Freddie Mercury Teeth: Realities and Myths

  • International ClinicsInternational Clinics
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  • 29 November 2024

Because of his remarkable performance in the band "Queen," Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara) is without a single doubt one of rock's most explosive frontmen.

Even today after more than 2 decades, audiences across the world are enthralled by Freddie Mercury's legacy because of his incredible stage presence, distinctive vocal range, and classic singles like "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Mercury revealed that he had been diagnosed with AIDS in 1991, unfortunately. A day later, he passed away from disease-related complications.

In addition to his extraordinary talent and captivating stage presence, Freddie Mercury was well-known for his charming look, thanks to his extra top teeth.

In fact, he had four additional incisors in his upper jaw, which is known technically as “hyperdontia”, or supernumerary teeth, due to this uncommon dental condition.

Freddie Mercury Teeth

Because he refused to have his teeth fixed, his distinctive dental characteristic came to be known as "Freddie Mercury teeth."

Cosmetic dentists disagreed with Freddie Mercury, who thought that having his additional teeth removed would damage his unique four-octave vocal range.

They thought that rather than the unusual space provided by his top front teeth, his ability to sing was due to his special vocal cords.

Even though cosmetic dentistry was rather common at the time, Freddie Mercury never chose to correct or even consider tooth replacement options.

This choice had a profound impact on his personality and performance, and people all across the world continue to honor his remarkable voice and look even after his death.

In any case, Freddie had the resources and connections to get his teeth fixed, which was usual for a lead celebrity in a popular band.

Pic of Freddie Mercury Teeth

You can find many pictures or images of Freddie Mercury on the Internet showing clearly his smile and extra teeth. Indeed, you can use keywords such as “Freddie Mercury vocal range teeth” to get such pictures easily.

Freddie Mercury Teeth

Freddie Mercury Teeth Condition

You can see that Freddie Mercury is singing with the microphone quite near to his mouth if you watch the performance version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Although Freddie did not want to have his teeth fixed, this does not imply that he felt comfortable doing so.

Freddie Mercury didn't have missing teeth. He suffered from both malocclusion and hyperdontia.

Indeed, he developed an overbite due to crowding produced by four additional incisors in addition to his top teeth.

Interestingly, about 1% to 3% of dental defects are caused by hyperdontia. It affects 0.6% of infants and 3.8% of adults, with males experiencing it twice as frequently as females.

Double Row Xray Freddie Mercury Teeth

You could assume that Freddie never had his teeth corrected since he was actually unaffected or harmed by them. There are no legitimate Freddie Mercury teeth Xray or MRI images. 

However, according to several anecdotal accounts, the singer's actually faced issues with self-esteem, mostly due to his teeth.

Few people are aware that Queen's lead guitarist, Brian May, nearly turned down Freddie because of his teeth.

The band was worried that Freddie's smile might damage their reputation and appeal to young people.

The then-to-be Queen lead vocalist, however, won the band's agreement by convincing him that it gives his voice more range.

Freddie Mercury was still emotionally unstable due to his dental issues, however. His overbite never pleased the lead singer.

According to reports, the celebrity would also try to hide his teeth with his top lip on many occasions.

Sometimes he would even cover his teeth with the microphone by holding it slightly over his lips.

Xray Overbite Freddie Mercury Teeth

Freddie Mercury has a wide overbite, malocclusion, and misalignment, which resulted from his additional teeth.

As mentioned before, it’s hard to find an X-ray image that shows the degree or level of overbite problem in Mercury’s case.

When the upper and lower jaws are not correctly aligned as they should be, this problem happens and could evolve quickly into something serious.

Overcrowding or impacted additional teeth are frequently the cause of malocclusion, and this probably happened in the case of Mercury.

While severe instances may necessitate surgery, the majority of cases may be resolved with braces or other orthodontic treatments.

Some more teeth had to be extracted in the case of the singer, but he apparently chose to ignore the issue.

Freddie Teeth

Freddie Mercury Teeth Diagram

The singer, in fact, was self-conscious of his jutting top teeth and frequently concealed them with his hand or lip, and then a mustache.

Nevertheless, he was never prepared to get his teeth corrected, and this resulted in leaving a credible diagram of his teeth.

Freddie Mercury refused to fix his alignment problem because he felt it added to his amazing range, even though he could definitely afford it later in his career.

He was afraid that having his teeth changed would make it harder for him to sing.
The first step in Freddie Mercury's treatment plan would be to have his teeth scanned and then fixed.

Freddie Mercury would have needed to have his four additional incisors removed in order to have his smile in perfect order.

The next step would be orthodontics, which would include pushing his teeth back with braces or dental bridges. He would probably require a few small adjustments here and there to refine his grin after the procedure.

He could have had his front teeth gently trimmed by a dentist to make them smaller. However, he wouldn't require any more treatment, such as the Hollywood Smile, which wasn't accessible at the time.

Freddie Mercury Extra Teeth Vocal Range

The four additional teeth in Freddie Mercury's upper jaw are known as mesiodens or supernumerary teeth. As mentioned before, the singer imagined a relationship between his extra teeth and the vocal range.

His front teeth were forced forward by the crowding of these extra incisors, resulting in an overjet.

When your top and lower teeth are misaligned, it's known as malocclusion, and it can cause many problems, from eating difficulties to embarrassment over appearance.

Freddie Mercury Buck Teeth

"Mesiodentes," which is more frequent in the upper jaw between the two normal incisors, is the name used to describe Freddie's oral problems.

Many call it the “buck” teeth, which is not a scientific name by any means. Males are more likely than females to be impacted.

Additionally, Freddie's extra teeth were "conical," which is the most popular shape. They most likely appeared concurrently with or before his typical incisors.

The bones of a 5-year-old from the Pleistocene geological epoch, which occurred around 2 million years ago, contain the oldest known evidence of additional teeth.

Extra teeth were also found in the remains of an Australian Aborigine who lived 13,000 years ago.