Toothy Issue

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Or the use of teeth in fiction.

Most of the time, you get Hollywood Teeth- everybody has lovely straight pearly whites, even where this is unlikely (more on the lack of orthodontics front than access to sweets).

This is occasionally subverted for realism's sake: in the Broadway version of Les Misérables, the characters have horrible teeth, which makes sense since most of them are, well, poor.

However, teeth can have other connotations.

  • Missing teeth can be seen on roguish or villainous sort of characters, like Fagin.
    • Or, conversely, on cute little kids who are losing their baby teeth.
    • Or as a comedic effect.
  • Vampireth have fangth.
  • Someone's teeth may shatter in a cartoon situation.
  • British Teeth - Yellowing, busted piano keys may best describe the teeth of the British if this trope is to be believed.
  • Yellow Peril: Villainous Asians have crooked teeth.
  • Cute Little Fangs may express a character's hyperactivity.

Toothy Tropes and Idioms:

This is a Super-Trope to all other tooth-related tropes; please put all examples on the relevant subtropes' pages.