on a guy - I’m not kidding. Eric Balfour (Milo from “24”)? Beeyootiful nose. Everyone here could name one thing about themselves that they hate, and there would be another person who honestly likes it.
I have crooked teeth – I have always been convinced that I’m one of the youngest people in America who could possibly have crooked teeth, since the market for braces seemed to expand from “kids with dental problems” to “everyone” right after I hit the popular cutoff age. I kind of resent that everyone is so obsessed with teeth – I’m cute enough, so why should I feel compelled to spend thousands of dollars and several years of discomfort for a silly cosmetic surgery? I’d *rather *they be straight, sure, but (having known two people my own age with similarly crooked teeth, and having fallen in love with one of them) I’d say that it doesn’t really matter. Although, like you, FutureEMT, I am obsessed with whitening. Maybe having crooked teeth, we have to prove a bit harder that they’re clean…the result/upside being that they probably *are *cleaner. When my straight-toothed friends tell the dentist they floss daily, they’re usually lying…
Thank you for all of your answers. I think you have now ended my obcession over it. I still might get them first but I think I should be more concerned with my incomming wisdom teeth.
Tetracyclines. I’m not replacing my natural, perfectly working (although yellow) teeth with artificial ones until they fall off on their own, thanks. Whitening treatments like laser and carbonates do not work in our case, all our bones are yellow through and through.
I should carry a camera with me whenever I go see a new dentist. The ones who take a look, figure out my age and ask “tetracyclines?” are a complete majority, most give me a spiel about not smoking (ftr, smoking leads to spots, not to uniform yellow). The camera? For snapping a pic of their embarrased expression when I say “ever heard of tetracyclines?”
I notice crooked teeth a lot more since I lived in the USA, in Europe they’re pretty common. Usually not as bad as David Bowie’s buuuut…
