Where "Flash as a Rat with a Gold Tooth" Comes From
The earliest confirmed version appears in a 1972 review in Melbourne's "The Age," and the now-standard wording is documented in Sydney's "Sun-Herald" by 1978.
It looks like genuine Australian slang coinage from the 1970s, with no earlier British or American source on record.
“Nice new ute, you're flash as a rat with a gold tooth now.”
“The salesman was flash as a rat with a gold tooth, all cufflinks and big promises.”
He rolled up in a gold watch and white suit, flash as a rat with a gold tooth.
How Aussies Actually Use It
Said of someone dressed or acting flashier than their means or manner really justify — all show, little substance.
This is a colourful put-down, delivered with a grin. You use it about someone whose outfit, car or manner is loud, obviously expensive or trying too hard, and the joke is in the picture of a rat wearing a gold tooth. It is more teasing than nasty, though the suspicion attached to it means it can bite if the person is not a friend.
It is a fixed phrase, so keep the wording as it is. You can shorten it to "flash" in conversation, but the full idiom is what gets the laugh. Compared with "lairy", which is about being loud and garish, this phrase adds a hint of dodginess, as if the show is covering something. For learners, the best use is a mock compliment to a mate who has turned up in a new suit or car: "Look at you, flash as a rat with a gold tooth." Avoid it with people you do not know.
See also: Lairy (similar showy sense), Show pony (someone who wants to be noticed), Shonky (dodgy, the suspicious part).
Carries a light edge of suspicion, as if the flashiness itself is a bit of a giveaway.
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