Do your teeth matter in dating?

Teeth act largely as a health/quality gate, though good dental aesthetics can also add upside on already-attractive faces. Straightness and absence of visible problems matter substantially: in a Kelton Research/Invisalign perception study (n=1,047 nationally representative Americans), people with straight teeth were rated 57% more likely to get a date from a photo alone, 47% more likely to be seen as healthy, and 21% more likely to be seen as happy; 38% of respondents said they would consider declining a second date over misaligned teeth. Tooth color, by contrast, had no significant effect on rated attractiveness (Grosofsky et al. 2003), so whitening beyond a normal healthy shade adds little. Dental aesthetics had neutral-to-negative effects mainly when teeth needed orthodontic treatment (below ideal), but the same evidence shows good dental aesthetics can meaningfully raise ratings for average/attractive faces (Papio et al. 2019). Net: clean, straight, healthy teeth are close to mandatory and can add some upside, while extreme whiteness yields diminishing returns.

Evidence & sources

• Kelton Research / Invisalign perception study (n=1,047 nationally representative, via PR Newswire)

  Confirmed verbatim: straight teeth rated 57% more likely to get a date, 47% more likely to be seen as healthy, 21% more likely to be seen as happy; 38% would consider declining a second date over misaligned teeth. n=1,047, Kelton Research for Invisalign.

• Tooth color: effects on judgments of attractiveness and age (Grosofsky et al. 2003, PubMed 12705508)

  Confirmed: ratings of attractiveness were not influenced by tooth color; whitening not associated with increased attractiveness. (Note: authors are Grosofsky et al., not Kershaw.)

• Effect of dental and background facial attractiveness on facial attractiveness (Papio et al. 2019, PubMed 31582118)

  Confirmed but partially qualifies the result: dental esthetics had neutral/negative effects when teeth needed treatment (IOTN 5+), supporting a downside gate, BUT dental attractiveness also made 'dramatic differences' for Average and Attractive faces, indicating real upside rather than a pure threshold gate.