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4[[quoteright:345:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/british_teeth.jpg]]]]
5
6->''"English Teeth! HEROES' Teeth!\
7Hear them click! and clack!\
8Let's sing a song of praise to them --\
9Three Cheers for the Brown, Grey and Black."''
10-->-- '''Creator/SpikeMilligan''', "Teeth"
11
12Brits in (usually American) media are commonly [[NationalStereotypes stereotyped]] as being completely indifferent to the physical appearance of their teeth. Expect much joshing by the pens of non-Brits at this, portraying British teeth as being a horrific monstrosity.
13
14The reasoning behind this trope has its [[AccidentalPun roots]] largely in [[ValuesDissonance cultural differences]]. In the United States, having bad teeth is associated with extreme poverty, slovenliness, and/or [[DrugsAreBad drug addiction]]. Braces are [[PubescentBraces a rite of passage for American teenagers]] whose parents can afford them. Thus there is an enormous cultural stigma to not having perfect teeth. In Britain on the other hand, for various reasons, there is no such class stigma. Indeed the reverse seems to be true: having one's teeth artificially straightened and/or whitened is considered the height of vanity, and cosmetically perfect teeth are often considered [[UncannyValley unsettling]]. The American emphasis on flawless teeth is viewed as an expensive indulgence in the UK, the sort of thing that only "Essex girls" (Americans, think ''Series/JerseyShore'') get done.
15
16The reason for Britain's more lax standards on dental beauty are mostly related to the National Health Service (NHS). Basic dentistry is only partly covered by the NHS and the cosmetic side isn't covered at all; the NHS is only concerned with making sure your teeth are healthy, not pretty. British people tend to resent having to pay ''anything'' for medical care, leaving dentistry a lower priority than in other countries. But as far as actual dental health goes, [[http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933596&story_id=15060097 a 2009 study by the OECD]] found that the UK, ironically, has the healthiest teeth in the industrialized world, ahead of the United States even, something backed up by a [[http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/17/british-teeth-us-dentistry-oral-health 2015 study for the British Medical Journal.]]
17
18For obvious reasons, this is almost exclusively an American and British trope, as not everyone outside the English-speaking world has the same views regarding British dental health if they even care about the topic. Also note that this is a ''national'' trope, not an ethnic one; a plurality of Americans are of British descent.
19
20For actors having a gleaming smile no matter what kind of character they are playing, see EternallyPearlyWhiteTeeth, and see TwinkleSmile for a visual effect used to emphasize this.
21
22Compare with AsianBuckTeeth.
23----
24!!Examples:
25
26[[foldercontrol]]
27
28[[folder:Advertising]]
29* An ad for [[Creator/TheBBC BBC America]] has an animated queen claiming that various British stereotypes aren't true (including the teeth one), but then having them happen in the background once she turns her head. "They say One's dentistry is diabolical, it looks fine to me."
30* An ad for Dog treats uses this trope. [[https://streamable.com/c4y66 "Don't let American dogs suffer from British teeth."]]
31[[/folder]]
32
33[[folder:Comic Books]]
34* The cover blurb for ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'''s second volume claims that this trope couldn't ''possibly'' be true because how else could Creator/WarrenEllis have ripped out eight people's throats and bit out their hearts?
35-->"Hearts are hard. Dense and chewy. You couldn't do it."
36* The British adult comic ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'' mercilessly turned the trope on its head in a one-off strip called Crystal's Big Chance. This was about an American girl who wanted to become a cheerleader but was regarded as hideously ugly because one of her front teeth was just slightly out of line. She eventually got her happy ending and was hailed as beautiful at the end despite the enormous braces she now wore.
37[[/folder]]
38
39[[folder:Fan Works]]
40* In the ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9271444/1/Dark-Horse-of-the-Moons Dark Horse of the Moons,]]'' Roz Doyle is being courted by a brother of Daphne Moon who is posted on a Royal Navy ship visiting Seattle. When her daughter develops tooth pain on a visit to the ship, Tim Moon swings it to get her seen by the ship's medical unit, where a dentist performs a minor operation on her. Later on, Niles Crane is utterly aghast at this.
41-->'''Niles:''' You mean to say you took your precious little girl to a ''British dentist''? In many states that legally counts as parental neglect and child abuse!
42[[/folder]]
43
44[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
45* Played with in ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse2007'', when Jude, a Brit, notes of the American Lucy, "My god -- you have perfect teeth!" He tells her that people back home have horrible teeth, and feigns not knowing what braces are.
46* The ''Film/AustinPowers'' films pull a few jokes of this nature on the eponymous spy, who has atrocious teeth. The joke is not just that Austin is British, but that, coming from the 1960s, beauty standards were different from what they are when the film was made. In the 1990s, it becomes clear that Austin's personality is what has always made him attractive, not his looks. In the end, he gets his teeth fixed to conform to modern standards, though the sequels give him back his old teeth.
47* Lampshaded and inverted in ''Film/AGoodYear'' when Max observes that Christie must be American because of her perfect teeth.
48* ''Film/TheLadykillers1955'': Professor Marcus has very... ''unusual'' teeth (that thankfully weren't the actor's real ones).
49* Joked about in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' DVD commentary (the one with Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, a.k.a. "Merry and Pippin"). When commenting on the scene of Smeagol turning into Gollum, including a close-up of him devouring a fish with his mangled teeth, Dominic and Billy (who are English and Scottish, respectively) joke that the English Creator/AndySerkis used his real teeth and nails for that scene, then claiming that Scotsmen have perfect teeth used for eating haggis and biting the ends of kilts.
50* The two English pirates from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' qualify. Apparently, everyone else who spent months at a time on a ship in the Caribbean had access [[EternallyPearlyWhiteTeeth to a really good dentist]]. Of course, most of the characters in the films are English so maybe it was just a part of those two pirates' character.
51* Despite being set in the [=UK=], ''Film/{{Pumpkins}}'' only has one example of this in the uncle, who's teeth are yellow, and half of which seem to have fallen out of his mouth.
52* ''Film/RichieRich'': Richie's English butler, Cadbury, has really sensitive teeth.
53* ''Film/ShanghaiKnights'': Creator/OwenWilson's character flirts with a pretty young English damsel, only for her to smile and send him running from her moldy choppers.
54* ''Film/TheyShallNotGrowOld'' features a lot of archive footage of British soldiers smiling at the camera during UsefulNotes/WorldWar1, providing a very clear view of the poor state of dental hygiene in the 1910s. One veteran notes that the only use soldiers found for their toothbrush was cleaning their buttons.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Literature]]
58* In an ''Literature/AdrianMole'' book, Adrian's Australian dentist comments on how bad British people's teeth are.
59* When Nettie visits Britain in ''Literature/TheColorPurple'', she notes that English people tend to have crooked and decaying teeth.
60* Seems to come up in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''. Despite rotting in prison for over a decade, Dantes/The Count has perfect, white teeth, but in his persona as English aristocrat Lord Wilmore, he wears a fake jaw/teeth which are the opposite of this.
61* ''Literature/TheGoldfinch'': Theo notes that Boris, who has lived all around the world, has grey, crooked and "un-American" teeth. By contrast, he notes that a man who looks like the quintessential Texan has flawlessly white and straight teeth.
62* Downplayed in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', where Hermione has buck teeth but otherwise unremarkable dentition since her parents are dentists. They're not too happy that she gets her front teeth shrunken down by magic (after an incident where they're cursed to grow out), but there's not much they can do about it.
63* James Clavell {{Lampshades}} the disgusting state of British teeth in the nineteenth century in his novel of Hong Kong, ''Literature/TaiPan''. The fact that Dirk takes care of his teeth -- something he learnt from the Chinese -- is seen as an aberration, and a sign that he has "[[GoingNative gone native]]" to a disturbing extent. Meanwhile, one of his minor rivals actually ''dies'' of bad teeth; an untreated abscess he is "toughing out" and disregarding turns into blood poisoning. Everyone else is waiting eagerly for the day when the last few stumps can be pulled out and they'll get dentures.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67* Mentioned in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD,'' when the IAmVeryBritish Leo Fitz mentions watching lots of American TV partially because of their nice teeth.
68* On ''Series/ThirtyRock'', trying to lighten the tension on an awkward date, Liz jokes about this to a British man she met in the orthodontist's office. He's never heard the stereotype before and is offended. It's Liz Lemon, what do you expect?
69* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'': Slightly different take as George Sr. describes the British as having bad breath. Played straight as referenced by a pub called "The Crooked Fang".
70* John Oliver's character is the butt of these jokes in ''Series/{{Community}}''.
71-->'''Professor Chang:''' Oh, shut your pompous vortex of overlapping fangs!\
72'''Duncan:''' Hey, British dentistry is not on trial here!
73* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'' season three has [[BigBad V. M. Varga]], who owes his dental hygiene to bulimia.
74* ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. In "Rdwrer", Daphne is upset at businesses sending Christmas cards ''after'' Christmas:
75-->'''Daphne:''' Bloody hell! Five days after Christmas is over and I'm still getting these cards! They do it on purpose, you know. It's always from someone you forgot, and then it's too late to send one back, then they sneer at you for the rest of the year! ''(reads card)'' "Peace and Goodwill," my ass! You just lost yourself a customer, Dr. Naran S. Gupta, D.D.S.!\
76'''Martin:''' ''(sarcastic)'' Losing a set of English teeth, he'll feel that!
77* Creator/StephenFry and [[Series/TheLateLateShow Craig Ferguson]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaQxudvOpII discussed this,]] with Stephen doubting Craig was even British because his teeth looked so good and Craig commenting that they were mostly his but that things had been done to them when he passed through immigration.
78* ''Series/HorribleHistories'': Used as a contrast between American and British soldiers in a WWII sketch. Also implied by a few Horrible toothpaste recipes, including one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UueAyDBCnig whose main ingredient is sugar-paste.]]
79* ''Series/LifesTooShort'': One of Creator/JohnnyDepp's anti-Gervais jokes uses this as its punchline.
80-->'''Depp''': What's nastier than Creator/RickyGervais's jokes? ''His teeth''.
81* Bradley James (Arthur in ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'') has crooked teeth. Note that this does not stop his status as a MrFanservice.
82* Chop in ''Series/MyMadFatDiary''. The rest of the gang has normal teeth.
83* On the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode ''Film/SantaClaus1959'':
84-->'''Narrator:''' Boys and girls from England...
85-->'''Crow:''' Have rotten teeth!
86* The title character in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' correctly identifies someone as American on the basis of his tan and his teeth (they are indeed flawless and spectacularly white).
87* An old ''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]]'' episode had a "commercial" with Creator/MikeMyers playing the pitchman for "Hedley & Wyche, the British toothpaste." Each tube contains two teaspoons of pure cane sugar, for a smile that says, "Yum! That was good."
88-->'''Chris Farley''': And it tastes great on a cracker!
89* Peter Capaldi (who was also speaking with Craig Ferguson) once referred to ''Series/TheThickOfIt'' as "''Series/TheWestWing'' with bad teeth and swearing."
90* British attitudes on both ends are seen in ''Series/TopGear''. The hosts mock both Jeremy Clarkson for his yellowing teeth and Richard Hammond for supposedly getting his teeth whitened.
91** And the jokes continued in ''Series/TheGrandTour'' when, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85GSILNh6U4 in one promo,]] Clarkson points out his and May's teeth immediately mark them as British. After getting "Americanized", their new super white teeth are ''terrifying''. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, Hammond and his pearly whites escape completely untouched.]]
92* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' lampshades this stereotype with Captain Jack Harkness saying, "You want scary? Compare teeth with a British guy." The Brits return the favour by mocking Jack for his perfect, and presumably American, set of teeth.
93** Indeed, Creator/EveMyles (Gwen) has a notable gap between her two top front teeth, which some American fans made hostile comments about.
94* Comes up every so often in ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway''. Both versions, thanks to the recurring American cast members in both. One example from Scenes From a Hat:
95-->'''Drew Carey:''' "[[WorldsShortestBook The shortest book ever written.]]"
96-->'''Chip Esten:''' ''British Dentistry''.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Music]]
100* The British Music/DanBull made a song aptly titled [[https://youtu.be/g6BzPBTxExA "British Teeth."]] He acknowledges (if not slightly exaggerates) the fact that his teeth isn't aesthetically pleasing, and that he doesn't really mind it at all.
101[[/folder]]
102
103[[folder:Print Media]]
104* in ''Magazine/{{MAD}} Magazine''[='s=] parody of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Harry and Cho's romantic arc is summed up in one panel:
105-->'''Cho:''' You're British, I'm British. Just the fact that you've got all your teeth is a turn-on.
106* There was a small-scale outcry in the British press after US magazine ''New Republic'' released a front cover with a picture of Kate Middleton's teeth Photoshopped to look yellow and rotting, as a reference to the stereotype (the issue contained several articles about the political and economic future of Britain.) In real life, Kate's dentist claimed that her orthodontist performed "micro-rotations" on her teeth so they would be slightly out of line, as it was felt this looked more natural than a perfectly straight and gleaming smile.
107[[/folder]]
108
109[[folder:Theater]]
110* The Creator/ReducedShakespeareCompany's ''Millennium Musical'' mentions this in the LongList of European stereotypes "Everyone Hates The French".
111[[/folder]]
112
113[[folder:Video Games]]
114* Balthazar, an overweight Pirate Captain boss from ''VideoGame/JitsuSquad'', have seriously gawd-awful teeth on him. It's not visible during gameplay, but pretty obvious during a cutscene that has a GrossUpCloseUp. To be fair, pirates aren't known to have healthy teeth because of scurvy.
115* ''VideoGame/MediEvil'': Sir Daniel Fortesque's most noteworthy feature both in life and in undeath is his oversized, awkwardly spaced upper set of teeth. Hilariously, ''Resurrection'' reveals his face from when he was alive and he had an overbite so absurdly exaggerated he may as well not had a jaw at all.
116* Sir Raleigh the Frog of ''Videogame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'' is a Welsh frog who boasts some horrific dental hygiene in his intro cutscene.
117* The Chucky the Chipmunk commercial for British Choco Corn Puffies that come on during the credits for ''VideoGame/YouDontKnowJack Volume 1'' will be loved by mothers because it contains one important ingredient...''floride!''
118-->'''British kid:''' So me teeth don't fall out!
119-->'''Chucky:''' That's right, snaggle-tooth.
120[[/folder]]
121
122[[folder:Web Animation]]
123* ''WebAnimation/SaladFingers'': The titular character. The appearance of his teeth actually varies from frame to frame -- sharp, tiny, huge, missing, etc. -- but they are always ugly, yellow and somewhat crooked. Of course, Salad Fingers' nationality isn't known for sure to be British, but he is from a British flash series and has a British accent.
124[[/folder]]
125
126[[folder:Web Original]]
127* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by "Lord Mingeworthy" from the WebVideo/BrandonRogers ''[[https://youtu.be/pqVjPy8KxfY Normal British People]]'' sketch, as he wears fake British Teeth in the hopes of looking more like a stereotypical British.
128* Website/{{Cracked}} did a list of severely incorrect stereotypes, with [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18409_the-5-most-statistically-full-shit-national-stereotypes.html #3]] being this trope. Which linked to us. Hi, Cracked!
129* ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'':
130** Music/FrankSinatra started out his battle against Music/FreddieMercury with a joke about the latter's huge teeth. He also addresses Mercury as "Jaws of Life" in the second verse.
131--->'''Frank Sinatra:''' Woah! What's wrong with your face, baby? Yikes!\
132With ''those'' teeth when you're through, there'll be no dust left to bite!
133** Similarly, Franchise/JamesBond opens his battle against Film/AustinPowers with this blistering insult:
134--->'''James Bond:''' I've beefed with Le Chiffre and No and Blofeld with a cheek scar\
135But they were not as rotten or as crooked as your teeth are!
136* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCgx8zM3woQ "The Stereotypes Song"]] mentions "the crooked-ass teeth of an English dude" as an example.
137* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': [[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/content-menu/stories/333-the-second-book-of-jobe-part-1 The Second Book of Jove (Part 1)]]:
138-->Belphegor. The boy (you certainly can't call him a man) is a classic product of the British dental system. Not only does he have rodent-worthy buck teeth, but the rest of his teeth are also either irregular or repaired with obvious silver fillings.
139%% * WebVideo/EmmaBlackery
140[[/folder]]
141
142[[folder:Western Animation]]
143* Part of Creator/AardmanAnimations SignatureStyle and one of the rare British examples.
144* Finn from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has rather wonky teeth (according to WordOfGod, it's because "[[IdiotHero he bites trees and rocks and stuff]]"). This got lampshaded in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Mad}}'' parody, "[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avenger Time]]", when Captain America gets redesigned to look like Finn:
145-->'''Iron Man:''' Check out your teeth. What are we, in England?
146* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In the episode "The Deal", Gumball says that Richard's attempt to rap about his day (where the only thing he did of note was finding a fry under the sofa) was the rap equivalent of British dental work.
147* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': While there's obviously no Britain in Runterra and it's {{downplayed|Trope}} since Caitlyn only has a very tiny gap in her front teeth, it's noticeable that the British-accented daughter of such a wealthy family has an imperfection with her teeth while someone like Vi who grew up in the slums has perfect teeth.
148* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' has Jervis Tetch, or the Mad Hatter. His teeth are especially noticeable in ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries The Animated Series]]'', and he sports [[Creator/RoddyMcDowall a rather nice Brit accent]] to boot.
149* This happens to nearly the whole cast in [[Recap/TheFairlyOddParentsS2E20Twistory an episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' when Timmy accidentally prevents the Revolutionary War from happening and causes the USA to remain an English colony.
150* Just about every British character who appears on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', to the point of a RunningGag. The Griffins' British counterparts have these in a "Viewer Mail" segment.
151* British Kyle of ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'' has large buck teeth as well as braces. Though it's not as if the non-British titular duo has perfect teeth...
152* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E23AllThePresidentsHeads All the Presidents' Heads]]":
153-->'''Bender''': Say, how is it that we've got socialized medicine [shows missing teeth] but me teeth still loo' like this?
154* EvilBrit Ned from ''WesternAnimation/GetAce'' has teeth so crooked and jagged that they're [[MorphicResonance still visible]] even when he's in his [[MasterOfDisguise otherwise-flawless disguises]]. They're the ''second'' reason why he wants to get his braces back from Ace.
155* In ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', Clayface is depicted as an EvilBrit whose ShapeshifterDefaultForm has a gob full of crooked yellow teeth.
156* The ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'' short "[[Recap/MickeyMouseS3E2OneManBand One Man Band]]" takes place in England and many of the background characters have imperfect teeth.
157* In ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'', Auntie Whispers (played by the very British Creator/TimCurry) has teeth are sparse, crooked, and tar-black.
158* At the end of Ferb's grandfather (who is British)'s flashback scene in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "The Flying Fishmonger", a woman claims that she has to go home and not brush her teeth.
159* WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack's ally the Scotsman has a ''really'' bad tooth decay problem, visible whenever he smiles. (Which he tends to do ''a lot'' more often [[PerpetualFrowner than Jack]]). His wife as well has teeth just as bad as his, but somehow this didn't pass down to their AmazonBrigade of daughters.
160* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2021}}'' episode "Let 'Em Eat Corn", Captain Shanks gets his hands on some nukes from two British guys in exchange for paying to have their dreadful teeth fixed.
161* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E17LastExitToSpringfield Last Exit to Springfield]]", a dentist [[ScareEmStraight terrifies]] Ralph Wiggum into healthy dental habits by showing him a book titled "The Big Book of of [''sic''] British Smiles".
162* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
163** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS10E7Tsst Tsst!]]", the British nannies summoned to curb Cartman's behavior all have this.
164** "[[Recap/SouthParkS11E4TheSnuke The Snuke]]" shows America getting invaded by Britain, and the British army ([[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution decked out in Redcoats of course]]) have noticeably terrible teeth.
165* Alluded to in the ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' season three episode "I See London..." which takes place in the Tower of London. Courtney finds a golden toothpick and an emerald-studded toothbrush in the banquet hall and scoffs, "What is wrong with these royals and their dentistry?"
166[[/folder]]
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