When it comes to smiles, few are as famous or feared as the vampires. From ancient folklore to modern pop culture, those sharp fangs may be the most iconic teeth on the scene! The history behind how vampires got their fangs could be a fun story to share with your patients this spooky season.

The first vampires

The Mesopotamians, Ancient Greeks, Persians, Indians and early Hebrews all told tales of blood-sucking monsters. They were anything but cool, often described as bloated, distorted and sometimes even purple in color. These creatures also lacked their most recognizable feature, fangs! They were not called vampires by name, but these are considered to be their earliest ancestors.

Eventually, the idea that humans could be turned into vampires became widespread, which began a vampire craze in early Europe. Vampires at this time were observed through a religious lens. This led to many of the vampire characteristics recognizable to us today. For instance, vampires could be kept away using holy water, mirrors did not reflect them because they had no soul and garlic was a tool to ward them off because it was a powerful medicine that was thought to prevent diseases. The first known piece of literature about vampires was a short story by Dr. John William Polidori called “The Vampyre”, which was published in 1819, nearly 80 years before Dracula appeared. 

Later down the road, another important literary vampire was "Varney the Vampire", who appeared in a series of stories published in weekly pamphlets called "penny dreadfuls" in the United Kingdom between 1845 and 1847. Varney was the first vampire in fiction to be depicted with fangs who bit his victims on their necks. He also possessed supernatural strength and hypnotic powers!

Famous Dracula

Bram Stoker wrote one of the most famous gothic horror novels in 1897, "Dracula”. This book invented the most well-known vampire to date. The writing takes us on the journey of Dracula from the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe to England. There, he earns his reputation as a dangerous monster before a climatic ending back in Transylvania. The novel hits the whole vampire checklist: garlic, bats, stakes through the heart and spooky castles.

Bram Stoker's Dracula did not have the same fangs widely depicted in modern films today. His Dracula was described as having "peculiarly sharp white teeth that protruded over the lips". Stoker had learned about real-world vampire bats discovered in the New World, and their blood-drinking habits strongly influenced his storyline. The bat's incisors create a wound for drinking blood, which aligns with the sharp teeth description in his book. Other theories say Stoker was influenced by certain medical conditions, such as porphyria, which can cause receding gums that make teeth appear larger.

Regardless, Stoker is credited by Historians for creating the correlation between vampires and pointy fangs. The modern image of vampires is almost completely based on Dracula himself.

Vampires in Hollywood

Nosferatu in 1922 is considered the first feature-length vampire film. Influenced by Bram Stoker's Dracula, Nosferatu introduced the monstrous version of vampires. Nosferatu had sharp teeth located centrally in the mouth, like a rodent's, to emphasize the creature's connection to the plague. This still looked a lot different than what we are used to today.

Then, Universal's Dracula in 1931 brought about a more suave, cape-wearing character. Although this portrayal set the standard for vampire films to come in most ways, this character lacked fangs all together! It is said that in theatrical performances, fangs were not worn in earlier days because they would have interfered with an actor's ability to articulate clearly for the audience.

Later down the line, a Hammer Film production in1957 starring Christopher Lee is widely credited with mainstreaming and popularizing the look of fangs for the modern vampire characters on our screens. 

Throughout the decades, the depiction has evolved to include romanticized, comedic and scary versions of these characters. And who could forget the 2000s phenomenons that were Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. This type of modernized content really solidified a young and cool vampire interest in today’s culture, as well as vampires with retractable fangs so they could partake in normal day-to-day teenage lives. 

A Halloween celebrity

In today’s Halloween traditions, people often dress up as vampires so they can wear dark mysterious clothing and adapt their cool, sly personas. What once was considered an evil character, is now seen as mystifying and sophisticated. This is widely thanks to the glamorization of vampires in recent pop culture.

It has been noted that in the 1960s, Halloween vampire masks on the market did not even have fangs, but by the 1970s they did. Today, one of the top faux fang companies, "Scarecrow Vampire Fangs", publicly denoted that they sell around 250,000 sets of fangs annually to over 35 countries. And that is just a fraction of the fang business!

Fun fact: Real vampire teeth

Did you know that some people are born with naturally elongated or pointed canine teeth that resemble "vampire teeth" due to genetic factors, which can also be influenced by developmental conditions like macrodontia or hyperplasia. These pronounced canines are a natural variation in human diversity!

With that being said, the character we know for its pointy incisors did not even start out with fangs at all! It took years of literature, film and social influence to build the vampire we are now familiar with. This Halloween, consider sharing some of this surprising history with your patients to spark festive conversative in the chair!

The bottom line: The vampire’s fangs we know today didn’t appear overnight, they evolved through centuries of folklore, literature and film. What started as a fangless monster developed into sleek, sharp-toothed icons thanks to years of influence. This Halloween, learn the story behind the most famous smile of them all!