This is a guest blog submitted by onawa. I was dressed as a colorful Hawaiian girl for a Halloween party when I noticed two guys standing out for all the wrong reasons:
Guy #1: I meet this guy in an interesting costume. His costume is creative...we talk. But when he smiles and speaks, I notice a mouthful of zig-zagging teeth! He's nice enough. Too touchy for my taste, but whatever. Parties involving alcohol tend to do that.
Guy #2: As I walk through the crowds of costumed folks, another guy approaches me and asks me for a lei (i.e. the flowery necklacey thing). I think what he means is a lay (you know what I mean...). So I say no to offering up the $1 lei, partially because I have to use this costume again but mostly because I can't stop looking at Guy #1 . . . In response to my brush-off, Guy #2 goes, "Oh, your boyfriend will mind, right?"
I was, like, "Yeah, my boyfriend will mind." All the while, I was thinking that if it wasn't for his crooked, Draculaesque smile, I would've already been engaged to him ;) So inevitably we awkwardly smile and add a couple of polite chuckles. We send our well-wishes and I'm off again into the crowd.
Bottom line, teeth make an impression.
When you're meeting someone for the first time, does the state of a male or female's teeth affect whether you'd give them the time of day romantically?
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Comments (67)
Could always fix it with braces.
Oh woe is me. I have braces! Must be a turn off for you too.
YES! nice teeth is one of my physical turn-ons. if they dont have nice teeth, that lets you know something about their dental, as well as physical, hygiene
Well, The straightness probably wouldnt bother me unless they could play a new quasimodo film.... if they are colored brown ...then id have to probably force myself to look at the person's eyes.
Yellow teeth arent so scary to me, it just means they might have stained teeth from coffee, tea or sodas.. Nothing whitening strips cant help haha
But I can definately say that if the person has a white smile, it does send out some good flags. =)
Unfortunately yes. >.< I think as long as they look somewhat straight [nothing too crooked] & somewhat white, I'm ok with it.
Luckily for me, my parents made me get braces or my teeth would look crooked! It took forever too~ FIVE years! But I'm happier now for it. :)
Yea I notice teeth right away too!
Definitely, teeth are one of the first things people notice. My current boyfriend noticed me from a few aisles away at Target because he said I had a "killer smile" I'd beg to differ but it apparently attracted him :)
teeth definitely make an impression! i'm always worried my teeth aren't white enough because i have natural (AKA bone colored) teeth.
Yeaah same goes for me. I think having nice teeth lets you know that this guy actually DOES brush their teeth- aka taking care of themselves.
I think it will affect how others see you too, not just as an attractive thing but as friends. It's hard to look at your friend's face when you see their teeth sticking out wherever it may go.....
Luckily, I am blessed with such straight teeth people think I used braces all my life to get it that way :] brushing teeth makes my mouth feel nice and clean too. mmm...
Oh yeah, most def, good clean teeth are very important when it comes to first impressions. Bad teeth and bad breath is like i dont know.....A RED FLAG!(well maybe not a red flag but something that you should take into consideration like do you really want to kiss this person?) Or maybe its just something i notice since i tend to bush like 3-4 times a day. I guess my bushing obsession invalidates my whole post huh XD?
i hate to say it..but yes..teeth do make an impression. well...crooked teeth, that he cant help, unless he gets braces. but CLEAN TEETH are essential, come on, we know guys spend yages doing their hair in the mirror. cleaning those pearly whites dont take long and they will be very much appreciated, see both sides win.
I'm on the other side of the fence. I great dental hygiene, but terrible teeth. I had braces in high school, and had some jaw widening done, but unfortunately now (about 7 years later) they have reverted almost all the way back to the way they were. Also, one of the tissues that connect your gums to your mouth was too short (a problem my mom and grandma had too). So they had to cut it, but not before it did damage to sum of my gums. So therefore I've had to have several expensive(!) procedures just to get that taken care of.
I tried to get braces again recently, and they let me know it would be extremely expensive. But since I'm going to be moving to a different college (and city) in less than a year, they said I should wait until I move. So for now I am stuck with an unattractive smile that makes me feel self-conscious.
Please don't judge us too quickly, we are trying to fix the situation but it takes time!!
haaahahaha funny story, one of my ex boyfriends has the crookedest teeth ever. i never kissed him.
teeth definately make an impression. i've learned my lesson since then ^^ and my current boyfriend has somewhat crooked teeth but its a cute kind of crooked and it's not too obvious. and i've been self conscious about my teeth too. i get teeth whitening gum, toothpaste, mouthwash, everything, all the time since i got my braces off.
Wow. Shallow much? It would have been one
thing if the guys teeth were yellow and in desperate need of a
toothbrush. But brushing a guy off because he didn't get braces when
he was a kid? That's cold.
Teeth are one of the first things I notice on guys when I meet them for the first time (females not so much since I am interested in dating men and not girls). I myself have gone through much pain and horribleness known as braces for 4 years to make my smile perfect (or as good as it'll get) and I brush my teeth many times a day, floss, use mouthwash with flouride, etc. I definitely think peoples teeth represent their general hygiene regime and dentistry and how important all that stuff is to them. Dentistry and good hygiene are very important, so when I first meet a guy, I'll probably only consider him as a perspective date/ possible future boyfriend only if he has good, straight teeth.
I have buck teeth, so I'm going to say it doesn't matter much to me. =B
OMG! i am so a "teeth" person. i ALWAYS look at a persons teeth & if they are not nice (to say the least) i don't care how good looking a guy is... HE WOULDN'T STAND A CHANCE. nice teeth show a lot about a person; how they take care of themselves number 1.
what a shame!
I think there's some charm in slightly crooked teeth. But they have to be clean. Otherwise that's a turnoff. My teeth are not perfectly straight, and I refuse to have them straightened because I already had braces once and I think perfectly straight teeth are boring.
@kruton87@xanga - I agree.
Great teeth are a plus, but there's things more important.
Teeth are soo important. They don't have to be perfect Hollywood smiles. But they have to have a charm to them.
I don't agree that teeth is super important but of course when they smile, your impression if they have nice teeth is that they take care of their mouth. But there may be some people that aren't blessed with straight teeth.
It wouldn't matter to me if they have straight or crooked teeth as my first impression if I havent talked to the person that would be my impression their smile, but if I have teeth really doesn't matter.
Sadly yes. Can't help but notice bad teeth. However if the girl have very strong qualities in other areas I can try to overlook it...
Just regular teeth, no need to be super white, but please no yellow.
And if some food or lettuce stuck in between the teeth,.....lol
Oh yes!! I had braces for several years because my teeth were very crooked. From my perspective having straight teeth made me feel more confident which, in turn, made me more appealing to others.
Having perfect teeth is not essential, but when crookedness is so bad it becomes a distraction, then it becomes an issue.
No missing teeth from the front please!