Woman on TikTok Used a Nail File to Grind Down Her “American Girl Doll Teeth”

TikToker Christina Scully (@uhmmokayyy22) went viral on the popular video sharing app after uploading a clip explaining that she filed her teeth down at 14 years of age, which now means she doesn't have "American Girl Doll teeth."

What does that mean anyway, and why on earth are folks using nail files on their teeth to begin with? Let's investigate...

"I used a nail file on my teeth when I was 14 so I no longer have American Girl doll teeth," she writes in a text overlay of the five-second clip as she opens her mouth to reveal a straight line of teeth to the camera.

The "American Girl Doll Teeth" she's referring to is a design aesthetic on some of the toys that feature the two front teeth of the doll protruding from the top lips (you can check out an example here, and here).

Apparently the concept of "American Girl doll teeth" started circulating around TikTok back in 2021. It seems some people really want these teeth, while others aren't fans. It looks like Christina is sad that she no longer has those teeth thanks to her past actions, but it's a little unclear just based on her video.

Either way, using a nail file on one's teeth is obviously not recommended.

Back in 2020, Dazed Digital noted the nail-filing-teeth trend going around on TikTok and quoted a dentist who explained how harmful this is, not to mention "permanent" and "irreparable."

“Filing down your teeth will remove the tooth enamel,” cosmetic dentist Dr. Krystyna Wilczynski of White & Co Dental told the outlet. “If you file too much enamel away, you risk tooth sensitivity and even worse, nerve inflammation and irritation, and pain. This can then lead to further complications and need for dental intervention.”

Manipulating/sculpting one's teeth has been a popular topic of conversation on social media as of late. It's not uncommon for folks to see influencers rocking veneers, and they haven't been shy about showing what they go through on a daily basis in order document how they went about getting them installed in their mouths.

On the flip side, there have been folks who've put veneer horror stories on the record — basically showing how their natural teeth have been scraped and carved down into Gollum-esque, jagged little chompers as a means of prepping their teeth for their veneers.

The trouble is that after these "veneers checks" started trending on social media, where folks were showing off their "baby shark teeth," dentists started to take notice and began warning others that taking this pre-veneer step was a completely unnecessary part of their veneer journey.

"Shaving teeth down to pegs like that is going to damage the nerve and you're going to need a root canal treatment and an extraction at some point in your life," dentist Shaadi Manouchehri said in a TikTok.

There was another dentist on TikTok who said that the "stump" shaving technique isn't even meant for veneers but actually "crown preparations, and there's a big difference" between the two procedures.

Dr. Manouchehri also said: "Second point, veneers or crowns will need to be replaced every 10 to 15 years typically. She is going to need to replace them probably four or five times throughout her lifetime if not more." (The dentist was referring to a girl in her TikTok video.)

The dentist added: "Not only the financial burden is going to be an issue, secondly it's gonna be a biological burden because the tooth physically can't be prepared and re-prepared every single time."

So, how many people have filed their teeth down? Have you ever had the urge to take a shard of metal to your teeth and file them down to get them looking the way you had them imagined in your head?