Why Tom Cruise's Teeth Have Sparked So Much Debate

Tom Cruise is a movie star with the innate ability to get everybody talking. The public constantly discusses the A-lister for a whole variety of different reasons, including Cruise's seemingly nonexistent relationship with his daughter, Suri, and the "Mission Impossible" star's consistent ties to The Church of Scientology. Despite how many legitimate controversies surround the "Top Gun" actor, one somewhat frivolous feature of Cruise that continues to be a hot topic is his teeth. They were an important aspect of his character, Steve Randle, in "The Outsiders." In fact, Cruise removed a cap and flaunted his real chipped tooth for the role. 

The actor later got braces relatively late in life at 40 years old, proudly displaying them on the red carpet. However, the main thing that people really fixate on about Cruise's teeth is what's been deemed his "middle tooth." If you drew a line down the center of the bankable star's face, which Life & Style magazine did to prove their point, Cruise's front right tooth is centered instead of evenly splitting the space with his front left tooth like normal. Likewise, the right front tooth also seems to be a bit bigger than the left one. Unsurprisingly, then, this has led many to speculate on what is really going on with the "Collateral" star's winning smile. 

Tom Cruise's middle tooth is likely because of a midline shift, the technical term for when your front teeth don't line up like they should. It's more than just a cosmetic issue and can affect your bite, mouth, and jaw in other ways. Missing teeth are one of the potential causes of midline shift. Longevita Dental therefore wondered whether Cruise lost a top tooth on the left side of his mouth, leaving a space to fill, pointing out, "His teeth have shifted to the left, which is why his dental midline is also to the left."

The "Jerry Maguire" star hasn't publicly spoken about his teeth, but it's been widely posited that he's had procedures done on them before, like many other Hollywood actors. In addition to braces, which Cruise openly had and which can be a fix for misalignment caused by midline shift, he might have had veneers and/or crowns too since veneers are another potential fix for this orthodontic issue. As myofunctional therapist Sarah Mercier shared in a TikTok video about Cruise's midline shift, there could be some other issues at play too. "He has a gummy smile because his top jaw is way too narrow," she noted. Still, nothing gets internet critics more heated than the middle tooth.

Many people have expressed their opinions on Tom Cruise's middle tooth — seemingly with false outrage for humorous purposes, but perhaps real annoyance due to their potential underlying dislike of him too. One person on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared a picture of Cruise and asked, "Why don't people hate Tom Cruise's middle tooth as much as I do?! IT'S IN THE MIDDLE DOG." Another user also shared a photo of the actor, admitting, "Whenever I remember Tom Cruise's middle tooth it ruins my day." A third joked about being afraid of Cruise's middle tooth by using a popular meme format. They framed their tweet as a conversation with their therapist, who reassured them that the A-lister's middle tooth didn't exist and therefore wasn't a threat. Then, they shared a photo proving that it does. 

The perceived uproar over the "Minority Report" star's middle tooth led others to comment on the odd way that people nitpick everything about celebrities' bodies. On the "Weird" subreddit, on Reddit, for instance, a commenter shared a photo of Cruise with a line showing his middle tooth. One respondent shared, "I couldn't be a celebrity. You smile at a camera and out there somewhere [people] be talking about how your teeth don't fit into your head [crying emoji]." They aren't wrong, because Cruise's fans have also long speculated that he's had plastic surgery based on certain changes to his face over the years.