I’m talking about adults, not kids.
Why does an adult missing a front tooth look like they have an IQ of 5?
Every comic strip and movie involving someone with a missing front tooth has them portrayed as a dope.
Take a pic of someone and blacken out one of their front teeth and the first thought is “duh!”. Even a picture of Einstein.
Why do many of us think this? What’s the psychology of this?
I always associate that “look” with the stereotypical backwoods, Appalachian good ol’ boy. Which is, in a more general sense, often associated with lower intelligence.
Why that is, however, I don’t know.
It’s a class marker, and those factor heavily into how we perceive intelligence.
Personally, I think I mostly associate missing teeth with a tendency to drink a lot. Like, who’s *really *drunk in this painting?
I don’t know the answer but Norm McDonald had a bit about that how you could be the world’s smartest, like preeminent physicist or something speaking at a symposium but missing your front tooth and getting ridiculed and laughed off the stage.
A WAG here but if you had bad/missing teeth it might mean you couldn’t afford a dentist, and were thus poor. Being poor and stupid has a long, baseless history.
Also, a likely cause of a missing front tooth is a fist in the face. And generally, fist-in-the-face is lower class. Duelling scars, now that’s upper class!
Also, dentures and bridges cost money.
Yeah, it’s just long standing cultural training. Propaganda.
Once long ago, someone with a tan was thought to be obviously defective too.
Yeah, just deeply well established cultural propaganda/training.
Just my considered opinion, but I think ultimately it’s one of the MANY illogical assumptions people train themselves to make, in response to their inner drive to look down their noses at anyone who they need an excuse to misbehave towards.
not quite “baseless” correlation:
None of those cites provide any connection whatsoever between between poor and stupid. They do show a connection between wealth and education and class and opportunity, which are totally different values than poor and stupid. There is a correlation between income and IQ, but as those same cites say in so many words, IQ is not the same thing as actual intelligence and income is correlated with other factors than simple intelligence.
Keep in mind, some of the missing tooth = stupid correlation comes from entertainment. Blacking out a tooth is a simple makeup trick as compared to say, fitting a denture with crooked teeth. The association might be perpetuated by how easy it is to show onstage or on film.
Ack! My first thought when the pic came up was ‘the smell’. That pic literally reeks of unwashed bodies. I associate missing teeth with a person that doesn’t take care of themself. Someone who’s hygiene isn’t good.
Very bad teeth and gums can lead to heart disease.
Visual signs like bleeding guns or missing teeth are a social stigma. It’s an indication that the person isn’t taking care of themselves.
Dental Care is expensive. My dental policy only covers half the cost of expensive procedures. It does pay 100% for yearly exams and cleanings.
My son has a broken front tooth as a result of a bike accident when he was a kid. A fairly large piece is missing. The dentist fashioned something to replace the piece, but every once in a while it breaks off again. The kid is now grown, and owes us a fair amount of money already, but if his tooth breaks I’m going to feel the need to pay for a fix. I don’t see how we can expect the kid to get ahead in life looking like that!
** Why do people missing a front tooth look like they’re an idiot?
I’m talking about adults, not kids.**
I would say it makes kids look like idiots too.
I blame Mad.
But we expect kids to have teeth out as baby teeth get replaced by adult teeth. See a kid with a missing tooth and you know soon it will be replaced. We don’t generally expect a grown man with a suit/tie carrying a briefcase to have a huge gaping hole in his smile.
And tattoos, they used to be for sailors and convicts, but times have changed a lot. Somehow I think missing teeth will have a harder time going mainstream, however. Not really sure why. Interestingly, gold teeth seemed to have fallen out of favor.
Yet, there is as you agree a correlation between income and IQ, so…like I said…its not entirely baseless.
