Tom Cruise Teeth: Story Behind Actor's Smile, Middle Tooth

When it comes to smiles, Tom Cruise‘s teeth might take the cake. More than three decades into his career, the action star — who has starred in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, including Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Top Gun — is still one of the hottest stars, and it’s all thanks to his impeccable acting chops and winning good looks.

But no matter how phenomenal he is as an actor, fans can’t help but notice that Tom’s 100-watt grin has one tooth that’s just a bit out of place. In fact, you can see from photos that his teeth aren’t exactly symmetrical with the center of his face. Many have noticed that Tom’s right front tooth is just a tad askew and has been widely referred to as his “middle tooth” for quite a while now.

tom-cruise-teeth — Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock

Tom has certainly put in the time and effort to achieve the smile he has today. Just after his split from Nicole Kidman in 2001, the Hollywood veteran got braces to address an overbite and misalignment problems. He proudly showed them off while walking the red carpet at the 2002 premiere of Minority Report.

The Jerry Maguire actor has never been shy about flaunting his less-than-perfect smile. When he played Steve Randle in 1983’s The Outsiders, a young Tom voluntarily removed the cap from a front tooth that had been chipped by a flying puck in a hockey match.

Despite his dental imperfection, Tom has never lacked confidence. In 1985, only a couple of years after his career took off, the genetically blessed star explained why he decided to embrace his newfound sex symbol status. “It doesn’t bother me at all,” he told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “I mean, I don’t, like, resent it. I’m not tortured at night by it. You know, I’m actually very happy that people, you know, think enough of my work to feel that way.”

Fans have never seemed to mind his unique grin. Since he was thrust into the spotlight in the early ‘80s, Tom has remained one of Hollywood’s hunkiest actors. He stepped back into his role of Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick. The action movie was a huge hit at the box office, becoming the New York native’s first film to gross $1 billion worldwide, per People.

Fans could not help but notice Tom’s timeless look in the film, sparking major social media attention along with his costars Miles Teller and Glen Powell. He promoted the sequel on red carpets all over the world with his dashing looks, proving that he is ageless. Of course, he rocked his best accessory — his smile!

Scroll through the gallery below to see Tom Cruise’s teeth in more detail!

1982

Although it doesn’t seem like it, the Edge of Tomorrow actor — who was just 20 years old at the time — actually started off his career with a set of chompers that were very discolored and extremely unaligned. According to Heightline, Tom initially fixed this issue with teeth whitening and alignment procedures.

June 2002

Considering Tom has one of the most famous smiles in the world, the actor didn’t want to draw attention to his face while trying to improve his teeth around 2001. Luckily, he was able to opt for invisible braces with ceramic brackets.

It wasn’t long before Tom was out and about smiling like normal!

December 2012

In 2012, Tom attended a benefit screening of the film he starred in, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. He came out to Knoxville to support “Variety — The Children’s Charity of Eastern Tennessee” and was smiling big during his red carpet appearance. Some fans also noticed that, aside from his middle tooth, his left incisor appeared to be bigger than his right one.

June 2017

During an interview at The Mummy fan event in New York City, Tom flashed a smile showing off his pearly whites. You can tell from looking up close that his right incisor lines up with his nose. Despite this slight imperfection, his smile has come a long way from his days playing the part of Steve Randle.