# Why is an overbite sexy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132 "2006-05-09T21:55:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/21 "2006-05-10T17:08:59Z")
Imperfection \*is \* a good thing! I don’t have a problem with “nice teeth” but those veneers are pretty squicky. Anyway, what about dudes with overbites? I couldn’t really think of any except [Jim Carey](http://www.st-lawrence.org/ftp/Jim%20Carey.jpg) and my beloved, super sexy [Freddie Mercury](http://www.jaxxroxx.com/images/In%20Memory%20Pics/Freddie%20Mercury%20photo.jpg) (though his was extreme and \*not \* the bigger part of his charm). Oh, and of course [Steven Tyler](http://images.hollywood.com/images/4_1108385.jpg) Can anyone think of attractive males with overbites? If so, are their teeth part of the attraction? ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/22 "2006-05-10T17:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] I don’t know about an overbite, but I’ve always (I’ve never told this before) kind of dug it when a woman has a snaggletooth, you know, one slightly crooked tooth. I have no idea why. [/QUOTE] In Japan a snaggletooth is considered very attractive - like a charm. Sort of like Marilyn Monroe or Cindy Crawford’s mole. An overbite can tend to make the lips stick out somewhat, which can give you (as a male friend of my rather indelicately put it) cock-suckers mouth. I assume you can figure out the appeal of that. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![moonstarssun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@moonstarssun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonstarssun)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/23 "2006-05-10T17:53:11Z")
[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland] An overbite can tend to make the lips stick out somewhat, which can give you (as a male friend of my rather indelicately put it) cock-suckers mouth. I assume you can figure out the appeal of that. 😉 [/QUOTE] I wondered if that was it… Hmm…I have an overbite and a snaggletooth. Guess I should be glad I never bothered with braces, huh? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/24 "2006-05-10T17:56:18Z")
Um. No. Please, illustrate this techniq-…er…example for me. please? ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/25 "2006-05-10T19:37:19Z")
Maybe it reminds the overbite lovers of a man/woman biting their bottom lip in passion (do it, you’ll see what I mean). ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/26 "2006-05-10T19:45:32Z")
[QUOTE=moonstarssun] mm…I have an overbite and a snaggletooth. [/QUOTE] Me too. I can certainly attest that some folks find it hot. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/27 "2006-05-10T20:13:27Z")
[Olivia D’Abo](http://www.sherylweb.com/trekwomen_amanda_rogers.html) is always one that copmes to my mind. When she was on _L&O:CI_, they played up that feature to maximum effect with regard to camera angles and her facial expressions and mannerisms in general. And I should add, no, a severe overbite is not sexy. No dental _problems_ are ever sexy. The slight overbite is what I’m always refering too when I speak of it being sexy. Also, see my earlier post for some wags as to just why it’s sexy. To me. yobmv. ---
**Author:** ![Catgirl1229](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/67e7ee/32.png) [@Catgirl1229](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catgirl1229)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/28 "2010-10-07T16:50:32Z")
My husband is an oral surgeon and he has always commented that teeth that have a little bit of an overbite or snaggle-tooth are much sexier than perfectly straight teeth. He said they are more real and friendlier to look at. I could have mine straightened easily bit choose not to because he finds it sexy. My overbite is so slight that most people would not even consider it an overbite. However, it is enough of one to give me a fuller top lip…so I’m keeping it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/29 "2010-10-07T17:37:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Youth equals freshness, innocence, and perhaps even a bite of taboo forbidden fruit, tho I would say most of that is probably subliminal. ymmv It’s much simpler than that: Youth equals fertility. Men value youth in women, but women don’t mind older men, because women go through menopause, and men don’t. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/30 "2010-10-07T17:52:10Z")
[Gene Tierney](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.kids-iq-tests.com/BIPOLAR/Gene-Tierney.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.kids-iq-tests.com/Mental-Illness.html&usg=__Rfo7m3CeWVtBKDaxt2oWpT-PF20=&h=566&w=453&sz=28&hl=en&start=0&sig2=A3y1pSpqIQniHvO63ws8hg&zoom=1&tbnid=hz30vFc3ZCNBlM:&tbnh=157&tbnw=126&ei=DwiuTIr5FZO8sAOawtTpCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgene%2Btierney%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS388US389%26biw%3D991%26bih%3D796%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=387&vpy=94&dur=122&hovh=251&hovw=201&tx=141&ty=192&oei=DwiuTIr5FZO8sAOawtTpCw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0), to quote the NYTimes obit for her: > [@](#): > > With her blue-green eyes, brown hair, prominent cheekbones and what many young men of the 1940’s regarded as the \*\*\*most appealing overbite of the day \*\*\*(Miss Tierney said her movie contract stipulated that her slightly protruding front teeth were never to be fixed) she won plaudits for her patrician look but some criticism for her acting. [emphasis mine] Hummina, hummina. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/31 "2010-10-07T18:02:10Z")
Why does an underbite=youth, though? ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/32 "2010-10-07T18:14:11Z")
I have no clue. I had never heard that it might be an attractive thing to anyone until this thread. IMO overbite = weak chin. Weak chin = one of the least attractive features on anyone. If you’re a man, start wearing a beard as soon as you can grow one; if you’re a woman, you’re SOL. Cleetus The Slackjawed Yokel. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/33 "2010-10-07T18:28:23Z")
When I read the title to this thread, I was reminded of the movie [Innerspace](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093260/), in which Martin Short’s character is talking about Meg Ryan and comments that “she’s got the cutest little overbite”. She was a babe in that movie, no question about it, but I can’t say that I recall her overbite being one of the things I found especially attractive about her. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/34 "2010-10-07T19:00:36Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > [QUOTE=NoClueBoy] > > I am one of those guys that has commented on certain actresses overbites here on these boards. Can you (or anyone else) cite some current actresses who have overbites and are considered sexy? I just can’t think of who that is off the top of my head… maybe I just don’t pay attention to that thing (I tend not to notice large breasts, either). [/QUOTE] Not current, obviously, but my favorite examples of slight but noticeable overbites that (somehow, I don’t know how) contributed to their beauty, were [Ingrid Bergman](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3173685248/nm0000006) and [Gene Tierney](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3113192448/nm0000074). Also Ingrid’s daughter, [Isabella Rosellini](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3073871360/nm0000618), has almost the same overbite as her mother. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/35 "2010-10-07T19:12:01Z")
> [@CC](#): > > Obviously, it’s in the eye of the beholder. Wait here until someone is able to articulate what he finds sexy about it. I’ll say that I find it particularly UNsexy. Yeah, UNsexy, for sure. > [@](#): > > I associate it with a lack of intelligence (don’t ask why - maybe from early comic books or cartoons), It’s from the “slack jawed yokel” sterotype (like Cletus from _The Simpsons_). I think, IMHO, the origins have something to do with oral-motor skills associated with Down Syndrome. My goddaughter’s parents did a lot of physio-like exercises when she was wee in order to improve jaw stability and coordination. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/36 "2010-10-07T20:22:36Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Not current, obviously, but my favorite examples of slight but noticeable overbites that (somehow, I don’t know how) contributed to their beauty, were [Ingrid Bergman](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3173685248/nm0000006) and [Gene Tierney](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3113192448/nm0000074). Also Ingrid’s daughter, [Isabella Rosellini](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3073871360/nm0000618), has almost the same overbite as her mother. The best example of a Hollywood overbite was [Barbara Stanwyck](http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2007-07-06/article/27467?headline=Moving-Pictures-PFA-Celebrates-a-Tough-Old-Broad-s-100th##27467). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/37 "2010-10-07T20:29:56Z")
I don’t know about overbites, but I think some small flaws add to a person’s beauty, or maybe they highlight the other beautiful features. I personally like a crooked nose in a man, for example. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/38 "2010-10-07T20:59:58Z")
I find some overbites sexy, and some not. Why? I don’t know, and I don’t think it’s important. I’m of the firm belief that any reasons we come up with for what we find sexy are simply intellectualizations of what is a more emotional or primal response. It’s not like I look at a woman, evaluate the symmetry of her face, evaluate the relationship between her eyes and nose, evaluate the clearness or color of her skin, and a thousand other things, and then make a pros vs cons list from which I can make an informed decision. I certainly don’t think that an overbite is youthful therefore sexy, or that it draws attention to the mouth, therefore blowjob. I’ve certainly seen unattractive women talking. Just because they’re using their mouths doesn’t mean I want them to blow me. To evaluate a woman like that, on all the little things, would take minutes at least, perhaps longer. But I know in a small fraction of a second if I like how someone looks. I just don’t think that fast. The intellectual part of my brain can’t make those split second decisions. I think it’s more of an imprinting thing. I once liked someone with that overbite, and now I associate it with sexy. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/39 "2010-10-07T21:28:14Z")
> [@Catgirl1229](#): > > My husband is an oral surgeon and he has always commented that teeth that have a little bit of an overbite or snaggle-tooth are much sexier than perfectly straight teeth. I didn’t even know they had a sexiness-measuring instrument… I guess it’s one of those sharp tools between the drool-sucking nozzle and the spit tray? ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132/40 "2010-10-07T22:18:42Z")
It’s definitely the youthful look I think. Also on a woman who is otherwise generically pretty, it adds a bit of character. I’m pretty sure [Pattie Boyd](http://stateoftheart.popphoto.com/blog/images/2008/05/14/pattiegeorge_2.png) had one back in the 60’s. I remember as a rabbit-toothed preteen being assuaged by the fact that if my number one musician crush would go for a girl with an overbite, surely there was hope for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-an-overbite-sexy/356132.md?page=3)