Would you pay to get fang-like teeth?

Kirsten Dunst.

Kirsten Dunst.

Published Feb 6, 2013

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London - It may be a look more commonly associated with a vampire, but it seems crooked teeth – or fangs – are all the rage in Japan.

There women are going crazy for a crowded, crooked-toothed smile with accentuated canine teeth.

The look, known as the yaeba look, is well-liked by men, who find the imperfect smile they form endearingly childlike and attractive.

Popular at dentists in Tokyo, a cosmetic procedure to create the yaeba effect involves attaching non-permanent or permanent adhesive mini-fangs to canine teeth.

Far from the usual blood-lusting connotations of vampires, the sharp-canined look is an attempt at making a smile more child-like, replicating the odd alignment of smiles that are affected by delayed baby teeth.

The look - frothed about on blogs, Facebook fan pages and on Japanese TV - is seen as adding a well-calculated dash of imperfection to a pretty face, adding to a woman's desirability.

Essentially, says the New York Times, the look is about a desire to appear younger.

Pace University's Dr Emilie Zaslow, assistant professor of communication studies, told the newspaper: 'The naturally occurring yaeba is because of delayed baby teeth, or a mouth that’s too small.

'It’s this kind of emphasis on youth and the sexualization of young girls.'

The trend follows the Western fondness of late for the gap-toothed smile - also a 'young' dental look.

Made popular by the likes of models Lara Stone, Georgia Jagger and Jessica Hart, the Madonna-style grin became a requested look at New York salons last year.

Dr Marc Lowenberg, a cosmetic dentist in Manhattan, told the New York Times in 2010: 'The white standard got too white. The perfection standard got too perfect.'

Vincent Devaud, a ceramist from Pasadena in California, added: 'What makes a person desirable and attractive? It's not the symmetry; it's perfect imperfections.'

Kirsten Dunst would surely agree. The actress told Elle UK that she is very fond of her 'snaggleteeth.'

'I love my snaggle fangs,' she said. 'They give me character and character is sexy.' Yaeba sites have latched on to her look, celebrating its crookedness.

There is, of course, the danger that by aiming to be unusual, eccentricity becomes mainstream - and that whimsical 'imperfection' is all about pandering to be more perfect. - Daily Mail

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