Freddie Mercury Always Worried About His Teeth, Here's Why He Never Fixed Them

Freddie Mercury was one of the world's most popular and greatest music icons. He was on the forefront of the band, "Queen," as a lead vocalist. He was also known for his powerful voice and commanding stage presence.

Mercury, who passed away after a complication with AIDS, garnered many fans and admirers after the release of the 2018 movie, "Bohemian Rhapsody."

With an increased interest in the life of the famed musician, it may come as a shock to fans to know that Mercury was born with four additional teeth.

Mercury, originally named Farrokh Bushra, was born on September 5, 1946. When his parents moved to England in the early '60s, he started attending school for graphic design, as he was drawn to fashion and creative entrepreneurship at an early age.

At the time, he also had an intense desire for music, so in 1970, he joined a band named "Smile."

This consisted of guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. He eventually formed a group with them, which was renamed "Queen."

Mercury wrote numerous hits for his band, including "Killer Queen," "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Somebody to Love," "We Are the Champions," "Don't Stop Me Now," and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."

You may think that Freddie was unaffected by his teeth hence the reason he never thought to have them fixed.

But, multiple sources revealed that his teeth were a major source of self-esteem problems for the "We Will Rock You" singer.

In fact, not many know that Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen, almost rejected Mercury for his teeth.

The band feared that his smile would affect their image and popularity among the youth. But persuading him that it added more range to his vocals, the then-to-be lead singer of "Queen" gained the approval of the band.

Mercury’s teeth continued to hinder him emotionally–The lead vocalist was never happy with his overbite in the least.

Reportedly, the star would attempt to cover his teeth with his upper lip. At times he even held the microphone slightly over his mouth to cover his teeth.

His insecurities may have started from a young age, where the singer's teeth attracted a lot of bullying throughout his school years.

He experienced taunting from his classmates who nicknamed him “Bucky.” Ironically, all the emotional torment and torture that Mercury’s teeth inflicted on him couldn’t persuade him to seek orthodontics.

Everyone noted Mercury's impressive vocal prowess and astounding singing range, but they noticed his significant overbite more.

Mercury's teeth protruded and made his smile very noteworthy. The reason for this was a very rare condition of mesiodens– he had supernumerary teeth or in specific medical tone, class II malocclusion.

These extra teeth caused overcrowding and pushed his upper tooth, causing them to protrude. The front teeth were larger than the rest and drew attention to his smile.

They stood out significantly, and in every picture where Mercury was seen smiling, it seemed like they dominated his face. He also had to deal with eating difficulties.

Although he was a lead singer in a very successful band, Mercury refused to fix his teeth. He believed that his supernumerary teeth and overbite were the secret to his beautiful talent.

He had a four-octave range that could alternate between a growl and an operatic melody, and he attributed this to his teeth.

He also believed his additional teeth gave him more space, and by extension, more range.

Although cosmetic dentistry was quite popular in those days, the artist compromised his self-image for music. Mercury’s teeth weren’t after all the operators of his vocals. What he had instead was a rare ability to use his false cords.

When he accessed the false cords to contrive his marvelous vibrato, in addition to his four-octave range, it gave Mercury a once-in-million talent.

It was all written in the folds of his DNA, the powerful vocals, the extensive range, the extraordinary teeth, and the rich character.

According to a Queen documentary, it was also alleged that he had a dentist phobia. In fact, "Queen" was scheduled to appear on "Tonight With Bill Grundy," a London talk show but had to cancel on short notice because Mercury had a toothache.

Whether with techniques of the past or current technologies, fixing Mercury's teeth wouldn't have been a problem. To put his smile into the perfect order, Mercury would have had to extract his four extra teeth.

This would give his extra teeth room to move into alignment. Next would come orthodontics which would require braces to push back his teeth.

After that, he might need some polishing here and there to tweak his smile. If he wanted, he could get a dentist to chip off part of his front teeth to make them smaller.

Although there's no sure indication that this would have affected his voice, he was still one of the greatest musicians who ever lived, despite his condition.

His devotion to music, his fans, and his friends made for an enjoyable experience and made him a legend of Rock and Roll.

RIP  Freddie Mercury.