The Bizarre Phenomenon That Can Happen To Human Teeth After Death

Although they've yet to come up with answers about an afterlife or reincarnation, there is a lot scientists know about death, particularly when it comes to how the body behaves in and after life's final moments. Most people know about postmortem phenomena like rigor mortis, the stiffening of the body, and putrefaction, the slow and smelly decomposition of organic tissue. However, there are some fascinating changes that are far less publicized, like how the eyes can change color after death. They aren't the only body part that can do so either. It turns out that your teeth can turn pink after you die, and scientists aren't entirely sure why.

It is not common to have your teeth turn pink after death, but it can happen to some people. Specifically, the part of the tooth closest to the gums tends to change color. The reason lies in the tooth pulp, the soft core of the tooth, which is packed with tiny blood vessels. If those blood vessels burst, then blood can leak through the dentin and discolor the enamel of the tooth. Unfortunately, this is about as much as scientists can determine, because nobody really knows why these blood vessels burst in some dead bodies but not in others.

Researchers have tried to crack the case of what death circumstances are required to cause a person's teeth to turn pink, but they haven't found conclusive answers. A study published in the Archives of Oral Biology in 2025 conducted a comprehensive review of medical literature and could not link the occurrence of pink teeth to any specific cause of death. If any such link could be established, it would have major implications for forensic investigation techniques.

Although scientists have not been able to establish a clear case of cause and effect with postmortem pink teeth, the phenomenon does have a disturbing overlap with some very unpleasant means of demise. Pink teeth are most commonly observed in people that died by drowning, suffocation, or in fires. They also seem to have something to do with moisture, because bodies that were found in water or in very humid environments are more likely to have pink teeth.