Let’s face it, looks count when you’re a celebrity.
For some, humble beginnings may include crooked smiles, imperfect bodies, and less expensive clothes and possessions. However, once the careers take off and the money comes in, who could blame someone for wanting their looks to be top-notch—even if that means trading God-given traits for even better ones. Whether it’s a Brazilian Butt Lift, breast augmentation, facelift, tummy tuck and/or anything in between, some stars have dropped even bigger bags on pricey white pearls, some of which have sparked a lot of discussion.
Cardi B once rapped in 2018, “Got a bag and fixed my teeth/ Hope you ho*s know it isn’t cheap,” and the former exotic dancer did just that. Fast forward to 2024, the “Like What” rapper recently shared that she lost one of her expensive porcelain veneers to a bun. “Why did one of the veneers come out chewing on a hard a** bun? [straight face],” he said.
Then there are others who have traded in years of wearing gold and diamond-encrusted grills for a glittering set of chompers – like Plies, 21 Savage, Gucci Mane and more.
With that in mind, PULSE decided to share 10 celebrities whose veneers have shocked the world either in a good or bad way. Be the judge and check them out below.
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Gucci Mane
Image credit: Presley Ann/Getty Images
In 2020, Gucci Mane showed off his new teeth to his Instagram followers. In a caption, Wop revealed that he dropped $250,000 for a new smile after wearing gold shirts for most of his career.
“A quarter Milly in GuWop grilly,” he captioned a video showing off his porcelain veneers with single diamond accents.
His new smile didn’t stop social media from sharing their opinions on his new look. “Okay so… those DOG TEETH have got to go they are too big…” one person commented at the time.
See below.
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King Harris
Image credit: Nykieria Chaney/Getty Images
King Harris received a lot of comments after he revealed that he had a bag dropped on the new teeth – with some calling him ‘Sweat Teeth’ and ‘Kef Teeth’.
In a 2023 video, King showed off his large veneers while promoting an event with Funny Marco. In response, his dad, TI, spoke about his son’s appearance during an interview with DJ Diamond Kuts in August.
“The man said he wanted his teeth fixed,” Tip began. “He put in his paper, piled up his money and went and got his teeth done. I respect and admire and celebrate the actual process he went through to complete them. And so when I saw him, I congratulated him. I was like, “Hell yeah, man. They whiten!” He also shared that his mother, Tiny, reacted to his teeth with, ‘Why the hell are they so big?'”
Responding to all the backlash, King took to Instagram saying: “Yeah gotta do this big tooth troll video man. Yeah bro, listen, chill, bruh. Your f*** isn’t going anywhere. It will still be there. I don’t want her.”
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Tia Kemp
Image credit: Instagram
Tia Kemp, who has become widely known as the mother of Rick Ross’ son, has become synonymous not only with BossMan DLow’s viral song ‘Get In With Me’, but also with her extra white veneers that she always licks on the her video. Kemp has credited Ross with paying for her new smile, but also recalled that she almost died in Colombia after getting it.
“If these mothers** that I have in my mouth — you had them that cost this mom** king a lot and many days to lie in Colombia and they almost died,” he began. “He was jabbing and squirming and shooting Novocain into me left and right, well, you’d be a motherf***er here and lick them too. Why h*e, I’m proud of them. Your dad spent the bag.”
He added, “These go way back and they’re not number two, they’re porcelain whores.” Kemp went on to explain how she doesn’t have composites “like Steve Harvey.”
See below.
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Rick Ross
Image credit: Mireya Acierto/Getty Images
Rick Ross has enough money to pay for other people’s veneers and his own, of course. In January 2022, Biggest Bawse had some dental work done by Dr. Mario Montoya in Colombia.
“Billion dollar smile from the one and only @drmariomontoya in beautiful Cali, Colombia” he wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of him flashing his new veneers. “You deserve the best and nothing less. Smile, the biggest Bawse.”
He also posted a video of himself and Dr. Montoya, saying: “I just finished getting my teeth done so when you see me and we do this [flashes smile], that means the cable just hit. Boom, that money hit the account.” He added, “They gave you two ears and one mouth – smiles. You feel me?”
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Caesar Emmanuel from “Black Ink”
Image credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images
VH1’s Caesar Black ink revealed that he too traveled to Colombia for a mouth makeover in 2016. Along with ex-girlfriend Dutchess, the two showed off their veneers alongside oral restoration specialist Mario Montoya.
Fans were quick to comment on his new look, with one person commenting on YouTube, “they look like gum or dominoes”, and another saying, “they look like they have dentures”.
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Juelz Santana
Image credit: Prince Williams/Getty Images
Juelz Santana sparked a flurry of comments when he unveiled his new smile after years of criticism. Last year, the Dipset vet took to Instagram to show himself getting cosmetic dental surgery to fix his top row of teeth — which he admitted were damaged by prolonged drug use during his season 9 premiere Love & Hip Hop: New York.
“I’ve been kind of into pills and stuff. I was drinking like cough syrup, we call it ‘lean,’” he revealed in a clip. “The Hip-Hop industry that I was in just made it a really cool thing and I had a lot of teething problems. I was prescribed Percocet by the doctor and I started abusing it.”
On a brighter note, last year Juelz showed off getting his new veneers on Instagram. “Watch Ya Mouth Not Mines Got Me Right @dr_rubinshtein GETTING Ready 4 The Win… #ICFMF #WeInMotion #BackOutside,” she wrote while appearing in the surgery chair.
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Five
Image Credit: Instagram/Plies
Once known for his mouth full of gold, Plies shocked all his fans when he appeared with a beautiful new smile.
The 44-year-old he held a funeral for his golden foreheads and revealed a new one of his own.
“I just showed my mom my new smile. He hugged me, started crying and said “Finally I’m back baby,” he captioned showing off his veneers. “One of the proudest days of my life. 2021 I might just become a full-time Brand Ambassador with this new smile… No F***ing Gettin ate with these. (Ladies) How did I do it?’
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21 Wild
Image credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
In 2021, 21 Savage traded in his gold grill for white porcelain ones.
“I paid 75 thousand. I will be damned if I let you say these teeth are not mine.’ wrote to X the time he followed his post of relaxing next to palm trees.
Social media naturally had plenty to say, with some taking a new liking to the rapper’s look. “21 Savage looks real daddy with his new teeth” wrote one fan as another said, “21 Savage still not cute to me big beautiful teeth or not.”
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NeNe Leakes
Image credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Infamous reality queen NeNe Leakes opened up about getting expensive plastic surgery during a 2018 episode Real Housewives of Atlanta.
In the midst of a feud between her and Sheree Whitfield, Leakes made it known that he put $50,000 in her mouth, which could buy Sheree a “house and a car.”
Since then, the 56-year-old has upgraded her appearance even more. See below at 3:57.
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Steve Harvey
Image credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Many people like to mention Steve Harvey when talking about veneers, although it has not been confirmed if his ‘perfect smile’ is actually fake.
In 2020, the comedian, game show host and actor was asked if he had dentures during an episode Family feud by a contestant, with whom she confronted her.
Rolling his eyes at her irrelevant answer to a question, he asked, “You don’t think those are my teeth, are you? Do you think I have a set of dentures on my head? You just entered the Hatred to speak of mine as**.”
