Would you hire someone without a front tooth?

[SparklyNewMe]

I am looking to fill a customer facing, well paid position for a large organisation.
I have interviewed a candidate with suitable experience, I can see him fitting in well with the team but 2 front teeth are missing. My DH is missing a front tooth for the last 2 months, it’s taking NHS that long and it’s been fitted today at last. So, I know it’s not a red flag in itself and can be circumstances. Maybe he cannot afford and does not plan to fix. But I can’t ask him outright about this, I can’t discriminate on this basis and also I can’t have someone represent our organisation like this. It maybe my own biases and it’s perfectly acceptable and I am precious?

Any advice on how to go about it will be greatly appreciated.

@MissDoubleU I don't necessarily disagree with you but, rightly or wrongly, people do judge on appearance, and that includes teeth.

I find it quite interesting that this thread is full of people falling over themselves to say they'd never judge anyone missing their teeth, yet the dating threads are full of people saying they'd never date anyone with bad teeth and it's really off-putting.

And yes, I know dating and job interviews aren't exactly the same thing, but it's clear that people do judge and I think it's really disingenuous to say they don't.

If you need to ask this question on MN you probably shouldn't be interviewing people for jobs.

Sorry but you sound awfully judgemental and I hope for this man's sake that he finds another, better job where he won't have someone bitching about him on the internet!
Who else have you voiced your opinions to? Poor man.

You have no idea why he's missing those teeth or what plans he has and he probably feels self-conscious enough.

My brother-in-law (a very kind and hard-working person) lost ALL of his front teeth, top and bottom and was toothless for absolutely ages - none of it was his fault - he had them all smashed out of his mouth one Christmas Eve night as he made his way home when thugs decided to target him and stamp repeatedly on his head and face.
Long after the bruises faded and he looked "fine", he was still toothless and faced judgmental attitudes because "there must be some bad reason he has no front teeth" - yes there was a "bad reason" and none of it was his doing!
He had to wait absolutely ages for his gums to heal enough to remove the remains of the old, smashed teeth, insert metal pegs into his gums and finally get the replacement teeth.

Moral of the story is, don't judge when you have absolutely no idea what this man's history is - he may not have had a gang of thugs stamping his teeth out, but he could have had a trauma or anything .......... or he could have lost those teeth via poor dental hygiene but people tend not to neglect their teeth so badly for tooth loss just for the sake of it.

He had to wait absolutely ages for his gums to heal enough to remove the remains of the old, smashed teeth, insert metal pegs into his gums and finally get the replacement teeth.

Which isn't readily available on the NHS, by the way. That's assuming you find a dentist anyway.

There is also a difference between bad teeth and missing teeth, though. If someone is clearly not keeping on top of their dental hygiene visually it’s going to put anyone off. Just like not showering is going to put an employee off entirely, rightfully so. But there are many reasons for missing teeth, almost none of which are the persons fault. As PP said above, it can also take a long time to get them fixed even if it is in progress. And yes, of course dating - meaning finding someone attractive or not - is an entirely different game to hiring someone for a job they are otherwise very capable of.

Judging on a cosmetic situation you have no idea the cause or nature of is not a way to hire someone. End of story.

Would you also not hire someone for a facial birth mark or particularly large mole?

yes it’s a lot but false teeth are less. Snap on veneers £15 so even less.

The world can be so cruel. My friends daughter got passed up for so many roles when she had really bad acne and couldn’t cover it up with make up. She was well qualified and a lovely girl. She went on medication to treat her skin and miraculously, she was offered multiple roles all at once. Those companies that discriminate do not deserve good staff like her.

Eh? Of course you hire him

There is also a difference between bad teeth and missing teeth, though. If someone is clearly not keeping on top of their dental hygiene visually it’s going to put anyone off.

In 2025 UK, that just means they can't afford private dental care. Although I am predicting a flurry of replies about "how cheap it is" and "put down the avocado toast loser".

If you read my previous comments here I have said numerous times that there is no NHS dental care and advocating that any judgment on teeth is classist. By dental hygiene here I simply meant recently brushed teeth. If you are taking care of personal dental hygiene (ie, brushing) but otherwise cannot see a dental hygienist, I still consider this taking care of your basic dental hygiene.

My mum lost lots of her teeth when she had chemotherapy. They just fell out. It was awful and her self esteem was wrecked. Her workplace still promoted her. It took a long time for the NHS to sort out her bridges.

Yes, unless opening beer bottles with his teeth is a key competency.

snap on veneers £15

😂

No way at all that I'd ever consider hiring a polite, friendly, professional, well-skilled, hard-working person who had missing teeth for any of a multitude of reasons, most of which are not related to habitual scrapping in the street or general bad behaviour.

I'd much rather go for the rude, arrogant, aggressive person whose every other word begins with an F, who never listens to what people ask or say and assume that they know better what their job is than their boss and experienced colleagues - or at least they would if they weren't so lazy that they just sit there on their phone all day and actually bothered to do their job - as long as they have a full set of perfect gnashers.

How long have you worked in the motor trade ?

Is he a man with a penis? Could he be a rapist?

Does he have hands that could hold a gun? Could he be a bank robber?

Does he have legs and feet that he could use to kick in somebody's locked door? Could he be a burglar?

Where does it end?

@MissDoubleU I never said I wouldn't hire someone based on their teeth (or lack of)

My point is that everyone on here is talking about how unpleasant it is to judge someone for missing teeth - yet in other threads it's deemed perfectly acceptable to do just that.

I've said I agree with you that judging on appearance is not the right thing to do - but I am saying that it happens every single day and those who claim it doesn't aren't, imo, living in the real world.

It may not be legal and it may be discriminatory but to say it doesn't happen is just nonsense.

But judging what you find personally attractive and who you wish to date and be intimate with is not and can never be equated to judging someone professionally on who you would hire to do a job.

@MissDoubleU yes, and I said already that I know they're not the same

But (again) my point is that saying people don't judge in appearance when it comes to work and business is nonsense - it's human nature to do just that.

The issue comes when you act on that judgement, which of course nobody should be doing (but they do).

But as you say, dating and job interviews ARE completely different things and it's utterly meaningless to compare them.

I wouldn't date a man with missing teeth, because I don't find missing teeth sexually attractive. But sexual attractiveness isn't a requirement of a job role. Therefore I would happily employ someone with missing teeth just like I'd happily employ someone with any other quality I don't find physically attractive.

If I looked for the same qualities in a team member at work that I find attractive in a partner, I wouldn't ever have given to a job to a woman, or a man half my age, or anyone who couldn't pronounce their Rs properly, or a rugby fan, or a picky eater, or someone with a turned-up nose or whose eyes were too close together or whose ears stuck out. I wouldn't date any of those people, but I'd happily employ them. It's a completely false comparison.

What accent does he have? 🙄

@ItGhoul I guess I don't agree that it is a completely false comparison.

Yes, it's not directly comparable but people judge on appearance all the time, whether that's dating, at work or when it comes to socialising.

I am not saying it's okay to refuse to hire someone based on what you do or don't find attractive, but to say it doesn't play a role in people's success is just disingenuous imo.

Your point seems redundant. Yes, people may judge - It is appropriate to judge your attraction to someone in a dating situation, not appropriate in a work situation.

You seem to be agreeing, but also trying to reiterate “people are judgemental anyway, they judge appearance every day here” - what is your actual point? People can privately judge however they will, it should not hinder someone’s employment opportunity that customers or employees may unfairly do this within the professional, not personal, environment.

This is going to end up in the Fail so you best give him the job @SparklyNewMe

Can you suggest your company provides dentistry, even if for a short period of time ??