THERE was never much chance that anyone would have walked a million miles for one of Shaun Ryder’s smiles.
The rocker’s teeth were in such bad condition that he hardly had anything left in his mouth which could be usefully used to chew.
But not any more.
The Happy Mondays singer has had his whole mouth reconstructed with ‘Lava’ after going to the dentist for the first time in 20 years.
The singer’s teeth were in such a bad state of disrepair that the procedure to correct it – not a single tooth escaped the attention of the dentist – cost a massive £10,000.
Every single tooth had some kind of treatment performed on it. Some were extracted and replaced and others – the ones which could be rescued – were repaired and capped.
Dentist Lance Knight, who runs the city centre-based Gonstead Clinic in St Ann’s Square, tells me: “Shaun’s teeth were in a real state. Every tooth needed something doing to it – they really were as bad as you can get.
“We had to extract a few and cap or treat the rest. He hasn’t liked the dentist in the past but we had a few consultations before any of the work was done and we got quite friendly so it was more like a mates thing for him, which he obviously found less intimidating.
“We had to use this brand new product called Lava to carry out the full mouth rehab he needed. And he was in the chair for a total of about six hours. But he was a good patient and was able to watch MTV and listen to his favourite music while we carried out the various necessary procedures.”
The state-of-the-art dental studio where the star had his teeth done attracts a host of local celebrities including footballers and TV stars, who take full advantage of its onsite roof garden, DVD room and XBox games systems while they wait for their turn in the chair – and not a single copy of Reader’s Digest in sight!
And Dr Knight (pictured below with Shaun) tells me that Shaun’s new look is all part of the Happy Mondays upcoming return to the music scene. The band are recording a new album and are set to release new material soon.

And as Shaun’s bandmate Bez had his teeth made over earlier in the year too, we can expect some real Hollywood smiles when they return to the limelight.