Teeth are a peculiar topic for a pop song. Those rare songs which do tie into the concept are often just as strange, sometimes as menacing as the thought of dentistry itself.
From songs comparing toothache to heartbreak, to tracks surrounding anaesthetics and drug-induced escapism, our list of pop and rock songs about teeth covers it all!
Songs About Teeth
1. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Teeth
5 Seconds Of Summer’s 2019 single, Teeth, is an indie pop/rock song embellished with eerie elements of cinematic horror. This track is about an untamable woman whom the narrator can’t help but fall for, despite her wildly bittersweet, biting nature;
“Fight so dirty, but your love so sweet, talk so pretty, but your heart got teeth, late night devil, put your hands on me and never, never, never ever let go.”
Whilst highlighting the murderous, metaphorical aspects of razor sharp teeth, 5SOS ground their track in the harsh reality of having your heart ground to pieces by a manipulative partner;
“Some days, you’re the best thing in my life, sometimes when I look at you, I see my wife, then you turn into somebody I don’t know, and you push me away, push me away, yeah.”
2. Lady GaGa – Teeth
Appearing as an album-track on Lady Gaga’s iconic 2009 release, The Fame Monster, this fierce, bluesy piece is grounded in a disorienting sample, spookily layered with an abundance of contrasting, claustrophobic elements, all coming together to conjure the primal sense of fear cast by her vampiric lyrical story.
Teeth details the leech-like needs of a woman who shows no remorse for her victims, Gaga’s visceral lyrics bordering the fine line between allurement and threat;
“Got no salvation, got no religion (my religion is you), take a bite of my bad girl meat, show me your teeth (I’m a tough bitch), got my addictions, and I love to fix ’em … Show me your teeth (open your mouth, boy) … Now show me your fangs.”
3. Cavetown – Sweet Tooth
Cavetown’s indie track, Sweet Tooth, makes the cute comparison between sugar-spurred toothache and near-endless daydreaming about your crush; “Never had a cavity, never had nobody as sweet as you … Pay a visit to the doctor ’cause I have a sweet tooth for you.”
Blanketed with a nostalgic, grungy rock ambience, Cavetown’s track is styled to be as childlike as his title, woven with dream-pop flairs and a captivating sense of purity parading his lyrics;
“Sweet tooth for you, my honeydew, I’ll see you in my garden soon, beneath the skin, it’s cardiac, a safety pin, I like you, say it back.”
4. DNCE – Toothbrush
DNCE’s radio-pop style single, Toothbrush, is rooted in its title metaphor for slowly moving in with your lover.
Toothbrushes are often the first belonging to find a permanent home in your partner’s place when you first start staying the night; a concept DNCE draws upon to illustrate the desire for your new partner to stay a little longer;
“I just can’t let you go, you give me something I’ve never known, so baby you don’t have to rush, you could leave a toothbrush at my place.”
DNCE crafts his track with distracted adoration for his girl, fashioning a song for anyone wishing time to slow and pause in the moment, “Stuck in a limbo, half hypnotised, each time I let you stay the night, up in the morning, tangled in sheets, we play the moment on repeat.”
5. Demi Lovato – Skin Of My Teeth
Demi Lovato’s 2022 single, Skin Of My Teeth, unashamedly returns to her pop-rock roots to amplify her animalistic message of survival.
Anchored in shock and horror at your own story of endurance, this track highlights the survivors guilt and trauma which surfaces along the endless road of recovery, “I’m alive by the skin of my teeth, I survived but it got harder to breathe, asking why doesn’t make it easier, go easier on me.”
Skin Of My Teeth is backlit by a message against the media’s intrusion on the private life of celebs, inspired by the exploitation of Lovato’s own near death experience only a handful of years prior;
“Demi leaves rehab again, when is this shit gonna end, sounds like the voice in my head, I can’t believe I’m not dead … I don’t need you to keep score when I’m the one who’s at war.”
6. Green Day – Pulling Teeth
Green Day’s iconic 1994 release, Pulling Teeth, harbours a classic sound and structure that could pass cleanly for a cover of a ‘60s pop hit, though doused in nostalgic ‘90s punk distortion.
Pulling Teeth illustrates a turbulent, borderline abusive relationship with a semi-unstable woman, comparing her manipulation to the brutal feeling of having teeth extracted one by one;
“I’m all busted up, broken bones and nasty cuts, accidents will happen, but this time I can’t get up, she comes to check on me, making sure I’m on my knees, after all she’s the one who put me in this state … I better tell her that I love her before she does it all over again, oh God, she’s killing me.”
7. Green Day – Give Me Novacaine
Yes, we know the last entry was a Green Day track as well, however this 2004 evolution of their dentistry concept gives a striking contrast to a very similar topic of being worn down by love.
Grounded in an acoustic, almost Hawaiian groove, Give Me Novacaine comes from the perspective of the heartbroken, erasing their misery with drug use, rather than surviving through the pain.
Green Day work the dental anaesthetic, Novacaine, into the core of their lyrics, whilst composing their track to relate to the numbing of a number of metaphorical toothaches, from depression and grief to literal addiction;
“Take away the sensation inside, bittersweet migraine in my head, it’s like a throbbing toothache of the mind, I can’t take this feeling anymore.”
8. Scott Helman – Sweet Tooth
Scott Helman’s summery indie rock release, Sweet Tooth, metaphorises a sweet tooth for wanderlust and romantic adventure.
Helman silhouettes his track with hazy drug allusions to ‘red ones’ and ‘blue ones,’ opening the floodgates for some almost psychedelic teeth-themed lyrics;
“I hold hands with cosmic entities, I’ll take this tube out if I please, I got this sweet tooth, baby… I exploit my opportunities, some broken hearts, some cavities, I got this sweet tooth, baby.”