Gold Tooth



Gold has been used by dentists as filling for cavities as well as prosthetic teeth for centuries, because of its resistance to corrosion. Gold teeth are also somewhat of a status symbol and a symbol of wealth in certain parts of the world. In Fictionland, it can also be an indicator that a character is wealthy, but characters with gold teeth tend to be villains at least most of the time, perhaps because it can also be an indicator of greed, ostentation, and conspicuous consumption. In Real Life often associated with The New Russia in Europe, since gold was commonly used in Soviet dentistry (now mostly phased out with modern ceramics).

Silver teeth seem to be less common in fiction. At times it might be accompanied by an Audible Gleam. It can be a realistic justification for a Twinkle Smile.

A Sub-Trope of Gold Makes Everything Shiny.

Compare Purple Is Powerful.

Anime and Manga

 * Taketazaki, from The Money and Soul of Possibility (The current page image) has a whole mouth full of 'em.
 * The gold-toothed doctor from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Film

 * Harry, one of the bandits from Home Alone, has a gold tooth, which produces a rare live-action Twinkle Smile. When Kevin recognizes it, he realizes Harry was the same man posing as a police officer at the beginning of the film.
 * Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean has this.
 * In Eight Legged Freaks, at the end, the DJ character smiles to reveal a mouthful of these to indicate a Happy Ending.
 * Jaws from the James Bond series had steel teeth.
 * Alex in the movie version of Everything Is Illuminated has a gold tooth, but that may just be because he was played by Gogol Bordello singer Eugene Hutz, who has a gold tooth.
 * One of the villains in the movie version of Pippi Longstocking sings an entire musical number fantasizing about buying one.
 * DJay in Hustle And Flow has a gold tooth and jewelry. Writer/Director Craig Brewer noted that big-name rappers typically have platinum grills and jewelry these days, but DJay is still an aspiring no-name who must hustle for every dollar he gets. Brewer says that he wants Hustle and Flow to be "a gold movie."

Literature

 * One Hercule Poirot story involves a man who describes such a person tailing him. Poirot later ridicules the story, pointing out how clichéd it is (and how golden teeth are decades out of use) while deducing the true motives behind the visit.
 * In the Sherlock Holmes story "The Stockbroker's Clerk", the clerk in question realises something's going on when he notices that his two employers are actually the same person: they both have exactly the same gold filling.
 * In A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dandy mercenary Naharis has one gold tooth, as does a character calling himself the Alchemist. Mord, a jailer with totally disgusting hygene, including bad teeth, uses a generous bequest to get several gold teeth.
 * Cohen the Barbarian of the Discworld took this trope Up to Eleven when he had a complete set of dentures made from diamond.

Live Action TV
"Max: My name is Max *grins, his gold tooth gleaming*
 * There's Max Capricorn in Doctor Who.

Doctor: Oh, it really does that."


 * Dr. Teeth, leader of the Electric Mayhem, The Muppet Show's house band.
 * After Boardwalk Empire's Dunn Purnsley makes the mistake of trying to pick a fight with Chalky White while locked in a jail cell with 4 other men who all owed Chalky a great deal, he replaces a missing tooth with a gold one, courtesy of Chalky.
 * Once Upon a Time's Mr. Gold, naturally.

Music

 * Hip-hop stars tend to have gold teeth. Especially Flavor Flav.
 * Though many reportedly prefer platinum.
 * The guy running the "pay for a dance" club in the video for Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield" had one.

Tabletop Wargames

 * Kaptain Badrukk of Warhammer40000 has a whole mouth full of these. Being an ork, his teeth are thick, fanglike, and fall out and grow back like a shark's. He has the most teeth of any ork in the galaxy, and since orks use "Teef" as currency, he became quite famous for being rather wealthy. Being of the Bad Moonz Clan, he was eventually kicked out for being "too rich for his own good" and became a Freeboota Kaptain. On one of his exploits, he raided a holy Shrine World (the whole world!) and melted down the gilding on the walls of the Palace of Undying Light to plate his multitude of teeth in gold.
 * He apparently doesn't lose his teeth naturally anymore. Nobody really questions why. It is best not to other a pirate warlord with a radioactive plasma grenade launcher.
 * His model is very fitting. Search it up.

Video Games

 * A side-quest in the Pokémon Red and Blue games involved finding a man's gold dentures that were lost in the Safari Zone.
 * In Mad World, The Black Baron's presumably gold (the game is in black and white) teeth spell out "DEATHWATCH". By the time this is first noticed, some of them are soon to be punched out of his mouth  to spell one half of a Title Drop. In Anarchy Reigns, his teeth now say "Fuck You!".
 * Blondebeard in The Curse of Monkey Island. Guybrush has to find a way to steal it of course.
 * Similarly, John in Escape From St Marys must retrieve a basketball player's gold tooth for a potion.

Web Original

 * The Cheat from Homestar Runner has a golden tooth and has shown it off on multiple occasions.

Western Animation
"Elmer, holding his own tooth in his hand: Euweka, gold at wast, huhuhuhuhuhuh."
 * Warren T. Rat from An American Tail has a gold fang.
 * In the Bugs Bunny cartoon The Wacky Wabbit, Bugs and Elmer have a gold tooth each. Elmer, who'd been digging for gold, decides to take Bugs' gold tooth instead after a frustrating series of tricks the rabbit had pulled on him, but it's revealed after their struggle that Elmer had taken out his own gold tooth and Bugs still had his.


 * The Cow Russelers, and later Pecos Bill (and his horse, Widow-maker), in the Disney animated feature Melody Time.
 * In Veggie Tales, Mr. Lunt, who is some kind of squash, has a gold tooth and invariably plays the bad guy.
 * In a Quick-Draw McGraw short, a Mexican peasant shows where his gold tooth used to be.
 * One of the villains in A Chipmunk Adventure has one, which is constantly accompanied by an Audible Gleam.
 * Peep on Jimmy Two-Shoes. He probably stole it.
 * Cookie actually gains a crystal tooth at the end of Disney's Atlantis the Lost Empire.
 * Heather on Total Drama Island gets one after LeShawna punches out one of her real teeth in an earlier episode of the World Tour season.
 * An episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog, had the titular canine forcibly rip out his (only once-seen) gold tooth so he could charitably offer it to a homeless gypsy chihuahua.
 * SpongeBob: When Squidwards threatened to call the cops on Mr. Krabs, who had been raiding his and other peoples' houses for food to feed his whale daughter who was undergoing a growth spurt, Mr. Krabs offers to give him his gold tooth to help pay for the damages. Lampshaded by both Squidward and Spongebob who weren't even aware Mr. Krabs had a gold tooth.

Real Life

 * In Animal Planet's "Weird, True, and Freaky", a man had his black short-haired persian cat undergo a procedure to reinforce its exposed front teeth with gold coating (which are turned backwards instead of inwards like ordinary cats) to protect them from external/environmental hazards.