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!

The Top 10 Celebrity Smiles-#8

#8- Hillary Duff

              This is the first dentist assisted smile on the list. In fact, multiple assisted smiles were done on her. The first dentist who designed her veneers got lost in the teeth. When you are attempting to improve someone’s natural smile the teeth are the last thing you need to be concerned with, rather you need to focus on the face and the framing of the teeth. How the teeth fit the face and fit into the lips. Maybe this dentist got caught up in the patients demands and trying to fit her teeth into a particular category or style what used to be known as a “Hollywood” set up.

              As a child star her youthful imperfect teeth fit her persona and roles she was known for.

But as she got older and wanted roles that would shed her kid star image, my guess is she wanted more mature and typical of Hollywood at that time teeth.

The Top 10 Female Celebrity Smiles- #9

#9-Anne Hathaway

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides giving the most annoying acceptance speeches Anne Hathaway also has a princess style smile. There is an esthetic proportion that cosmetic dentists use  when developing a smile makeover based on the tooth proportion. The proportion is the ratio of the width to length of the central incisor. Most agree the most esthetic  proportion is between 76 and 80 percent, meaning a typical incisor that that is 8 mm wide should be at least 10- 11mm long.  The proper length give Anne her youthful appearance and radiant smile.

 

 

The Top 10 Female Celebrity Smiles- #10

We always see these types of lists. People magazine’s most beautiful people, Forbes magazine top 100 most influential people. Humans have a fascination with ranking, categorizing and making lists for nearly every subject. So here I go.

Beauty is subjective, no doubt. And no different are beautiful smiles and teeth. It would be easy to compile of list of beautiful men and women with perfect text book smiles but that is not what my list is about. Rather, using my knowledge of dental esthetics and cosmetic principles, my approach will be different. You’ll see. I first will start with females, frankly because there are a lot more pictures of female celebrities whose teeth can be see clearly than men...So #10 is...

Lana Parrilla: I just got done saying that this list would not be just a collection of perfect teeth. But you need to start with natures ideal. 

Even though she plays the evil queen on ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” her teeth are usually reserved for the princess. The interesting thing about her teeth is that they go against the notion still taught by many dental experts that female teeth should be more tapered and less square than male teeth. Meaning the corners are rounded rather than at 90 degree angles (think Julia Roberts)

Her teeth have all the characteristics that patient usually describe to me in what they would like: 

Straight and White!

Even more importantly the proportions are excellent; the centrals should be dominant as they are. Her enamel is white but not fake white and natural teeth can be white but they must maintain some translucency and opalescence that is sometimes difficult to achieve with dental materials, especially when the patient’s teeth may be starting off fairly dark or discolored.

Sometimes forgotten when dentist and patients are staring at their teeth in a close up mirror, or dissecting each tooth, is the big picture. How the teeth look in the face we usually say. Here important aspects that are universally considered beautiful attributes are:

 Symmetry- It is very important for the central two teeth to be mirror images of one another. And also nice when other teeth are symmetrical with their right or left counterpart.

The cant- the horizontal plane of the teeth needs to be level with horizontal or in most people an imaginary line between the pupils. If off it is very noticeable and we then say the teeth is canted.

The Reveal- Most people agree that showing the full length (and even a little gum) at full smile is ideal.

The Smile Line- the bottom edges of the upper teeth should follow the curvature of the lower lip.

The Buccal Corridor- A fancy name for the back teeth being seen in the smile. If the teeth behind the canines are not visible it creates a shadow and the appearance of a narrow smile, rather than a broad wide smile that is desired in models and celebrities.

The Midline- The vertical line between the two central teeth should be right down the middle usually indicated by the center of the cupids bow portion of the upper lip.

Congratulations Lana, you made my list despite your perfect textbook teeth and smile!