Those who have had the unfortunate experience of dreaming that all of their teeth have fallen out will know people usually try to assign it with some deeper meaning. Perhaps you’re feeling insecure, or you’ve just experienced a significant loss, like the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship. Beyond dreaming, throughout history, there seems to have always been this lingering and innate feeling that our teeth have some spiritual significance. Just think of the folklore around the tooth fairy or the parents in Medieval Europe who carefully buried their children’s lost teeth to safeguard them from “evil spirits”.
These tall teeth tales haven’t disappeared in the social media age. Over the past year, UK-based dentist Dr Onkar Mudhar has seen a surge in conversations surrounding “teeth karma”. From “energy alchemists” who post with their eyes closed telling you that having misaligned teeth means you have ancestral karma and TikTok psychics claiming that your teeth hold memories from your past life to beauty creators saying that every person with a gap tooth has a similar “spiritual call”, something (supposedly) karmic and (definitely) pseudoscientific is happening as dental and spiritual content collides online.
Dr Mudhar says the conversation around the karmic meaning of tooth issues and dental anatomy follows a series of strange and potentially dangerous dental trends across social media. “It’s strange because, as each year rolls to an end, I think to myself, I doubt there can be anything as outlandish as the year before,” he says. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen many young patients travelling abroad, shaving their healthy teeth down to stumps for dental crowns.”
It should (hopefully) go without saying that the position of teeth is not governed by ancestral karma, but instead based on the amount of space you have in your jaws and genetics, according to Dr Mudhar. Assigning energetic implications to teeth can then lead people down a path to explore ways to “clear their karma” or seek unnecessary and expensive dental treatments. But increasing anxiety seems to be exactly the point of the bizarre content category. “TikTok’s algorithm often favours the most outlandish videos, and teeth-centred content tends to do well on social media, so people know it’s a niche they can generate views from,” Dr Mudhar says.
Entering into the world of tooth-related spirituality online will undoubtedly lead you to multiple conspiracy theories about wisdom teeth removal. Some spiritual creators believe that the dental industry keeps people’s wisdom teeth to clone themand others say that wisdom teeth connect you to your spiritual self. “Wisdom, the last two words of wisdom is ’om’ and ’om’ is a universal sound that connects you to your higher self,” one holistic guide posted on TikTok.
These videos exist online between posts about fasting, parasites, manifestation, and talk about “the universe”, which aligns with the well-documented connection between wellness circles online and the far-right. Dr Mudhar says he’s already witnessing this overlap in person. “I’ve been asked by a few people if the removal of wisdom teeth affects the brain, and there are no evidence-based links to any of these claims,” he says. “There’s also a myth that wisdom teeth pushing through the gums move the front teeth but, again, this has been disproven countless times.”
Tiktok’s algorithm often favours the most outlandish videos, and teeth-centred content tends to do well on social media, so people know it’s a niche they can generate views from
Today’s spiritual take on dental health also follows a long history of using dental aesthetics to determine character traits or social status. In the 2017 book Teeth, The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America, Mary Otto explored how teeth became a “dividing line between the classes”. She says what’s known as the American Smile started in Hollywood during the Great Depression, thanks to a dentist named Charles Pincus, whose Hollywood veneers created the illusion that movie stars had perfectly aligned white teeth. “Over time, attaining the ‘perfect smile’ became part of the same quest for self-improvement that brought the nation other types of cosmetic surgery,” she says. “People are held personally responsible for the state of their teeth in ways that they are not for other health conditions.” Factor in that 68.5 million American adults lack dental benefits or access to routine oral health care and the suggestion of a spiritual association between “misaligned” teeth and ancestry feels particularly classist and cruel.
As the pressure to live in spiritual “alignment” at all times intensifies within wellness culture, so-called spiritual teachers perpetuate the idea that you have “four separate lineages” in your mouth. “Examine where your teeth are the healthiest, most even, whitest, least crooked, and most aligned,” says the intuitive healer Mariya. “These are going to be the healthiest lineages.” Meanwhile, every famous person, from K-pop idols to Hollywood A-listers, seems to be getting uncanny dental veneers. The pressure may be coming from all angles, but despite what manifestation coaches may lead you to believe, you can’t will your teeth into a straight existencenor should you have to. Dr Mudhar says that having straight teeth may make it easier to floss, but the line between cosmetic needs and health is continuously blurred. “The most necessary thing to do for the health of your teeth is to maintain a strict oral hygiene routine at home,” he says. This can be a simple (but regular) brush and floss – not asking your great, great grandfather why your bottom teeth are crooked via the spirit realm.
