Dentists are warning that a new trend in shaving your teeth for the ‘perfect smile’ could leave you needing dentures in the near future.
Influencers share their journey of filing their teeth – a permanent and irreversible process – to get white, shiny new ones.
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On TikTok, men and women have posted videos of themselves in the process of getting ‘new teeth’.
One user, Ellise Noorah Hamadi, explained to followers in a now-deleted video how she went to Turkey to get “veneers”.
“I went to Turkey and shaved my teeth for veneers,” she wrote alongside a photo of her thin, shaved bottom teeth.
She later shared, and also appeared to delete, a video of what her teeth looked like before she shaved them – and they looked like normal white teeth.
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Dentists bombarded the video with responses and warnings, saying the TikToker didn’t actually get veneers, but rather crowns.
A dentist, Shaadi Manouchehri, said in a video posted last week: “These are not veneers, they are full coverage crowns.”
“Shaving your teeth down to the pegs will damage the nerve and you will need a root canal and extraction at some point in your life.”
The dentist went on to say that “the veneers or crowns should be replaced every 10 to 15 years, usually.”
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Referring to Hamadi, the dentists said: “She is now a wonderful young woman.”
“I think that’s it, around 18 or 19 at the most – and she’ll need to replace them probably four or five times in her lifetime, if not more.”
Manouheri said both economic and biological burdens would result from this.
“She’s a lovely lady and she just ruined her teeth,” concluded the dentist. “She’ll have dentures until she’s 40.”
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People choose to get veneers to “enhance their smile” that would allow them to close gaps in teeth, make discolored teeth brighter and whiter, or change their overall appearance.
But as Manouchehri pointed out, influencers and young adults are replacing their healthy teeth when it’s not necessary.
Veneers consist of a very thin layer of porcelain that is bonded to the front of the teeth and leaves more of them intact as only a small portion of the tooth is shaved off.
Crowns are more aggressive and invasive on the teeth as they required more of the tooth to be filed, looking like pegs.
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Another dentist, Zainab Mackie, shared a similar TikTok videosaying there is a “big difference” in crowns and veneers.
He explained that crowns are used for cavities that need to be removed or if teeth are already broken.
Because the crowns had to be replaced in just 10 years, Mackie said people should avoid filing their teeth on pegs.
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A search of dental videos on TikTok shows that many people have flown or are considering traveling to other countries to get crowns on their teeth.
According to Consumer’s Guide to Dentistrystandard veneers can cost $925 to $2,500 per tooth and last an average of 10 to 15 years.
Crowns can range from $1,000 to $3,500 and last 10 to 15 years or more.
