The Transformation Of Johnny Depp's Teeth Has Heads Turning

Back in the early 1990s, when the Viper Room was the hottest spot on the Sunset Strip and packed full of all the coolest kids, its owner, Johnny Depp, was a bona fide Hollywood heartthrob. However, hard partying and heavy smoking took their toll, resulting in Depp morphing into his idol, Keith Richards, complete with the musician’s early ’70s rotten brown smile.

When ranking celebs with the worst teeth, Depp is right up there with Steve Buscemi and his crooked, yellowed gnashers. And for years, he seemingly couldn’t care less. “I’ve got loads of cavities,” Depp boasted to Premiere magazine in 1995. “I had a root canal done eight years ago that’s unfinished. It’s like a rotten little stub.” 

Over the decades, as Depp’s smile deteriorated, so did his general appearance. But he’s been upping his physical game recently. In April 2024, Depp underwent an eye-popping hair transformation, and he appears to be working hard to reverse some of the damage he wreaked on his leading-man looks. Something that’s much needed given the fallout from his humiliating legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard. Those resulted in Disney canceling Depp, reportedly bringing his hugely profitable stint as Captain Sparrow to a screeching halt. Still, following a supposed time in exile, Depp’s career has shown ever-increasing signs of getting back on track (although some would dispute that it was ever really off in the first place). Either way, he’s also getting his smile back on track, and the transformation of Depp’s teeth has heads turning.

In the ’90s, Johnny Depp was hailed as the world’s most beautiful movie star — and with good reason. His chiseled cheekbones, thick black hair, sultry pout, and soulful brown eyes made Depp the epitome of Hollywood heartthrob. This resulted in him being named People’s Sexiest Man Alive not once but twice: in 2003 and 2009. And although he didn’t flash them often, preferring the mean and moody look, he had pearly white teeth.

At that time, Depp was riding high with a slew of indie hits under his belt, including “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” “Benny and Joon,” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” His romantic life was equally hot. It was love at first sight for Kate Moss when she met Depp in 1994. The British model admitted to Vanity Fair in October 2010 that it took “years and years of crying” to recover from their breakup in 1997. “Oh, the tears!” she said. Depp wasted no time moping around, though. He moved on to French model and singer Vanessa Paradis, with whom he was with for 14 years before they split in 2012.

Meanwhile, Depp started honing his Hollywood bad boy rep in earnest before all of the spoils of an A-list life began taking its toll on his looks — and teeth.

By 2010, Johnny Depp was on the wrong side of 40, and his teeth really showed the effects of his years of hard partying. In a rare smile during a press conference for “Alice in Wonderland” at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in February, his yellowed and stained chompers had a decayed, milky-coated appearance.

Depp’s chain smoking undoubtedly contributed to his dental decline. The actor opened up about his nicotine addiction in an interview with “Entertainment Tonight” in 1993. “I’m one of the few and proud smokers who really love smoking,” he admitted. “If I could have another mouth grafted onto my face to smoke more, I would do it … The one gift I have in this world is I have incredibly strong lungs. Sometimes I smoke two, three cigarettes at a time.”

As for the damage his cigarette and cigar habit wreaked on his teeth? Luckily for Depp, he couldn’t care less. In a 1995 interview with Premiere magazine, he compared his nasty gnashers to the imperfections that Native Americans always include in their crafts. “I’m proud of [these teeth],” he said. “When I see people with perfect teeth, it drives me up the wall. I’d rather swallow a tick than have that!”

Johnny Depp is a devout method actor. He went to extreme lengths to play Hunter S. Thompson in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Depp told Rolling Stone in June 1998 that he moved into the gonzo journalist’s dingy basement, where he slept on a fold-out couch and chain-smoked. When he wasn’t watching the mass of spiders crawling around, he shadowed Thompson so he could closely observe his mannerisms and immerse himself in his psyche.

Depp took his role as Captain Jack Sparrow equally as seriously. At a May 2011 press conference in Cannes, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” producer Jerry Bruckheimer explained on whom Depp based the character. “He is a weird combination of an 18th-century rock ‘n’ roll star, who looks like Keith Richards, and Pepé Le Pew, a very romantic skunk!” Bruckheimer told reporters.

It’s possible that Depp also took some inspiration from A$AP Rocky, leading to Captain Jack’s iconic gold grillz. Depp loved the look so much that he kept them in after filming. “I think I will have to [remove them] at some point,” he told David Letterman in 2007, explaining they also prevented the possibility of any dental procedures occurring. “The problem is that every time I go to a dentist, they demand I get in the chair, and they have to perform a root canal or something horrible.” It seems that they worked a treat, as it was evident that Depp’s teeth were worse than ever.

Given the continuing fallout from the humiliating 2022 trainwreck that was the Johnny Depp Vs. Amber Heard trial, the actor didn’t have much to smile about in 2023. This is just as well because, by then, Depp’s teeth were just a mass of brown stains and rot — definitely not something even a dentophobe like him would be keen to flash.

However, whether Depp liked it or not, his rotting teeth were the talk of the town. Social media dentists flocked to X, formerly Twitter, to weigh in on a Page Six post comparing Heard and Depp’s dentitions. Not surprisingly, commenters were firmly divided into #TeamJohnny: “He looked stunning, was praised for his work and got a 7 minute standing ovation after the screening of his new film! THAT is headline material! He deserves better! Do better @PageSix” a Depp devotee gushed. “No one cares about Amber. Johnny has a wonderful film coming out and his teeth are real. Not fake like so many actors. I prefer real teeth and Johnny is an amazing actor,” another raved.

And #TeamAmber: “Ahahaha Depp stans about to start a conspiracy theory on how Amber appears purposely showing her perfect smile after Johnny’s being dragged for his lack of hygiene,” a Heard proponent wrote. “The beauty of a woman who tells the truth versus the rotting teeth of a räpist,” a second opined. “Karma is just getting started on John Depp,” a third sniped.

After Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s legal war ended, industry insiders speculated that both actors’ careers would be over. They were right about Heard, it would appear. Depp? Not so much. In May 2023, an adoring audience at the Cannes premiere of his movie “Jeanne Du Barry” gave Depp a seven-minute standing ovation. Two months later, he was recognized at the London National Film Awards gala for his exceptional contribution to the film world. And despite Disney dropping him from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise in December 2018, following the publication of Heard’s infamous Washington Post op-ed, there’s chatter that the studio wants him back for the sixth installment.

In preparation for his cinematic comeback, Depp is undergoing a transformation, starting with his teeth. Fans were stunned when a video surfaced of the actor flashing perfect pearly whites while on vacation. A bartender posted the clip, taken at Lorraine’s Café in Exuma, Bahamas. It shows Depp leaping behind the bar, broadly grinning as he mixed up some cocktails.

Meanwhile, In Touch claimed Depp’s dental makeover journey has only just begun. “This is the start of better things ahead,” a source said, claiming, “He wants to build up muscle too and maybe some nip/tucks, and why not? He’s finally going to do something about that pot belly, not to mention investing in some beauty rituals to polish his skin and hair and general appearance.”