Fantastic Teeth & Where To Find Them – Harry Potter Stars and the Stories Behind their Teeth

Unless you’ve been living in a cupboard under the stairs for the last twenty years, you’ve probably seen the Harry Potter movies. If you haven’t seen them, we could list a thousand reasons why you should (here’s ten, just to start).

What’s especially charming about the Harry Potter movies is watching the actors grow up. Most of the main characters were 10 or 11 years old when they got the part, and were launched into fame as they went through their pre-teen years.

Besides memorizing spells and riding broomsticks, the stars of Harry Potter are just like us. They had to take care of their teeth to make their smiles look healthy and vibrant. In fact, some of the actors actually needed to make their teeth look more crooked and flawed to stay true to the books.

You might think that it takes magic to straighten out teeth. But for these actors, it wasn’t wizardry… it was dentistry!

Matthew Lewis – Neville Longbottom

In the years leading up to the final installment of the Harry Potter movies, the one character whose appearance changed the most was, without a doubt, Neville Longbottom.

 

In the Harry Potter universe, Neville was a geeky member of the Gryffindor house who was bullied relentlessly by Draco Malfoy, the Hogwarts school villain. Longbottom was a clumsy, plump goofball who just couldn’t get it together. To capture the true character of Neville Longbottom, Matthew Lewis needed to wear a fat suit, shoes that were two sizes too big, and prosthetics placed behind his ears.

Lewis already had crooked teeth, and this characteristic was an important element that added to his awkwardness. His imperfect smile emphasized his geeky, accident-prone character. During filming, Lewis was under a contract that kept him from cosmetic dentistry until after the series was done filming.

But thankfully, Lewis finally got his teeth straightened. After ten years of playing Neville Longbottom, Lewis now gets to show off a killer smile!

 

Eddie Redmayne – Newt Scamander

In a spin-off of the Harry Potter series, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Eddie Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander. His character is a wizard and “magizoologist” traveling from Britain, when some the magical creatures that he is transporting get loose in New York.

In this old headshot, gloriously unveiled on The Late Late Show With James Corden, you can see that Redmayne proudly showed off a set of slightly crooked teeth. As most young children have imperfect teeth, we can only guess that young Eddie had braces at some point in his teenage years. He most likely did so because it can better to wait to get braces until later as top-rated pediatric dentists advise.

 

Jamie Lee Yeates  – Marcus Flint

Who? You might know him as “the Slytherin guy with the crazy teeth”. Come on, you were totally spooked by this guy’s teeth when he showed up on the screen.

Marcus Flint was a Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In the book, Flint was known to try to break his opponent’s fingers when they shook hands before a game.

Well, you’ll be glad to know that those teeth that he had were fake. Dentures were key in creating this look for Marcus Flint. Either way, Yeates has grown up quite a bit since the Harry Potter days – although we can’t see his teeth in this photo, we’re pretty sure he has a great smile!

 

Robert Pattinson – Cedric Diggory

Robert Pattinson played the beloved Cedric Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. He was the heartthrob of Hufflepuff, who was chosen to participate in the Triwizard Tournament when he was in his 6th year at Hogwarts.

However, when Pattinson was cast to star in the Twilight franchise, it was clear that he needed to get his teeth straightened. His character, Edward Cullen, is a vampire that is described to have perfect physical features.  No pressure, right? 

Long story short, it was very important that the actor playing Edward Cullen had a set of perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth.  So Robert Pattinson used Invisalign! Fun fact that many people don’t know either, Invisalign is a brand that is often confused with the ortho product clear aligners. Clear aligners is the product and Invisalign is simply one of the brands of clear aligners.

Emma Watson – Hermione Granger

Since her days as Hermione Granger, Emma Watson has modeled for brands like Teen Vogue and Burberry. She’s known for her contemporary style and her confident smile.

But what a lot of people don’t know is that Emma had braces when she was 15 years old. Lucky for her, she only needed to wear them for four months and was able to get them removed between filming the third and fourth Harry Potter movies.

Ironically, both of Hermione’s parents are dentists in the books, so it would have been completely in-character for her to have had braces on-screen. Pediatric dentist, Dr. Khoshbin, notes, this a great detail to point out to kids (or adults) who are afraid of the dentist as they are reading the books. Check out her compilation of books about going to the dentist for more examples of friendly, helpful dentists.

But in the earlier days of filming the first movie, there was actually another issue… or lack thereof.

In the Harry Potter books, Hermione is described as having “bushy hair and rather large front teeth”. The director of the first three movies, Christopher Columbus, said that Hermione’s teeth was a big deal in the Hogwarts fandom.

To stay true to the character, Columbus needed to make Watson’s teeth look bigger and more crooked. He had Emma wear a set of dentures for the first scene of filming… and quickly realized that she was “never going to be able to perform with these huge fake teeth in her mouth for the rest of the movie”.

So the next time you watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, watch out for the final scene as the trio leave Hogwarts and you will catch a glimpse of Hermione’s fake teeth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0epO_abY6M

 

There you have it! Even the stars of Harry Potter needed dentists from the Muggle world to maintain their perfect smiles. Having your teeth straightened, whitened, or even just cleaned makes a huge difference.

Ready to discover the magic of a confident smile? At New Generation Dentistry, our team of dentists in Mission Viejo are committed to helping you achieve a perfect smile. Contact us today or book an appointment online!