The Top 10 Celebrity Smiles #1

#1- Jessica Alba

This may be a cliché choice, but Jessica Alba is no stranger to top celebrity smile lists. Jessica is almost universally considered one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood. Which begs the question how much of beauty is universal and how much is purely subjective. The same can be said about teeth and smiles in general. Every dentist has his or her take on how teeth should look within certain guidelines that dentistry has established based on what nature has determined.

                How does nature determine beauty? Nature through evolution determines beauty based on function, health and sex. For females there are physical attributes that signal to all members of that species whether or not that animal or person has the genetic make up for survival and reproduction. The mouth and teeth and smile are just one part of the total equation, but an important one. When you see white teeth, pink gums and no missing or abnormally shaped teeth or jaws it is interpreted as youthful, healthy and physically fit or what we interpret as beauty. That is the science of beauty.

   But beauty and dentistry is as much about science as it is about art. I have studied dental aesthetics for years from every scientific and mathematical direction and though there are aesthetic principles that guide us in “designing” smiles in the end the art takes over. To paraphrase a famous saying “I may not be able to define a beautiful smile, but I know one when I see one”.

The Top 10 Celebrity Smiles #2

#2- Jennifer Lopez

Her teeth break every rule for gum heights and position needed for the American Academy Accreditation case submission for smile design. The rule general speaking is that the height of the gum above the central incisor should be equal to the canines and the laterals should be about ½ mm shorter. Who cares? Obviously some rules are meant to be broken.

The Top 10 Celebrity Smiles #3

#3 Whitney Houston

 

            Before her battle with drug abuse Whitney exuded health and beauty, with her smile and teeth at the center. Her teeth are white, but naturally white that everyone would love to have. Like her singing talent sometimes you are just born with the right stuff and we as cosmetic dentists can only hope to approach enamel like this.

The Top 10 Celebrity Smiles #4

#4  Julia Roberts

           

 

 

            The quintessential Hollywood smile, is far from perfect but the wide smile and ovate shaped teeth allow her personality to shine. So the teeth are important but a real smile that looks naturally happy makes it work.    

   

The Top 10 Celebrity Smiles- #5

#5- Farrah Fawcett (Majors)

This image started a poster craze of scantily clad young ladies that adorned the bedroom walls of every teenage boy’s room beginning in the late 70’s. When your eyes weren’t engaged elsewhere you begin to notice the smile that Farrah was famous for (ok, her hairdo was pretty famous as well).

Obviously her teeth are well aligned and white, but what she started was the “buccal corridor” era. What that means is when she smiles her back teeth are visible. When people have back teeth that are less visible or a upper arch (jaw) that is constricted this creates a shadow effect in that area and is not considered as esthetic as a “full broad smile”.

The Top 10 Celebrity Smiles- #6

#6 Anna Torv 

 

The star of the X Files rip off Fringe, Anna Torv has a beautiful smile, now that is. Prior to her smile makeover she had a gap between her front teeth, called a diastema in dental lingo. Now, many beautiful people have or had diastemas, my mother being one of them and for some it adds character and looks fine. But for others it can be distracting. This is Anna before:

 

The dentist who did her makeover did a great job of redistributing the space among the other teeth by veneers 8 front teeth. If he had just closed the space by adding to the central teeth only they would have ended up being too wide.

 

 



The Top 10 Celebrity Smiles- #7

Amanda Bynes 

Before she replaced Lindsay Lohan as president of the Nut of the Year Club, Amanda Bynes was a child star with a bright future. Her smile demonstrates an important concept in esthetic dentistry that being Central Dominance. Within reason I like to see the central incisors set the tone for the smile and be the prominent teeth in the arch. If the centrals are somewhat symmetric and to proper length the foundation for an attractive look has been established.

 
The other thing I like about this smile is that the teeth aren’t perfectly aligned, but have a lot of character.  I hope she gets her act together and we can see her smiling again someday!