Holy molars! The American Idol runner-up has a brand-new, camera-ready smile!

It was the elephant in the room all season on American Idol. Yes, Crystal Bowersox was clearly one of the most talented performers on the show… but you couldn’t stop staring at her teeth! Now that she’s a national celebrity, Crystal has taken that long-awaited step and corrected the problem, even Twitpic-ing a shot of her mouth. Crystal now joins the long list of celebs who have made serious changes to their smile — a list that includes the likes of Zac Efron and Demi Lovato.

Ironically, Zac said, “my best physical characteristic is probably a very pronounced gap in-between my teeth,” on an episode of MTV’s Room Raiders in 2005. Clearly Zac’s affection for his gap shrunk as High School Musical propelled him into superstardom – along with the gap itself! Just look at the perfectly aligned set of chompers Zac’s sporting now!

You might not have realized it, but Demi also had some work done to her mouth early on in her career. The former Barney star had a noticeable gap in her front teeth when she filmed an episode of FOX’s Prison Break in 2006, but it’s nowhere to be seen now!

But just as Crystal, Zac and Demi felt the need to correct their dental imperfections, some celebs choose to embrace their unique look and refuse to make any changes. Perhaps the best example of this is Madonna, whose gap has become so famous it’s practically an icon unto itself. True Blood star Anna Paquin has also rocked her gap throughout her 17-year career, and it hasn’t stopped guys from drooling over her — especially her fiancé and co-star Stephen Moyer!

Where do you stand on the gap-tooth issue, HollywoodLifers? Do you think it makes some stars look more distinguished, or should everyone do whatever they can to fix their mangled mouths?