From £35 crystals to £30,000 diamonds: the jaw-dropping rise of tooth jewellery 

More and more Britons are putting their money where their mouth is, whether it’s in the form of Swarovski crystals or ‘grills’ made with gems and precious metals. What’s the appeal – and what are the dangers? 

Hesitant but excited 

It’s Imogen Campbell’s first time having tooth gems, although she booked the appointment twice. The 25-year-old got cold feet ahead of the first one, worried what her employers might think. “I was a bit hesitant, because I work in financial services,” she says. “It’s very old-school, you know, people wearing suits and stuff to work. Obviously, I’m kind of like this …” she says, gesturing at her baggy trousers and padded jacket. 

Campbell is now feeling braver, and is here at a tooth-gem studio in east London armed with sketches of her dream dental designs. “People are starting to be a bit more daring and comfortable expressing themselves,” she says. “People have tattoos; why can’t I wear tooth gems?” 

A moment for tooth jewellery 

If you hadn’t noticed, tooth jewellery is having a moment – not just the discreet gems seen in the 1990s and 2000s, but flashy removable “grills” that can stretch right across the front teeth. Encouraged by the way that many employers have loosened or abandoned dress codes since the pandemic, more people are enhancing their smiles with crystals, diamonds, opals and gold. The old gender stereotypes are breaking down, too – tooth gems used to be mainly for women, and grills for men. 

Greyson Bhattal, 22, has come to Chai Beauty for a silver star on each of her canines. It’s her first visit. “I think there’s more freedom to do what you want now,” she says. Chai Beauty tooth-gem technician Patrice Nuelie recently fitted a client who was in her 60s. “She was really fly,” she remembers. “Stylish.” 

The big trend of the moment, Nuelie tells me as she flashes her own glittering grin, is for “confetti”, a maximalist trend for multiple gems across the teeth. The most gems her studio has applied in one sitting is 100. The butterflies, flowers and cherries of previous decades are still popular, but so, too, are teardrops on canines and iridescent Swarovski AB crystals, named after the aurora borealis. Prices here start at £35 a gem. 

Repeating trends 

Nicole Gutierrez-Lock, the owner of Skullen Studios in Newcastle, is amused by Gen Z’s sudden veneration of the 90s and 00s. “It’s the same as when I was a teenager [in the 90s],” she says. “We saw trends coming back from the 60s and 70s. I think it all does this massive, great big circle.” She believes tooth gems will come to be seen as a mainstream body modification in the same way that tattoos have. At her studio, she saw demand explode in 2022. “In the north-east, we’re a few months behind, and I watched the trend move up the country,” she says. 

A painless procedure 

Back in London, I watch as Nuelie adorns Campbell with four Swarovski crystals, which can range in size from 1mm to 4mm. The application process is a far cry from what went on in the 90s, which almost always involved nail glue or, if the urban legend was to be believed, holes drilled into teeth. (Everyone at school knew someone who knew someone who had had this done, but had never actually met them.) 

Nuelie begins by applying etching acid to create a porous surface on the tooth, then a resin bond also used by dentists for braces. “Except we use crystals instead,” she says. Next, she adds composite glue, holds up a mirror to check that Campbell is happy with the positioning, and uses a UV light to set the adhesive. 

It’s painless and takes about 20 minutes. The gems will remain on Campbell’s teeth for between a month and two years, depending on how clean she can keep them, how much she can avoid fizzy drinks and how frequently she stops her tongue fiddling with them. Campbell is ready to go, braids swinging, teeth blinging and happy with her new look. 

Cosmetic dentistry and tooth jewellery 

The boom in tooth jewellery comes at the same time as a surge in cosmetic dentistry. The pandemic “Zoom boom” made many people more conscious of their appearance, and procedures for teeth straightening and veneers exploded post-lockdown. Meanwhile, thousands of Britons have sought out “invisible” braces from the likes of Invisalign. Last year, a survey for the British Orthodontic Society found that more than three-quarters of orthodontists had seen a rise in adult patients seeking treatment. 

If Britain is no longer the crooked smile of Europe, maybe more people now want to show off those hard-earned pearly whites? “We can put gems on Invisalign,” Nuelie says. “Some people send their Invisalign trays to us by post. They don’t even need to come in!” Unfortunately, tooth gems can’t be applied to veneers. Veneers have a smooth surface, which makes it easy for the gems to slide off. 

Warnings from the experts 

While tooth gem studios claim their process is safe and harmless, there are others who see this as the beauty industry’s latest unregulated venture. Many dentists are unhappy about the popularity of tooth jewellery, warning that it can chip teeth, damage enamel and accumulate plaque. 

“It can be very difficult to adequately clean the area of the tooth surrounding or underneath the jewels,” says Dr Praveen Sharma, a scientific adviser to the British Dental Association. “Over time, the bond between the jewels and tooth can become less effective, allowing for further bacterial accumulation, this time in an area impossible to keep clean. This means that the bacteria will build up, and over time this can cause tooth decay and tooth loss.” 

When I contact the General Dental Council, the UK’s dental regulator, a spokesperson tells me it views the application of tooth jewellery as dentistry, and that anyone carrying it out is breaking the law if they aren’t registered with the GDC. In reality, it’s a legal grey area with seemingly no prosecutions so far. Technicians insist that because they use dentistry-grade products, there’s little safety risk. Both Chai Beauty and Skullen Studios said that, while tooth-gem removals are illegal (which is why neither carry them out), they believed application to be legal. 

The dangers of DIY kits 

Studio technicians and dentists do agree on the dangers of DIY home-application kits. Widely available online, these kits risk toxicity, infection or choking. 

Luxury grills 

All of that is worlds away from the high end of the market, as seen in Hatton Garden, London’s jewellery district. At Plygrnd Ldn, the most in-demand luxury grills studio on this side of the Atlantic, I spot blown-up photos of British rappers Dave and Central Cee, as well as Rita Ora, all sporting grills made here. Other customers include the actor Letitia Wright, who wore her Black Panther-inspired grills to the Met Gala last year; Jesy Nelson from Little Mix, who paid for a heart-shaped gap filler, a Dutch opal and a J with pink diamonds; and even Gemma Collins, of The Only Way Is Essex, who had a set with the word “DIVA” glittering across her upper teeth. 

Challenging stereotypes, valuing creativity 

Plygrnd’s founders, Solange Garcia, 32, and Snow Vuong, 36, say they are challenging the notion that grills are the preserve of male hip-hop stars – and male tooth artists. “As a woman, but also as a creative, I was like, I have all these ideas that none of these male grill-makers want to make,” Garcia says. “There was a gap in the market for people like myself who wanted something more premium that still had a little bit of fun, creativity and all of that wrapped around it.” 

Garcia sports distinctive designs on her own teeth: Set across three of her upper teeth, she has a yellow gold tooth cover, a hand-carved 3D flame and a diamond border. On the other side of her mouth, a single tooth is covered with gold hands in a “praising” pose. Her first tooth adornment, she says, was “a backdoor bootleg type of gold tooth” from Brixton market when she was 18. 

Sixty per cent of Garcia’s clients are female, and she is witnessing a new generation of grill wearers who consider their removable jewellery as luxury investment pieces. Avery Dawn, a 25-year-old pop singer, has £1,300 bottom grills made of diamond, pearl and moonstone, her birthstone. “A lot of people think grills have to be really aggressive – like, you know, the rapper kind of grills,” Dawn says. “But when you take a look, it looks quite dainty.” Claire Wang, 24, has an ornate silver design across her bottom teeth, and silver caps on two of her top. The medical student commissioned them for about £400 and says she tries to spend her money on things that are “more tangible” and “last longer”. “I’m trying to be less of a crazy consumer,” she says. 

Custom designs for any personality 

When someone approaches Plygrnd for a bespoke grill, they are first asked not about which precious gems or shapes they like, but about their personalities. “Where did you grow up? What’s your best childhood memory? What’s your favourite colour?” says Vuong, who has designed grills for her two daughters’ milk teeth. One of her clients loves the sunset and sea, so she created a grill that featured the blues of the sea and sky using tanzanite, a gemstone found only in his birth country, Tanzania. 

None of this comes cheap: the most expensive grills Garcia has worked on cost the wearer more than £30,000: a set of flawless diamonds not just in front of the teeth, but behind them too. But Vuong insists its worth it. 

“A jeweller can make a wedding ring really personal,” she says, “but a grill will only fit one person, and your teeth are the part of you that survives longest when you die. So it’s really the epitome of who you are.” 

Safety first (or maybe not?) 

However, just like with the less expensive tooth gems, dentists are concerned about the potential damage grills – especially those crafted in gold or other precious metals – can cause. Dr Shivani Patel, owner of Harrow Dental Practice, says it’s not just the damage to the teeth, but the potential for choking on loose teeth covers that worries her. She says grills can also contribute to gum disease. 

“If you take your rings off every night when you go to bed, if you take your earrings out when you go to bed, then there's no reason for you, on a health level, to be wearing tooth grills to bed,” she says. “You know what, actually, I would go that step further. There is no reason to be wearing these grills at all, unless there is something restorative to a tooth, that it's providing protection for a tooth, or it's improving the bite.” 

It seems unlikely that grills and tooth gems are going anywhere, however. Gutierrez-Lock remembers how tooth gems were mocked in the 90s, yet she was adamant that her Skullen Studios would offer them. “You could see the tide turning,” she says. With stars like Hailey Bieber wearing tooth gems, and the “tooth jewellery” hashtag on TikTok racking up more than 300m views, Gutierrez-Lock says it was a risk that paid off. 

A trend takes hold 

Gutierrez-Lock was right: social media plays a huge part in the popularisation of tooth gems and grills. Stars like Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner have been photographed with gems, while the growing interest in grills can be seen on TikTok. The “tooth jewellery” hashtag has surpassed 300 million views. Here, users document their journeys of getting gems and grills, offer tutorials for DIY tooth bling, or just show off their new smiles. 

“People love that sparkle,” says Vuong at Plygrnd Ldn. “People want to be a bit more different, and they’re a bit more bold.” 

Are grills always just for fun? 

Grills do sometimes have a more practical purpose. The boxer Amir Khan, another Plygrnd customer, wore a gold one to cover up damage sustained during a fight. And 90s pop legend Robbie Williams also has a fondness for grills, as well as gold crowns and bridges. He told a TV interviewer in 2018 that his mouth was full of the precious metal and that his teeth were “worth more than his house”. 

While many dental professionals remain unimpressed by the rise in both grills and tooth gems, there are some who work alongside grill-makers, ensuring the fit and safety of the pieces. This is because, despite the risk of chipping and gum disease, poorly fitted grills can cause far worse problems. These include shifting the teeth they sit on, disrupting the wearer’s bite or causing inflammation that could lead to tooth loss. 

Dr Rhona Eskander, a London-based cosmetic dentist, offers a bespoke grill-making service with Plygrnd Ldn. “When I've got somebody who wants grills, the first thing we do is take a scan of their teeth, send that scan to [Plygrnd], and then they design the grills around that scan,” Eskander says. The grills are scanned once made to ensure there are no gaps between the grill and the wearer’s teeth, as this is where bacteria and food particles could build up. 

Making sure they fit safely 

She believes there’s no getting around the long-term risks of grills. And even short-term wearers must take them out for eating and avoid sleeping in them. “Anything you constantly place over the gums and teeth is going to lead to a build-up of bacteria,” she says. 

Despite these risks, for many, the appeal of both tooth gems and grills outweighs the worry. “People are expressing themselves more, and that shouldn’t worry other people,” says Greyson Bhattal as she leaves Chai Beauty with her new tooth gems. “You're allowed to do whatever you want.” 

And for those who do worry or baulk at the price, there's always the DIY route – the kind of kits available widely online, usually for under £20. These kits commonly feature glue, gems and UV setting lights – all of which will be familiar to users of gel nail polish. But while they’re cheap, they also come with serious warnings from dental professionals. 

The dangers of DIY and illegal procedures 

“There have been multiple cases of people swallowing the materials and needing surgery to remove them,” Dr Patel stresses. “People are putting their health at risk.” In 2019, the BBC reported the case of a 17-year-old girl in Sheffield who used a home kit to apply a tooth gem and ended up hospitalised with a swollen tongue and difficulty swallowing. 

But what’s most concerning is the growing number of people offering “tooth gem” services from their homes or beauty salons, despite having no dental qualifications whatsoever. In one 2021 investigation, the BBC found more than 160 beauticians in England offering DIY tooth gem kits, while others were applying jewels themselves, an illegal procedure under UK law. 

A lack of regulation 

“People think just because they can do nails, they can start fiddling about in someone’s mouth,” says Dr Sharma at the British Dental Association. “But it’s a risky world. There’s no regulation, there are no qualifications, and there is no way of following up if things do go wrong.” 

A BBC journalist who sought out tooth-gem application from a beautician reported that their tongue was scraped with a metal file ahead of gem application. This mirrors what can happen in nail salons, where beauticians push back cuticles or file down the surface of a nail – but a fingernail and a tooth are clearly in very different health and safety categories. 

Dr Patel says that while it may seem like a harmless beauty treatment – certainly less scary than a tattoo or a piercing – people who get tooth gems with non-dental professionals run a risk of ending up, in the long term, with damaged and broken teeth. 

“The fact that it's unregulated at the moment is scary,” she adds. “Who's going to take responsibility if something goes wrong? There's no insurance policy in place at the moment, as far as I'm aware. So, who is liable?” 

It comes down to personal choice 

Of course, there are people who will wear tooth gems or grills regardless of what risks are outlined to them. In the same way, millions of people get tattoos done each year, well aware that the potential for infection exists, as well as the risk of regretting the design, or finding the tattoo fades over the years. 

Ultimately, the decision on whether to risk damaging your teeth for the sake of some bling comes down to the individual consumer. For many, they make that choice after seeing their Instagram feeds flooded with sparkling smiles. Others might be looking back for inspiration – not to the rappers of the early 2000s, but even further back in time. Gutierrez-Lock points out that the practice of adorning teeth with gold and jewels goes back thousands of years. Ancient Egyptian mummies, Maya kings and Etruscan women all sported bling on their teeth. It’s hard to argue with a look that has lasted millennia. 

“It’s just a little embellishment. I think it’s pretty,” she insists. “And if that makes people feel better, and it gives them confidence, then why shouldn’t they do it?”