According to Gen Z, teeth bring negative karma

Teeth are assuming an increasingly central role in contemporary aesthetics. From the frighteningly identical veneers to the colorful gems, teeth have unexpectedly become a major accessory. This growing obsession with teeth is not just a matter of aesthetic vanity but reflects deep psychological and cultural dynamics related to our perception of self. According to Carl Jung's studies on dream interpretation, dreaming of losing teeth symbolizes deep insecurities and fears related to the loss of control. This dream archetype reveals how deeply rooted teeth are in our collective unconscious as symbols of personal power and security. However, the current media landscape has distorted these symbols, fueling pseudoscientific theories that link dental problems to concepts of karma and spirituality. According to a new-wave spirituality on TikTok, some “gurus” claim that misaligned teeth are the result of negative ancestral karma, worsening with each generation. These claims, lacking any scientific basis, not only misinform but can lead people to pursue costly and unnecessary treatments in an attempt to “rebalance” supposed spiritual disharmonies.

Obviously, having crooked teeth does not mean being unlucky for life due to ancestral damages, but professionals like Dr. Onkar Mudhar have observed an increase in patients influenced by these misleading ideas, requesting unnecessary or potentially harmful procedures. Social media algorithms, favoring sensational content, amplify these voices, contributing to the spread of disinformation on a large scale. Besides “teeth karma,” some spiritual guides have spread new theories on TikTok about why people should not remove wisdom teeth. The connection stems from the English term “wisdom teeth”, where the final OM is highlighted, suggesting that wisdom teeth are the only way for humans to connect to the seventh chakra. It is not the first time that teeth have been associated with the metaphysical realm: historically, in folklore, teeth have always had a precise role. In the Middle Ages, for example, parents would bury their children’s teeth to protect them from evil spirits, attributing a protective power to these small fragments. These traditions demonstrate that TikTok's new spiritual trends are not new at all, but merely popular tales similar to those of centuries past.

The media panic around teeth is nothing new. In the 2000s, when everyone suddenly desired the Hollywood smile, there was a boom in teeth whitening, which then morphed into the recent craze for veneers. As Dr. Mudhar stated, after the pandemic, he noticed that many young clients suddenly expressed a desire to grind their teeth down to replace them with a modern version of grandma’s dentures – social media has dubbed it the “horse teeth epidemic”. Orthodontics, after all, is renowned for being one of the most expensive branches of medicine for patients. When combined with the paranoia of false spirituality—virtually modern-day chain letters—in a historical context where plastic surgery has never been more accessible, suddenly crooked teeth become bearers of the evil eye. Although these ideas, devoid of any scientific basis, verge on the absurd, they find fertile ground in an audience increasingly inclined to seek esoteric answers to common problems. What is more frightening: a smile that glows in the dark or the dentist's drill?