Why do so many character designs now look so… toothy?

When I was growing up, I could have never expected the graphics that we have now. The detail and scale is remarkable. But there are also these really common things among character designs that I just can’t quite grasp, and that really make me think that lower quality would be better.

Have you noticed this toothiness? When a game has really good graphics, the characters also have really visible teeth, as though the actors were told to do more “lip action.”

I sometimes looked at the graphics in older games when I played them when they came out and thought that they weren’t great, but man I think something like Morrowind has significantly better character design than something like the newer Mortal Kombat games. It’s like everything became more realistic, except for the mouths, and they’re so off putting to me that I’d 100% accept them just not moving at all, and having to imagine them moving.