The Symbolism of Teeth and Dental Work in David Sedaris's Happy-Go-Lucky

The Symbol at a Glance

Teeth in Happy-Go-Lucky are the most visible site of social judgment, and dental work becomes the narrator's attempt to control how the world sees him. The motif receives its fullest treatment in Smile, Beautiful, which opens with a man on a New York street telling a masked woman to smile—a moment that frames the essay's concern with who controls our faces. Sedaris then describes his lifelong self-consciousness about his teeth, his decision at sixty-four to undergo Invisalign treatment, and the complicated aftermath. The motif also appears in Highfalutin, where Amy Sedaris arrives at lunch with missing teeth, and in briefer moments elsewhere in the collection.

What Teeth Literally Are in the Book

Sedaris describes his own teeth with precise, unflattering detail. He was born without his left lateral incisor, and after his teenage braces were removed, he stopped wearing his retainer. By his twenties, a gap had opened between his front teeth that widened over the decades—first a credit card could fit, then a credit card atop a library card, then the edge of his wallet. Neighboring incisors began to jut outward. Amy's assessment is that he looks like he swallowed a bomb and his face froze a fraction of a second after it went off. A friend named Scott calls them [summer teeth]—summer here, summer there.

The physical details matter because Sedaris insists he cannot look at his own open mouth. He calls it his only certified phobia. For nearly forty years, he avoids mirrors during dental visits, smiles with his lips together in photographs, and covers his mouth when speaking. The teeth are thus both a concrete physical reality and something he refuses to confront directly.

Where the Motif Recurs

The motif appears in several distinct locations across the collection:

David's own teeth (Smile, Beautiful): The central treatment, spanning his self-consciousness, the Invisalign process, and the aftermath.
Amy's missing teeth (Highfalutin): At a Greek restaurant, Amy reveals she has lost her first premolar and neighboring cuspid, leaving a gap large enough for a thumb. She has a temporary flipper she can't eat with and plans implants over the coming year.
Denton's teeth (Smile, Beautiful): A young charity-shop clerk with some of the worst teeth Sedaris has ever seen—broken, missing, gray, and black ones at odd angles.
The Tokyo clerk (Smile, Beautiful): A department-store worker whose upper incisors grow outward like tusks, which Sedaris calls the scariest mouth he's ever seen.
The man in Seattle (Themes and Variations): A man missing both front teeth who refuses the cigarettes Sedaris offers him.

How the Meaning Changes

The meaning of teeth shifts across the collection, moving through several distinct phases.

Teeth as shame and judgment. Early in Smile, Beautiful, teeth are primarily a source of social anxiety. Sedaris feels judged in American shops and hotels, imagining clerks thinking that if he really had money, he'd spend some of it on a dentist. He notices other people's teeth first, even pets'. The mask mandates of the pandemic offer him relief—for the first time, he can walk down the street without worrying about what strangers see when he speaks.

Teeth as class marker. The dental anxiety is explicitly tied to money and belonging. Sedaris describes America as a hard place to be self-conscious about your smile, singling out Southern California, where he jokes that drivers wear dark glasses not for the sun but for the glare of oncoming teeth. Japan, by contrast, feels comfortable because dental standards are seemingly nonexistent. Teeth mark who belongs and who doesn't.

Teeth as family resemblance. When Amy shows her missing teeth at lunch, Sedaris thinks of how hickish they must look together—his teeth splayed like a donkey's, hers simply absent. The family connection is reinforced when the dentist compares his flat molars to a cow's or donkey's and he responds, Ah, Greeks. The siblings share both physical traits and a willingness to joke about them.

Teeth as transformation. The Invisalign process transforms not just his mouth but his sense of self. After the procedure, he feels more confident—when a credit card is declined, he stays calm instead of sweating. He feels like a slate has been wiped clean, so the world can judge him for what he says rather than how he looks saying it. A woman at a book signing tells him he has a beautiful smile, and he nearly cries.

Teeth as a question about helping others. The Denton episode complicates the symbol. Sedaris offers to pay for the young man's dental work, but the offer is received with suspicion—he looks like he's been fighting a cheetah, and his own teeth are still a mess. The episode raises questions about who gets to decide that someone else's life needs improving, and whether generosity can be distinguished from condescension.

Character Connections

David Sedaris is the center of the motif. His teeth are the site of his deepest self-consciousness and, eventually, his most visible transformation. The dental work at sixty-four is framed as a kind of renovation—he compares the pride he feels to refinishing furniture, though he admits he did none of the work himself.

Amy Sedaris provides the family mirror. Her missing teeth at lunch are treated casually—she's already planning implants—but the moment reinforces how the siblings share physical traits and a willingness to joke about them. David's joke about wanting one supertooth instead of two front teeth is typical of their banter.

Hugh serves as the counterpoint. When David shows off his new teeth, Hugh says he liked him better before. Amy agrees, saying the old teeth had character. This resistance to the transformation suggests that the people closest to David valued the visible imperfection that he himself found unbearable.

Denton is the figure who tests David's assumptions. His teeth are objectively terrible, but he declines the offer of help, and David is left wondering whether he had any right to make it. The episode ends with David hoping Denton lost the slip of paper with his contact information.

Theme Connections

The teeth motif connects to several of the collection's central themes:

Self-image and transformation: The dental work is the most concrete example of Sedaris attempting to change how he's perceived. The transformation succeeds, but it raises questions about whether changing your appearance changes who you are.
Aging and mortality: Getting braces at sixty-four is an unusual act for someone his age, and the essay is partly about refusing to accept the physical decline that aging brings. The father's decline elsewhere in the collection provides a contrast—he is losing his memory and his independence.
Family dysfunction and boundary violations: The teeth connect the siblings physically, and the Denton episode is a kind of boundary violation—offering to pay for a stranger's medical care without being asked.
Performance and audience: Teeth are what audiences see when Sedaris performs. The book-signing compliment is meaningful precisely because it comes from a reader, someone who has seen him onstage.
Pandemic as societal lens: The mask is the unlikely hero of the essay, offering Sedaris relief from judgment. The pandemic also creates the conditions for his dental work—his spring tour is canceled, so he has time.

Study Questions

1. Why does Sedaris describe his teeth as summer teeth, and what does this joke reveal about his relationship to his own appearance?

The joke comes from his friend Scott, who explains that they're summer here, summer there—meaning some teeth are present and some are missing. The joke reveals that Sedaris relies on others to describe his own mouth to him, since he refuses to look at it. It also shows how he processes shame through humor, a pattern that runs throughout the collection.

2. How does the pandemic change Sedaris's relationship to his teeth?

The mask offers him relief from the judgment he normally feels. For the first time, he can walk down the street without worrying that strangers are focusing on his mouth. The pandemic also creates the time for his dental work—his spring tour is canceled, so he has fourteen weeks with nothing to do. The mask and the aligners are both forms of concealment and transformation.

3. What does the Denton episode suggest about the limits of generosity?

Sedaris offers to pay for Denton's dental work, but the offer is received with suspicion, and Denton never takes him up on it. The episode suggests that generosity can't be separated from how it's perceived—Sedaris looks like a pervert when he makes the offer, and his own teeth are still a mess. It also raises the question of whether helping someone who hasn't asked for help is really helping.

4. Why do Hugh and Amy prefer David's old teeth?

Both say they liked him better before—Hugh says it directly, and Amy says the old teeth had character. Their preference suggests that the people closest to David valued the visible imperfection that he found unbearable. The new teeth make him look more ordinary, which is exactly what he wanted, but his family saw the old teeth as part of who he was.