I have yet to see Licorice Pizza. I want to see it but if I’m being honest, I’m waiting for it to stream. I like what I’ve heard about it, and I usually enjoy Paul Thomas Anderson films but I can’t even seem to get to the theaters to see films I’m champing at the bit to see so this’ll have to wait. I know that Alana Haim is getting great reviews for her performance. I don’t know much about Alana. I know she has a band, Haim, with her sisters and I know she’s got a budding acting career, but her segment on Late Night with Seth Meyers is the first time I’ve heard her speak. That said, she was charming, and I think I’ll make a point to watch out for her. While chatting to Seth, Alana said she was excited to see what new fans this role had brought her. Specifically, she was wondering who was slipping into her DMs, which seemed to be multiplying now that her face was on the big screen. However, Alana said the majority of those reaching out to her are orthodontists who want to take away her precious “snaggletooth.”
Alana Haim… revealed that a number of orthodontists reached out to her on social media to offer their services after seeing her in Licorice Pizza.
“I’m a young, 30-year-old, single gal, so what do you do when you’re a young, 30-year-old, single gal? You go on Instagram and maybe peruse your messages,” she told Seth.
“Funny enough, you know who reaches out the most? Orthodontists,” Alana continued. “The world… everyone is concerned about my teeth. I’ve gotten over ten DMs from orthodontists asking if I need help and can they please fix my teeth? And I love my teeth. I love my teeth. And I have a snaggletooth and I’m very proud of my snaggletooth, but the world of dentistry is not pleased…
“I had braces for four years, and this is what my teeth… I don’t know if you can zone in on my teeth, but this is what my teeth look like,” she said as the camera slowly started zooming in on her face.
Ah man! Imagine seeing your DMs blow up and finding out it’s only a bunch of dentists wanting to change you. Poor Alana. She’s darling, too. I love that she’s so protective of her snaggletooth. I have a bottom tooth that got pushed out from my wisdom teeth and like Alana, I like that it’s unique. Also like Alana, I get orthodontists slipping me their cards from time to time. Teeth folk are weirdly aggressive with unsolicited advice. Not all teeth people – let’s not have that battle. But I also have a back molar that’s missing from a whole drama a few decades ago and I never replaced it. Dental assistants get so bent about it because they say the tooth under it is “useless.” Excuse me! Keep your negativity out of my mouth. Don’t get me started on the comments I got about my kids thumb sucking. And they were always related to a tooth person. Seth brought up a really good point to Alana, though. He said her succeeding without “correcting” her imperfect smile kind of undoes the majority of teeth people’s business model, especially in Hollywood so yeah, she would be their worst nightmare.
I hope Alana and her snaggletooth go far in Hollywood. I didn’t realize her whole family appears in Licorice Pizza. I keep hearing things about this film, but I have no idea what it’s about. How does the Haim family appear as themselves in the ‘70s? I kind of want to stay in the dark, I think the confusion will make it better.
ps – I feel like I have to say that despite everything I said above, I have the most amazing dentist currently. She’s so incredible, my kids look forward to going to her. I think she might be magic.
Photo credit: YouTube: Instagram and Backgrid
Dental insurance in this country is so bad. I have been out two teeth near the front top of my mouth since late puberty and obviously insurance covered nothing. (The adult teeth just did not come in.) it’s been humiliating and finally I just have accepted it because I have to. If I could afford the $5,000+ for implants to fix my missing teeth, I would, in a heartbeat. In addition my bottom teeth are messed up and pushing my front teeth out and misaligning my bite. It actually hurts. Insurance doesn’t cover adult braces.
No shame to her, I love that she’s happy. Just so so f*cking frustrated by the U.S. heartless system.
Co-sign this. I’m prone to cavities and last year I was told I needed two root canals and two crowns. I was quoted $8k by one dentist and $6k by another (he came down to that number because I was an existing patient who had been referred to him for a previous root canal 10 years ago). And this is WITH INSURANCE. I was in excruciating pain and beside myself that I would need to take out a loan for my teeth. Ended up going to Colombia to get work done for a quarter of the price (even with flights, food and accommodation included) with a super reputable dental practice. It helped that I’m a native Spanish speaker and my Colombian friend recommended the practice. I ended up getting some other crowns replaced as well as veneers. They took really good care of me and were so nice and accommodating, and I got a trip out of it (though I was in the dentist every day for three weeks straight!).
If you’re able to, I’d recommend researching your options abroad for implants. There are lots of good dentists abroad (as many good dentists as you’ll find in the States). Best of luck on your dental journey!!!
Wow, good for you! I’ve heard of people trying that and honestly it’s probably my best option at this point. Wish our country had a better system in place. So glad you were able to do that. Thank you so much for the advice and good wishes!
I do not understand why teeth and eyes are treated like some “other” when it comes to health insurance! Teeth and eyes have a lot to do with a person’s overall health, and their state of health can warn a person about looming medical dangers (like diabetes, vascular disease, etc.). It is absurd that dental and vision insurance aren’t included with medical insurance (or Medicare).
From my own experience Hecate, I can tell you that the tooth opposite the missing one will eventually grow too long and will start catching when you chew. I have a tiny little, never bothered me at all, impacted wisdom tooth and had to have the opposing one yanked even though it was healthy.
There can be something quite charming about a smile that is not perfect! I recall seeing a Sunday Morning interview with Alana and it didn’t stand out as ‘wrong’ at all.
I love Alana and Haim. Beyond their music, I’ve always thought the girls are so beautiful and have great looks.
I listen to a lot of podcasts & one of them–I think Wait Wait..Don’t Tell Me–had the Haim sisters on. They’re all smart, funny, & talented. I didn’t realize at first when seeing all the trailers for this movie that it starred one of the Haims. Alana is a very young looking 30! As for her teeth, they’re fine! I’m a little surprised that one is a little wonky even after four years of braces, but she has a great smile & orthodontists really need to stop with the unsolicited advice.
I find big fake gleaming white teeth unsettling, there’s just something “game show host” about them. Same with faces that have had too much cosmetic stuff done. Nicole Kidman comes to mind. She had great teeth until she turned up on some late night show, smiled, and holy crap you could see her chompers from outer space!
“Teeth folk are weirdly aggressive with unsolicited advice.” Ugh, this! My own mom humiliated my boyfriend about fixing his jawline. And I’m thinking of switching dentists because the dentist and assistant always make this big deal of comparing the color of my teeth to their little chart and tsking and hmming as if something’s wrong. I just stay silent and wait until they change the subject. I won’t be shamed into a cosmetic procedure.
I think its almost a crime to have ‘bad’ teeth in the US especially if you are in Hollywood. If she was a British actress no one would bat an eyelid. The Brit actors really embrace their natural teeth.
My husband had zero dentistry during his very impoverished childhood and had many cracked, crooked, and missing teeth when I met him. He finally got them fixed at like 35 once he could afford it (and it was a significant financial hit). I was kind of horrified to learn how many people in his office were complimenting him on it, especially management. I naively thought it wasn’t noticeable.
Now that I look back at old pics I have to admit it got pretty extreme (he looks Eastern European anyway and the teeth really made him look non-American). Now I think he would not have gotten promoted if he had kept his “low class” teeth. Teeth are a huge mark of privilege here.
Ok, what you say here makes me feel better about HATING being complimented on my teeth growing up. I had a privileged childhood and perfect teeth as a result. It made me feel very conspicuous and felt like a super weird thing when people wouldn’t compliment my smile, but how nice my teeth were. It was like being a horse without the fun of being a horse. I’d say well, thank my parents for paying for expensive orthodontia & dentistry, I had nothing to do with it. They would be taken aback & I’d shrug because hey, it was a weird thing anyway & I was a teenager & had no fucks to give. It stopped as we all got older & more aware that it was a bizarre compliment perhaps & “grown ups” no longer felt like they could make that observation with someone taller than them. 🙂
I liked Licorice Pizza but didn’t love it. The age difference, at least 10 years between Alana’s character and high school student Gary played by Cooper Hoffman, bugged me. There are some great bits, and the 70’s nostalgia hit close to home. Alana and the entire cast, including her family, are delightful; but I think the movie is a bit overhyped. It’s nowhere near as good as Power of the Dog.
ETA: I never noticed Alana’s teeth. She is pretty and kind of perfect looking in the movie.
I hated Licorice Pizza! The age difference is really gross and I could not get past that. They try to play it up like a cute love story, but nope, I don’t buy it. Besides the movie felt so pretentious and try hard and it just fell short. I would say skip this one.
Thanks for letting me know. I have been on the fence about it, as it’s getting glorious reviews. But I refuse to watch anything mediocre.
I loved the aesthetic of the movie but yeah, ITA, I couldn’t get past the age difference (and I feel like that made the pacing of the movie weird too).
I got Invisalign in 2020 and don’t regret it – my teeth were getting really out of alignment and starting to impact my bite. Plus I have two veneers that needed replacing, and the alignment issues were impacting that, so… But if were solely a cosmetic thing? I’d probably say whatever just like Alana is. As long as it isn’t impacting your health, what’s the big deal?
Yes—the only reason to get veneers is for medical reasons, like missing teeth or badly cracked/broken teeth. Veneers aren’t nearly as strong as healthy teeth and they don’t last forever. A huge part of healthy aging is maintaining equilibrium: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! The idea of shaving down healthy teeth to put $2500 weaker caps on them is mentally ill.
So my veneers are technically cosmetic, but needed because of a medical issue. As a baby I was prescribed an antibiotic that causes tooth discoloration, and I have very noticeable white, yellow, and black patches on my molars, canines, and my two front teeth. Hence veneers. The canines and molars aren’t so bad, but the front teeth – without veneers they’d be the first thing you notice about me.
But overall I agree that veneers are overused, especially on young people with healthy teeth. I know those TikTok videos are supposed to be aspirational, but all I’m seeing is people purposefully damaging their healthy teeth to look more like a toothpaste commercial.
I’m getting my snaggletooth (upper canine) fixed because I just keep biting myself. I sometimes draw blood.
Oh, I remember those before-braces days. My molars were all lying on their sides, facing inward or outward. The outward ones would always bite the interior of my cheeks, so much so that a ridge line of scar tissue would build up, which just provided more surface area to bite into. The insides of my mouth were like raw hamburger sometimes. So yes, orthodontics can be very important.
LOL that happens to me too! It hurts so much.
Good for her! I feel like her teeth fit her whole 1970s quirky actress vibe (she would be at home in a classic Robert Altman film). Too many celebrities get ridiculously oversized veneers that make them look horsey. As long as she’s healthy, who cares? It gives her character.
As someone who spent the last six months on a dental procedure. All I can say is F*** dental insurance. I have above average PPO dental and I still had to spend a little over half of a six grand procedure to extract a fractured molar and put in an implant. It’s ridiculous. And I had to fight my insurance when they tried to not payout by claiming an implant was “cosmetic.” No. I would never actively choose to have a tooth extracted. I had a massive infection, the tooth had to go. WTH.
Ugh Licorice pizza was so chaotic and creepy. A 28yo woman falls in love with a 15yo …..ummm okay. If the genders were flipped we’d all be screaming bloody murder. Let’s protect boys and stop propagating mess like this.
Erin, watching Eric Rohmer’s classic Six Moral Tales and Claire’s Knee is creepy in this way, but in 1970, I’m sure it bothered no one. I have yet to read the reviews for it, but I’d bet none will talk about the age difference.
My teeth *look* fabulous. I’ve spent more on them than I did on 4 years of college. So many oral surgeries. It 100% is a privilege to be able to do it and I agree with above posters that it’s taken as a class marker in the U.S., with all that entails.
I loved Licorice Pizza. Cooper Hoffman is terrific too. The age difference is problematic and I wish they’d made him a little bit older; but it’s not clear that anything happened other than a snog and I still loved it. All the Haims are in it, Ma, Pa and sisters.
My mother asked my brother and I if we wanted to get our teeth fixed when we were kids and we both said no. He has a space in his front teeth and I inherited my dad’s wonky eye tooth on one side. It has never bothered me. I make no judgment if people are bothered by something and fix it or if teeth are going to cause pain or bite issues then certainly they should fix it if they can. But if you are fine with whatever it is then roll with it. Most times it makes a more interesting face. I was always bummed when Cher fixed her teeth. Guess I’m a fan of janky eye teeth. LOL! The young Haim is lovely.