I was reading about some of the stuff Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan had done, including dental implants. His looks crazy far out though- modeled after some actor and topped off with a gold tooth. I’ve got some seriously bad teeth too but in reading his story I’m kind of thinking I could do it. Are all his teeth replaced with dental implants or did he keep some of the original ones? And, is this something anyone can have done or did he get some kind of special treatment on account of the cameras and stuff?
Thanks,
Rich
Dear Rich,
Shane MacGowan had some pretty rough teeth to begin with. Most people would consider what he had going on as “meth mouth,” though he’s generally only tied to heroin, LSD, alcohol, and cigarettes. That said, a lifetime of fighting and odd habits like eating records probably didn’t help much either. Adding to the complications, he spoke out a bit and hinted at a dental phobia, saying, “Everybody was scared of the dentist in those days,” while recalling a story from his childhood about having teeth pulled. “When I was very small I had teeth taken out by a string round the tooth and then put on the door handle there. They wouldn’t tell you what they were going to do, they would just bang the door and out came the tooth.” Into adulthood, it was pretty clear he shied away from treatment and had a number of issues that complicated treatment.
From what’s known of his case, MacGowan had his remaining teeth pulled and initially started off with a traditional denture. He wasn’t fond of the way it looked, and so he stopped wearing it. A few years later, his long-term girlfriend had a smile makeover done and he felt inspired to give it a go as well.
Supposedly, his new teeth are model after Michael Fassbender’s, though footage from a documentary covering MacGowan’s transformation talks about them choosing a more natural shade with more brown tones, versus the Hollywood white Fassbender has. MacGowan also had his dentist include a gold tooth because he thought it looked “sexy.”
Overall, he’s said to have a total of eight implants, joined by a titanium arch to serve as a brace for the replacement teeth. While going with a gold tooth is somewhat uncommon, the general procedure is one that any person—celebrity or not—can have performed. If it’s something you choose to go forward with, just be sure to select a dentist who has performed a lot of similar work with good results and works with a top-notch dental implant lab.
This blog is sponsored by Kentucky dental implant lab, Miller Dental Implant Lab.