Famous Faces With Braces

 Faith Hill rocked a set of braces at the Grammy Awards. See Gwen Stefani, Emma Watson, Tom Cruise, Katy Perry, and other stars with tinsel teeth. 

 

At the Grammy Awards earlier this week, Faith Hill wore an unlikely accessory on the red carpet—a set of braces. But the 45-year-old country star has been sporting them for a while. "They are about four months old,” she told a Phoenix radio station last October. "I'm getting used to them.” As for why she has orthodontic gear now, Hill was honest about it. "I had braces as a kid. And I forgot to wear my retainer," she confessed. "Kids, wear your retainer!"

 

Gwen Stefani

In Asia now, teens are wearing Ugly Betty-style fake braces to make a fashion statement. But Gwen Stefani was more than a decade ahead of that trend. In 1999, the No Doubt singer started wearing metal in her mouth but claimed it was just a style choice. Stefani admitted to Access Hollywood that she had always wanted them as a child, but "I could afford them at that point, and that's when I went and got them."

 

Tom Cruise

When you have one of the most famous smiles in the world, how do you improve it without people noticing? Tom Cruise solved this impossible mission in 2002 by wearing (mostly) invisible braces with ceramic brackets. Having just turned 40, Cruise gave his teeth a tune-up for a few months, and then the braces came off before the paparazzi got in his face.

 

Prince Harry

Growing up in the glare of the British royal family, there is no escaping being photographed during your awkward years. And like his older brother, Prince William, Prince Harry was often seen wearing a set of braces as a teenager. But in 2009, Harry’s teeth were so newsworthy that Clarence House had to issue a statement about his retainer. "Prince William has used a permanent support for his bottom teeth for ten years", a spokesman said after Harry was photographed laughing with children at a charity event. That will teach him to smile.

Over the years, Dakota Fanning has had some major dental issues (as this YouTube video makes clear), including lots of missing teeth, pulled teeth, several retainers, multiple sets of braces, and an awkward halo-style headgear that she once wore on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Now 18, Fanning’s smile has greatly improved, and she even gets to show it off with a role she has to sink her teeth into—as the vampire Jane Volturi in the Twilight saga.

Emma Watson “I had terrible skin at one point,” Emma Watson said last fall, “and had to wear braces at another, and my weight has fluctuated between a size 6 and a 10. When you’re growing, your body is still figuring itself out, and it takes a while to settle down.” And then, like magic, the Harry Potter star’s braces came off, and her teeth were straight.

At the age of 61, Academy Award-winning actress Faye Dunaway decided to polish her glamorous image, and she began with her smile. "You just sort of let your teeth go for a while. But it's time to have something done,” Dunaway said about her braces. “Tom Cruise has them now so I'm right in style." And Dunaway went a step further—when the braces came off, she had veneers put on.

After winning American Idol in 2004, Fantasia Barrino was all smiles. But apparently she thought she could do better. By 2008, the R&B singer was into light—in her mouth. Fantasia wore the braces for a year or so, at which point her smile straighter and brighter. But even as late as 2012, Fantasia was seen wearing braces (or at least a retainer) to keep her teeth in line.

Katy Perry is not afraid to suffer for her art—or at least goof on her pinup image. In the John Hughes-inspired music video for “Last Friday Night,” the pop queen is transformed into her nerdy alter ego, Kathy Beth Terry, complete with shiny braces and a fierce headgear. But thanks to some help from her friend Rebecca Black, the headgear comes off, the miniskirt goes on, and she becomes a bombshell—albeit one with a set of braces, who still doesn’t quite fall for the geeky guy (played by Glee’s Kevin McHale) who also wears braces. Which is a shame, because with all that metal in their mouths, sparks would fly.

When your parents call you “Miley”—short for “Smiley”—your teeth are obviously an important part of your personality. But when Miley Cyrus needed braces as a teenager, she opted for something her character Hannah Montana would have understood—secrecy. Instead of going with the classic train tracks or even invisible braces, Cyrus wore lingual braces behind her teeth. Once they were straight, Cyrus also reportedly got porcelain veneers to keep her extra-smiley.