Does Billie Eilish Really Wear Invisalign?

At the start of her Bad Guy video, Billie Eilish makes a reference to taking out her Invisalign. She has beautiful teeth and it doesn’t look like she needs to wear braces. Is this some kind of publicity stunt? Or does she actually need to wear them?

Thx

K

Dear K,

Billie Eilish really does wear Invisalign. She’s actually shared photos of herself with her aligners and both she and her family have publicly spoken about her use of them.

The Invisalign Reference in “Bad Guy” is a Bit of an Inside Joke

“It became this kind of running joke with me and Bill, ‘cause we’d record, and she has been wearing Invisalign for like a year-and-a-half now,” Billie’s brother Finneas explained to Vulture. He says the starlet speaks with a bit of a lisp when she’s wearing her aligners, but that she’s so accustomed to wearing them that she forgets to take them out. Of course, she remembers when she starts singing, so popping them out mid-recording became commonplace. And, as anyone who’s ever worn the clear braces knows, they’re snug. There tends to be a soft click as the plastic releases. Finneas picked up on it and recalls telling her, “Billie, this is gonna be your version of the Lil Wayne lighter flick.”

During recording, the two mostly laughed about whether she’d remembered to remove her aligners before the session, but kind of left it at that. “When we were wrapping it up, I felt like the album was pretty dark and covered a lot of heavy stuff,” Finneas explained, giving a nod to songs like Bury a Friend. He wanted to add an element of humor to complement the darkness, not just to lighten the mood, but to heighten the seriousness of the other parts. Because the pair already had recordings of her popping out the aligners, it was easy to add the sound into the song.

You’ll Get More Dental Sounds in “Bury a Friend” Too

Interestingly, the infamous click not the only dental-oriented sound incorporated in her album. Bury a Friend has a recording of her dentist’s handpiece; the tool used to remove her attachments, according to the New York Times. “Attachments” or “buttons” are small dots of white dental material—the same kind used for tooth fillings—which are sometimes placed on the surface of teeth during treatment to help them move better. This is also one of the reasons why Billie’s click as she removes her aligners is a bit more pronounced. However, as was the case with Billie, the attachments are removed easily by the dentist when they’re no longer needed.

If You Look at Older Photos, You Can See What She’s Trying to Correct

The only people who really know what Billie wanted to correct with orthodontics are Billie and her dentist, but if you look at some of her older pictures (even back then it was hard to catch her smiling!), you can see a couple small spots which could be cause for orthodontics. For example, she’s got a tiny gap next to her front tooth on her left side. Some images also indicate that her midline might have been slightly off-center as well. Of course, after a year-and-a-half of treatment, these may already be totally vanquished or pretty close to it. Perhaps now we’ll get to see more of that beautiful smile of hers!

This blog is sponsored by Dr. Steve Sirin, an Elgin Invisalign provider.