#teeth hcs

As the winner of our first pole, we will be starting with everyone's not so, maybe sometimes favorite baby man...

Graves!

Yep. Graves was the braces kid. He just was.

At 13 his American ass was told by the dentist to go to the orthodontist. His mother dragged him there despite his protests and he was put in big metal brackets. (He had some normal crowding and a healthy underbite) Graves was awful at wearing his rubber bands, just awful and had braces for 3 years. Almost all his teen pictures have that metal smile on display.

Graves also was the type to not know what color brackets look good and constantly switched them around so half his photos not only have a metal smile but also have a candy-colored metal smile - Blue, green, yellow, and red all clashing on his teeth. (You know he did red white and blue at least twice)

His wisdom teeth were removed at 18 because his mouth is too small for them. His mother made a video of him on the anesthetic drugs as he says all sorts of things. He definitely cried a few times. Graves swears the video has never seen the light of day - he’s wrong and his shadows can prove it. Mercenaries can always find a way.

After getting his braces off, Graves never truly wore his retainer. He lost it within the first year he was prescribed it and never let his family replace it.

Today, It shows in his teeth. Their crookedness and original setup has all but fully returned. Graves has genetically yellow teeth (fig 1) and they're going to be that color even though he brushes them 13/14 times he’s supposed to. (this success is mainly because his shadows will comment if his breath stinks.) lastly, Graves does not floss and refuses to with the conviction of a man with toxic masculinity. 

NOT LASTLY I just rewatched some graves scenes on confirm his underbite and not only is it *really there* its there because he is shoving his jaw up and out like he’s chewing tobacco (fig 2 & 3). Which made me realize… this bitch probably chews tobacco! So put dozens of cavities, worn away enamel, and early tooth loss on your Graves bingo cards!  Figures under the cut

guys! guys! ITS GHOST! I had fun with this one as I had complete and utter creative control. Shout out to the ao3 fic 'the Many Masks of Simon Riley' for the missing canine inspo! (its a great fic about Ghost with DID you should all check it out)

Now without further ado,

Ghost

All things considered, Ghost's teeth could be a lot worse off… (not really.)

Simon’s teeth grew in with a lot of crowding, and he was never really taught to brush his teeth by his family, (his mother tried but life was hectic, you all know) on top of this, he has a genetic propensity for cavities. He had figured out that it was important to brush his teeth regularly by the time he lost all his baby teeth though, so at least it wasn’t his adult teeth that were destroyed. At least, at first…

You can’t really brush your teeth when held by a cartel… any underlying cavities were left unchecked for 7 months and they ran rampant—a few new ones found a way into his mouth too. 

Really, getting a few teeth knocked out and split in half by Roba was probably better for him… I guess. (He and his dentist can look on the bright side.) On top of knocking out cavities, losing a handful of chompers gave his teeth space to breathe. This not only fixed most of the crowding Simon had had going on since he was young but also let his wisdom teeth erupt from where they had been previously stopped, letting him get out of any required surgery.

Ghost now has 3 implants in his lower jaw and two on the top, (and quite a few crowns.) He would have about 2 more due to the loss of his back molars, but his wisdom teeth were quick to take their place so his dentist just lets them have their space and doesn’t wedge any more implants into his mouth. Most of his replacements are gold but the ones near the front (second incisor) are a version of implant that is just a bit too white against his cigarette-stained teeth. Ghost doesn’t mind.

The only tooth that bothers him is his right bottom canine. He also lost that one, only in a far more violent way, and there really was no hope of an implant. His dentist gave him a fake to put in place for aesthetics but he’s supposed to take it out to eat and he just can’t bother to use it. Especially not with his mask being in place all the time. If he knows he’s going to a bar or something where he doesn’t need to eat but will have his mask up, then maybe he’ll put it in, but he also might take it out to rest a cigarette in the little hole there. Who knows.

Ghost does brush his teeth now, anything to keep from having to spend *more* time at the dentist. He doesn’t really want to but figures it’s important enough to do. He doesn’t floss and keeps getting yelled at to start, his compromise was mouthwash, and his dentist gave in but was not convinced. 

This one made me realize that if I’ve never seen the character's teeth before I have FAR too much power dfbdskjf. 

No figures because there aren't any LMAO!! mmm maybe I'll just put one in for fun and consistency

this one feels shorter to me but I have a feeling that just means I'll be writing more about them in the future! >:]

Farah and Hadir

Farah and Hadir didn’t have the luxury of dental care during their adolescence (obviously). So their teeth came in how they did and that was that. Hadir has far more crooked teeth than Farah does. He lost both his top and bottom right premolars (the ones right behind the canines) in a ‘swept-under-the-rug’ beating during the first year of his imprisonment giving his right canine teeth space to stretch out and become crooked. As for his left, he lost his upper canine in a fight with a Russian guard at age 19. Hadir has never given his teeth any thought, genetics weren’t in his favor in the straight teeth department before anyway (Fig 1 & 2). His right front incisor got chipped when he was pushed into some concrete too, causing it to look sharp (Fig 3). Hadir doesn’t brush his teeth often, if at all, but he does oil-pull with whatever plant oil he can find, which at least keeps the gingivitis at bay. Lmao!

Farah somehow got away without losing any of her teeth, and they actually came surprisingly straight considering what he brother’s genetics would have indicated. (Fig 5 & 6) She used to oil-pull like Hadir but after hanging out with Alex ‘oh-so-good-at-taking-care-of-his-teeth’ Keller, Farah has taken up brushing her teeth at night (and maybe trying out his Waterpik a few times… for the experience.)

Both Farah and Hadir were able to let their wisdom teeth grow in entirely, lucky them.

(Also, Farah and Hadir both have front incisors that press slightly on each other and are shaped in a way that makes them form a slight v in the front which I, OP, thought was an interestingly similar characteristic that made them look much like siblings. (Fig 3 & 4)!!!! )

So far I’ve been figuring that the character's teeth were just the actor/actress's teeth but Hadir made me realize this isn’t entirely true, compared to his actor (fig 7 & 8) Hadir has much worse off teeth and that makes so much sense for his backstory! 

proof for everything I just said under the cut

Laswell and (bonus her wife)

Laswell had an underbite when she was younger. Her lower incisors overlapped her upper ones. They were this way for years; it's what she got used to. But her dentist sent her to an orthodontist at 19. A little late, but Kate didn't really want braces. Kate didn’t get the luxury of having her braces glued on, as is common now, no she got the big metal ones that wrap all the way around each tooth. (which meant she needed spacers between nearly every tooth. Her dentist was old school, she can laugh about it now. Not at the time.) It took 2 and a half years to correct her underbite alone and she only got out of them a year after that due to complications with crowding. She couldn’t keep her wisdom teeth and had them removed during her time in braces. There is no evidence of drugged Laswell except for one single written note to her brother that he found a few years back and texted a photo to her to share with the boys. (“If I died yesterday, would you still forgive me?” Even Laswell has no idea what she was talking about.) 

Once Kate was finally free of her metal prison (braces), she was given a Hawley retainer that she wore as prescribed (so, every night) for about 3 years before she stopped caring quite as much.

HOWEVER!! Laswell still talks like she has her underbite! (fig 1) She kept the habit of pushing her jaw forward to enunciate her words, and you can see it!

Today Laswell wears her retainer about as often as she washes her face, so, when she remembers. She brushes her teeth every morning but is far more lax about skipping it at night. She flosses using a simple spool when her wife reminds her, and uses mouthwash when she’s feeling good about her hygiene. She smokes and drinks coffee, and she uses whitening strips now and again to keep her smile clear. 

Bonus, Laswell’s wife.

Laswell doesn’t often share and talk about her dental experiences, (I mean who does other than me, OP here, I'm not normal.) but if it IS ever brought up you better pray her wife is not around. Because Laswell's wife had HEADGEAR in high school AND college, and she will tell you the trials and tribulations of that for over half an hour. And there will be no escape. Kate having an underbite? Pa SHAW that has *nothing* on having to twist a metal knob to widen the BONE of her top pallet! 

Laswell’s wife will terrorize anyone foolish enough to listen.  

Figures under the cut

Our boy is finally here! Alex is the first headcanon I wrote and it has a special place in my heart. I am so happy to bring you all my thoughts on my tooth son.

Alex

Alex’s teeth are perfect, no like, have you SEEN him??

He is an American pretty boy through and through. (figures under the cut)

Alex always had pretty good teeth, but they weren’t perfectly straight, so in classic USA medical fashion his yearly dentist visit sent him to the orthodontist when he became old enough for braces to matter, and his orthodontist found just enough imperfections to recommend dental correction. My boy got an Invisalign at 16 back in high school. He was the cool kid on the block for it too because everyone else had braces and people were. Jealous. By 17 he had moved onto only needing to wear the trays at night. His teeth have been perfect ever since. 

Alex could have kept his wisdom teeth. Had he been anywhere other than the US he’d still have them, but his orthodontist didn’t know if they’d erupt smoothly *enough.* The x-rays looked pretty good, his upper wisdom teeth were less in need of surgery than his lower ones, but there was a risk with letting any of them stay there. Alex was on the fence about the procedure until he was informed that letting his wisdom teeth come in naturally could move his other teeth that he’d already gotten straightened out—after that, he was completely on board for their removal. (This however, is a soft version of dental malpractice, as its simply not true. Wisdom teeth either have space or they don’t and they probably won’t push your other teeth and mess up your smile, but whoever said dentists never make mistakes needs to go to a dentist. Alex had a play-book dentist that was unaware this is a common misconception and fell into it. If your dentist recommend getting your wisdom teeth removed to prevent your previously straighted teeth from moving slightly they’re not doing something right! Anyway back to headcanons. Alex of course didn’t know this at the time :( and they stole his wisdom)

His wisdom teeth removal wasn’t freshly filmed, but his childhood best friend met him back at his house to babysit him while high on the drugs and she’s got some great videos of him slowly coming down from it all. 

Today Alex still cares for his teeth. He’s an every morning and nightly teeth brusher, he flosses either with a spool or with the sticks (he’s not picky) when he doesn’t have access to his Waterpik [“It's more fun than flossing” -Alex] and still religiously wears his retainer trays every night that he can. He cares for his teeth he wants them to stay strong. He also encourages others around him to take care of their teeth! making sure everyone knows the importance of dental hygiene... he's a bit annoying about it

Actually I’m not done talking about Alex with a Waterpik! I went to post this and now I’m delaying it to talk more about this man's love of this machine. He did meticulous research before picking it. He’s go one with all the settings and bought the expansion pack of brush nozzles. Its the one luxury he complains about not having when he’s not staying at a place where using a Waterpik is feasible. Terrible beds? No potable water? Nothing but MRE’s to eat for a month? He’s a soldier he can handle it. But man,

Farah!! I miss my waterpik! *grumbles* 

Starting with our two villains? I like your style everyone.

Last poll's winner was Valeria! short one this time, only because she's too flawless <3 you'll see.

Valeria 

Valeria’s teeth are perfect. Genetics were on. her. side!! (Fig1)

She never had orthodontic correction, and she doesn’t need it! She brushes her teeth twice a day because my girl knows how to take care of herself. She deserves to feel cleaned up and she knows it. She flosses with the sticks only. She’s bougie like that. And uses whitening stips occasionally to counteract the coffee she consumes.

She’s never had a cavity, but she did get into a street fight which ended with her knocking out the OTHER person’s canine, and now keeps it in her jewelry box with plans to do something with it later.

Her wisdom teeth stayed in the jawbone and never erupted and they won’t. Without being exposed they’re not in danger of infection, just another godly role of her genetics making her one of the few people to just not need any dental help. 

Honestly, what god blessed her?

Figures under the cut.

no poll this time because I know the order i want to post them in! woo!

ITS FINALLY TIME FOR THE 141!! first up,

Gaz

At first I tried to say that Gaz was the only British one to get braces, but then I actually looked at his teeth and I realized I was wrong… he just kinda needs them. He’s never had them.

Gaz has a crossbite, (fig 1 & 2) and couldn’t pronounce words correctly when he was young because of it. Gaz went to speech therapy as a kid because of his crossbite. When his moms noticed that his speech was slurring and he was developing a lisp they quietly enrolled him in a class. He never minded, it was something fun to do on Thursday afternoons. He’s glad they did, without them, his voice probably would be far less clear. It’s why he moves his mouth the way that he does when he talks, (fig 3) he’s making room for his tongue to move to where it needs to go. 

Gaz never got braces, as much as he might have needed them, but his life path never lent itself to that. So his teeth are set up the way nature intended. His left canine sticks out and his lower incisors like to overlap every chance they get. And of course that crossbite is there. 

His anatomy was shaped in a way that let him keep his upper wisdom teeth but those two bottom suckers had to go. He got his wisdom teeth removed at 19, it is because of this there is a video on YouTube somewhere of him singing wheels on the bus.

Gaz brushes his teeth every night and every morning, except he *never* brushes them on missions. Doesn’t bother to carry a toothbrush on him. Knows he won’t use it. He also did not bother to floss until he met Alex, then the other man basically honda-dealership-sales-pitched him the idea, and Gaz now par-takes in the occasional floss stick thrown into his routine. Farah has taught him to oil-pull in that same conversation and he adapted it to just using mouthwash when he feels his breath smells.

While doing research for these headcanons I found a picture of his teeth. It changed all my ideas by a complete 180 but <3333 gaz my beloved. His teeth are so pretty and his cross bite??? It has my heart.

okay this is really old and now i have many more ideas about Gaz's speech patterns but I wanted to get back to posting these so I'll write that later in a separate post!

figures under the cut

kinda a short one this time. So close to the end of these only Price is left! (might write for Ale and Rudy?? but I mean for the pre-written stuff.) and oh boy its my favorite MacTavish! I had fun making this one. His teeth can hardly ever been seen in the campaign so I had lots of creative freedom. now, onto my teeth headcanons for...

Soap

In contrast to Ghost, Soap brags about having perfect teeth. Without ever getting braces his teeth are straight, fit in his mouth, and he didn’t even need wisdom teeth surgery. He brushes his teeth the majority of nights, but never in the morning, doesn’t floss, and yet he’s never gotten a cavity once! And his gums feel fine! 

Except, if he ever actually bothered to *visit* a dentist they would break every one of those notions to SHREDS! His overbite is REAL and will lead to tooth decay if he doesn’t catch on. He has 2 active cavities that just haven’t reached his nerve yet, if he ever actually *tried* to floss his mouth would look like a MURDER SCENE. And while his lower wisdom teeth did erupt without issue, his upper ones are just HANGING up there, partially erupted and *waiting* to become infected because he cannot clean them. It is by sheer LUCK he has not had a dental emergency yet, someone, please drag this man to a dentist NOW. 

If you look at his jaw you can see that his lower jaw is relatively large hence why I think his lower wisdom teeth would be fine, but I’m also taking the liberty of giving him an overbite because a) I want to goddammit, and b) look at fig 2… just… if I can’t look at that and say possible overbite I don’t know what photo I could say that too.

--

Okay so, I looked up Soap’s actor after writing this, and I don’t think the actor has an overbite so maybe my wishes are dashed but these are also headcanons sooo….. I’ve been as accurate as I can be up till this point let me have this dbfhdjh. Hadir's teeth are different from his actors too! Neil Ellice’s teeth are BEAUTIFUL jezus, pearl whites frfr Soap’s teeth are NOT that shiny.