Will I Have Perfect Teeth in Heaven?
My teeth don’t line up properly. It’s really a minor inconvenience, nothing life-changing in the grand scheme of things. It simply means that I can’t chew well on one side of my mouth because my teeth don’t touch. A mildly annoying quirk, except when I remember that I spent almost seven years in braces…
But alas, over the years—with special thanks to pregnancy hormones—while living overseas, my teeth moved. When I told my dentist at the time, he simply told me, “That doesn’t happen.” And so, my teeth found new real estate in my mouth with no intervention.
The other day, my mismatched teeth were bothering me more than normal. And in my frustration, I wondered, “What will my teeth be like in heaven? Will I have perfect teeth?” This thought spiraled rapidly down a new path as I envisioned my glorified body-to-be. I began to think about all the mirco-pains in my body that I live with day-to-day. How the circulation in my hands is bad and regularly hurts, how my family’s history of back problems is finally catching up to me, and how gray hairs are popping up in pairs each day. These are all minor struggles that I regularly ignore.
Then, I thought about my family—about my mom’s rheumatoid arthritis and how my dad can’t eat a single meal without severe pain after his cancer. I thought about my mother-in-law’s medically unexplained pains and liver problems, and the intense suffering that many of my friends and family members experience each and every day. What will heaven be like for their bodies?
While there’s a lot that we don’t know about heaven, we do know this: it’s going to be awesome.
Read what the Apostle Paul has to say about our resurrected bodies:
“What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place…” (1 Corinthians 15:50–54).
In heaven, every single ache, minor and major, will be gone. From silly, mismatched teeth that don’t work properly to overwhelming anguish and pain, our suffering will be no more. There will be no more death and no more tears (Revelation 21:1–4). God will clothe our corruptible bodies with incorruptibility. It will be a place of sinless perfection.
On a lighter note, it also seems that in heaven, we may still eat food (Mark 14:25, Luke 22:29–30, Revelation 19:6–9). If so, it will be the most amazing food imaginable, and I look forward to chewing that heavenly feast with teeth that actually work. But at the same time, I know my teeth won’t be my focus: Christ will.
In heaven, we’ll finally see Jesus. Our faith will be made sight, and we’ll worship Him with new resurrected bodies. We’ll know Christ and enjoy Him in ways we can only dream of now. While I’m sure my resurrected teeth will be great, seeing my Savior will be incalculably greater.
Now, that’s something I can look forward to.
Additional resources on suffering:
