Viral story about Egyptian gifting his girlfriend with toothy bracelet was intended as a joke

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 23, 2021 at 12:05
3 min read
By AFP Kenya, AFP South Africa

A meme widely shared on Facebook claims that a man from Egypt gave his girlfriend a bracelet made from his teeth. Although the claim is false, it was intended as a joke. The man seen in the photo altered his own image and created the hoax to highlight the eccentric ways in which people express their love. The bracelet photo, however, is real and has been online since at least 2016.

Facebook posts published here and here on November 12, 2021, shared the meme which comprises two pictures: one showing a bracelet fashioned from human teeth, and a second of a man smiling without any visible teeth.

“A young man from Egypt takes out all his teeth and presents them to his girlfriend to express his love for her,” reads the text in the meme.

A screenshot of the meme on Facebook, taken on November 22, 2021

While some people who commented saw the humour and thought the story was fabricated, others believed it to be true, expressing a mixture of confusion, disgust and concern.

A screenshot of the comments in the Facebook post with the meme, taken on November 22, 2021

'Just a troll'

However, a reverse image search showed that the story is nothing more than a lighthearted tale, according to this Al Ain News debunk on November 3, 2021.

The man in the photo is Egyptian actor Mostafa Soliman El Sayed. He told the Arabic news website that he searched for the picture online and paired it with a modified photograph of himself with a toothless smile.

Written in Arabic, El Sayed’s Facebook post on October 31, 2021, has been shared more than 500 times and translates to: “Seriously, one of the most beautiful meanings of love that I have ever seen in my life is that you take out all your teeth and molars and give them to the person you love.”

The aim, he said, was to mock the unique gifts that some couples exchange, such as the vials of blood he shared in the comments.

A screenshot of the original Facebook post, taken on November 22, 2021

Another video report also explained in Arabic that El Sayed was “just kidding with his followers and did not expect it to become a trend”.

AFP Fact Check contacted El Sayed, who confirmed the claim is “not real".

“It is fake", he told AFP Fact Check, “It was just a troll. I am an actor”.

Human molars

Another reverse image search revealed that the photo of the bracelet has been online since at least August 2016, when it appeared in a BuzzFeed article of the “12 Accessories made with parts of the human body for lovers of the macabre”.

The fourth item in the article is described as “a delicate bracelet with human teeth” and carries a link to an American shop called BoneLust on the online shopping website Etsy.

A screenshot, taken November 22, 2021, of the bracelet in the 2016 BuzzFeed article

According to a description on the archived Etsy page, the “Real Human Molar Necklace (or Bracelet)” can be customised to accommodate the number of teeth required, and the length of the chain.

Called the Tooth Fairy series, a typical piece “uses real legally acquired human teeth from dentists” – and not one set of teeth from an Egyptian actor as claimed in the meme.

A screenshot of the archived Etsy page showing the jewellery, taken November 22, 2021

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