Teeth function as a symbol of the complete dehumanization of prisoners and the moral decay of Dividium’s privileged classes, contributing to the theme of The Dehumanizing Use of Suffering as Entertainment. Throughout the novel, teeth are harvested from slain inmates and transformed into fashion accessories, representing the final stage in the society’s commodification of human life. This practice is a grotesque manifestation of the novel’s examination of suffering as entertainment, where a human being is reduced first to prey, and then to a decorative object. When Raven fights Torin, before she enters Endlock, she briefly entertains the idea of pocketing his tooth, musing that for hunters, “They were morbid trophies—status symbols” (4). Her thought, though fleeting, reveals how deeply this brutal value system has permeated the culture, where even those who are oppressed recognize the currency of human remains. The act of collecting teeth signifies the ultimate conquest, in which the victim’s body is not only destroyed but also possessed and displayed as a testament to the victor’s power and wealth.

The societal embrace of this practice highlights a desensitization to violence that permeated Dividium. The news stream advertises a jewelry shop that specializes in “shaving teeth from Endlock into charm bracelets” (7), demonstrating that this brutal, cruel practice is a celebrated part of mainstream commerce and culture. The symbol is embodied by Warden Larch, who wears “three short strings of teeth around his neck” (42), displaying his complicity and authority within this system of brutalization. By wearing the remains of over one hundred slain inmates, Larch physically carries the prison’s bloody profits on his person. The teeth are a form of social currency in a civilization that has placed a literal price on death, symbolizing the perverse inversion of morality at the heart of Endlock and Dividium.