«كَأَنَّمَا تَبَسَّمَ عَنْ لُؤْلُؤٍ مُنَضَّدٍ أَوْ بَرَدٍ أَوْ أَقَاحٍ»
As though, in smiling, he displayed strung pearls, hailstones, or white blossoms.
Kaʾannamā announces a comparison. Pearls, hailstones and white flowers evoke the brightness, whiteness and ordered appearance of teeth. They are alternative vehicles for one visual impression, not literal objects emerging from a mouth.
The threefold comparison enriches one image. A translation must preserve the “as if” relation; otherwise figurative description turns into an impossible factual claim.
“As though the teeth were rows of pearls” is closer than “pearls came from the mouth.”