Harry Potter: 15 WORST Plot-Holes In Wizarding World Movies

5. Dentists Don't Exist?!

Dentistry caused a bit of an issue in the Harry Potter world, which could be down to either one plot-hole or an entirely different one.

In the series, Hermione's parents are dentists, but this causes confusion in The Half-Blood Prince as Professor Slughorn seems unaware of what dentistry is (he asks if that's considered a dangerous profession, completely oblivious). That seems to suggest that dentistry doesn't exist in the Wizarding World and is purely a Muggle concern, since Slughorn is hardly an idiot.

But then the Weasleys' magical clock that shows where the entire family are has "Dentist" on as an option in The Chamber Of Secrets...

And there's also a Surgical and Dental operator sign on one of the stalls seen along Diagon Alley from the very first film, so they seemingly do exist. So the plot-hole seems to be why Slughorn would simply have no awareness of what a dentist is when it's a perfectly normal thing in the Wizarding World.

Then again, why would dentists exist at all in the wizarding world when it's established in the books that the medical profession can merely fix teeth? Hermione reveals as much when she's been transformed back from the hex Malfoy cast at her, giving her fangs, saying that Madame Pomfrey didn't just reverse the curse, she actually did some real dentistry:

‘Well … when I went up to Madam Pomfrey to get them shrunk, she held up a mirror, and told me to stop her when they were back to how they normally were,’ she said. ‘And I just … let her carry on a bit.’ She smiled.

If that's the case, why would there need to be a surgical dentist at all?