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Aimee Lou Wood’s overbite has gone viral. But not in a bad way. Wood, who currently stars as Chelsea in HBO’s hit series “The White Lotus” has gained a supportive new following for embracing her imperfect (according to today’s standards) smile. 

 

Wood, and other stars, seem to be outliers in Hollywood’s sea of perfect-looking pearly whites, especially when one of the hottest trends in cosmetic enhancement is a set of veneers. The trend involves shaving down one’s natural teeth into teeny, sharp nubs rid of enamel, then attaching custom porcelain teeth in a variety of colors from more natural shades of white to bleached. Like most cosmetic enhancements, the process is costly, sometimes thousands per tooth. Veneers have become so highly saturated within celebrity culture that the uncanniness of such perfect, starkly white teeth is becoming more evident. Miley Cyrus and actor Sam Claflin are few celebrities that have faced backlash from fans for “ruining” their natural smile by opting for veneers that completely changed the structure of their face. It now appears to be more common for a celebrity to be praised on social media for slightly crooked teeth rather than a perfectly aligned smile. 

 

Coming from someone going on 10 years of Invisalign, it’s been refreshing tuning into “The White Lotus” every Sunday to see lead actors without perfect teeth, especially in more unconventional ways than a few crooked teeth on the bottom. Veneers have become such a common cosmetic enhancement that almost all celebrities that have opted for them look as if they purchased the same copy-and-pasted smile. The typical look is usually an unnaturally bleached shade of white and a straight line of teeth that have all been crafted to be exactly the same length. When almost every face on television and social media starts to look similar, between overuse of filler and now a veneer obsession, regular people (like me) start to praise celebrities going against the grain and embracing their natural features. I’ve personally loved Wood since her days on Netflix’s “Sex Education,” because it’s always comforting to see someone else with, what the internet now affectionately calls, “American Girl Doll Teeth,” or simply having an overbite that causes your two front teeth to be showing at all times. 

 

Veneers and composite bonding (a less costly and invasive alternative) have become so common among celebrities and influencers that it is even harder to tell the difference between a perfect set of natural teeth and a smile expertly crafted to look slightly natural, yet perfect. The TikTok account @veneercheck, run by Dr. Sara Hahn, a prosthodontist, does deep dives into celebrity smiles in her videos, taking requests from followers to distinguish if their favorite actor’s smile is fake or real. One of her pinned videos dives into the smile of Sabrina Carpenter, assuring her audience her smile is still in fact natural, by pointing out the slight crowding of her teeth and her sharp canines. Her TikTok bio aptly states, “I miss the era before veneers.” 

 

Other fan-favorites with quirky, wonky smiles include Ayo Edebiri, Jacob Elordi, and Cynthia Erivo, who have opted against closing the gaps between their teeth. However, it’s important to note that while it’s exciting to see that not everyone in Hollywood has fallen for the trap of veneers, it is still a choice for the few of them that haven’t to keep their imperfect smiles. Their smiles are just imperfect enough that they might not have to deal with the health complications of crowded teeth or an open bite that would require dental work. Plus, these are people who are naturally really good-looking, and any imperfections in their smiles might not drastically affect their appearance, but rather set them apart in the best way.

 

The obsession with perfect smiles is important to consider when dental care, from regular cleanings to orthodontics, can be inaccessible to the average person. Reported by Allure, only half of American adults with private health insurance have coverage for basic dental appointments. Treatments like Invisalign to straighten out just a few teeth can cost well into the thousands, without even knowing how long the process might take. Cosmetic dentistry is in fact for cosmetic reasons, and straight teeth aren’t a medical priority for most people. But they definitely can be, if you’re like me and have the anomaly of a bite and teeth so crooked that Invisalign and the combination of metal braces, wires, and surgery are required to prevent permanent jaw lock. But obviously, that’s not the case for most people.

 

Teeth are one of the first things we notice about each other, which is why they are such a hot topic when discussing one’s appearance. They can also affect how someone might perceive another, maybe more positively if they have a big, perfect smile or negatively if their teeth are crooked or even slightly yellow. “The Economic Value of Teeth,” a study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research found that better oral health had a slight impact on employment status, suggesting that better teeth could contribute to someone being hired over another with maybe worse looking teeth. This unfortunately has been a source of stress for me as I search for internships and wonder if my interviewer can hear the lisp my Invisalign causes, or notice the large gap between my top and bottom teeth. This study, however, was published in 2008, so hopefully this new trend of admiring imperfect smiles can help to normalize the fact that not everybody can show off a perfect Hollywood smile. 

 

This new obsession with celebrity tooth gaps and imperfections shows that maybe we are exhausted by the extensive efforts toward perfection we’ve seen our favorite celebrities take, and we’re ready to see more character shine through, starting with appearance. Here’s to hoping more stars in the public eye take the same road as Aimee Lou Wood and embrace their not-so-perfect teeth, without succumbing to the pressures of perfecting every small thing about their looks.