The permissibility of using dentures

Q. I read the following Hadeeth: “Allaah has cursed those women who practice tattooing, those who get tattooed, those who pluck the hair of eyebrows, those who have their eyebrows hair plucked and those who make up gaps between their teeth to become more beautiful, changing thereupon the creation of Allaah.” Can you please elaborate on “those who make artificial spaces in between their teeth”? What does this mean and is dentures allowed in Islam?

A. Sayyiduna Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud Radhyallahu Anhu said “Allah has cursed those women who practice tattooing or get it done for themselves, and those who remove hair from their faces, and those who create spaces between their teeth artificially to look beautiful, and such women who change the features created by Allah. Why then shall I not curse those whom Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam has cursed and who are cursed in Allah’s Book too? (Bukhari)

In the above narration, the creating of spaces between the teeth refer to altering normal teeth and creating space between them. This refers to changing the creation of Allah, which is prohibited. As such, one is not allowed to interfere and alter the natural appearance of oneself.

In terms of using dentures, they do not fall in this prohibited category as dentures is covering up a defect and not altering/interfering with the natural teeth. When one extracts his teeth, a denture is made to fill the space of the extracted teeth due to appearance or for medical reasons.

Allah Ta’ala Knows Best

Mufti Ismaeel Bassa

themufti.com