Since February 2025, there have been publications on social networks about an anomaly due to which people develop double dentition, potentially dangerous for both physical and mental health. Pictures are provided as examples in these posts, and we have verified their authenticity.
“The disease known as shark smile is an anomaly in which a new, permanent tooth grows in place of a baby tooth that has not yet fallen out. As a result, a double dentition is formed. This pathology is most common among children and adolescents aged 12 to 16 years, but it can also occur in adults, both men and women. Many people believe that this anomaly is just an aesthetic defect, but in fact it can pose a serious danger to physical and even mental health,” the public says.How is this possible?» on VKontakte. The post, illustrated with three photographs of a man with a shark smile, received 18.6 million views at the time of writing this analysis.
Similar entries appeared in other communities on VKontakte, including prtn. (3.3 million views), everyday bullsht (469,000), "In case of important negotiations"(405,000), Brain (184,000, shared with Discovery, “Why Didn’t I Know That?” and “That’s Interesting!”) and etc.. Moreover, in some publics that distributed the pictures, TBC: “This is not photoshop, but a rare mutation.” Similar entries are also found in “Odnoklassniki" And Instagram*.
The text in viral posts is a slightly edited fragment articles, which was published on September 26, 2024 on the website of the Zub.ru network of dental clinics. Its author is Anna Nikolic, a dentist with 20 years of experience. The article also lists theoretical causes of a shark smile. Among them are heredity, nutritional disorders, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, bad habits in a child, infectious diseases of the ENT organs, respiratory failure and improper formation of the roots of future teeth at the stage of intrauterine development of the fetus. Nikolic listed the main signs of pathology as, for example, a feeling of fullness in the oral cavity, disruption of the chewing process and difficult hygiene. It is argued that if a child’s shark smile is not treated, then in the future there is a high probability of malocclusion, changes in chewing function, the occurrence of pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, problems with diction, severe facial asymmetry, curvature of adjacent teeth, etc.
However, not all resources provide a similar definition of a shark smile. For example, in a blog on the website of the aligner manufacturer EuroKappa write like this: “An aesthetically attractive smile is not only straight and white teeth, but also clear outlines of the soft tissues that surround the crown. Due to genetics or disease, sometimes the soft tissue becomes too visible, causing the gum line to appear uneven and the teeth to appear too small. This type of smile is called a shark smile.”
However, in viral publications we are still talking not about the relative size of the teeth, but about their number and location in the oral cavity. An anomaly expressed in the presence of supernumerary (extra) teeth is called polyodontia. She is usually divide into two types: true (the presence of more than 32 permanent teeth) and false (occurs due to delayed loss of milk teeth). The text that went viral on social networks talks about the second type, which in reality looks completely different from the viral photos.
Some commentators under the distributed posts did not believe in the authenticity of the pictures used there. Many wrote that the images were changed V photo editor or were generated neural networks. Even more users suggested that the photo shows makeup for some kind of artistic film or a television project (many for some reason claimed, that the pictures were taken on the set of the TV series “Supernatural”).
“Verified” determined that the photos were not created by artificial intelligence or manipulated in any way. In fact, the viral images are screenshots of a video that was hosted in June 2024 instagram published Mario Torres, makeup and special effects artist.
Torres clarified that the video shows a denture for the image of the Demon of Words, in the creation of which he participated. This character appeared in the fourth episode fourth season of the mystical series "Evil"on Paramount+. Moreover, Torres spokethat the prosthesis itself was made by another artist - Dan Rebert, which is captured in the video. Rebert posted another one on his page video showing the same teeth.
Thus, the viral posts do not contain pictures of a person with a real bite pathology, but screenshots from a video where a makeup artist demonstrated the work of a denture for an actor who played in the science fiction series “Evil.”
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities and symbols are prohibited in Russia.
Cover photo: @monstermaniafx (Instagram)
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