puertoricanmami20092005 asked: http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/114405309796700.xml?ncounty_cuyahoga&coll=2
Money where your mouth is?
Teens sinking their teeth into grills - mouths full of bling
Monday, April 03, 2006
Jesse Tinsley
Plain Dealer Reporter
A broad smile revealing a mouthful of pearly whites is old school for a rising bling culture sinking its teeth into a so-called grill or front.
Individual gold-capped teeth, which have drifted in and out of fashion since the early 1970s, have given way to grills and fronts - removable mouthpieces made of gold, platinum or silver and sometimes studded with jewels.
The trend has been boosted in recent years by hip-hop icons such as Nelly and rappers like Paul Wall.
After Nelly’s 2005 hit “Grillz,” which glorifies the trend, young people all over scrambled to wrap their happy chops around a shiny grill.
Jacob Owens, a 17-year-old South High School student, snagged a diamond-studded silver grill a couple of months ago for $200.
“Everybody is getting grills,” Owens said while hanging out at the food court at Tower City. He chose silver to set himself apart in a trend he calls a “hot new thing.”
Owens sheds his grill to eat and at bedtime, but for the most part wears it for hours at a time to match his ear rings.
With a grill, chains and ear rings, he is a manifestation of bling - a term coined in the late 1990s for flashy, expen sive jewelry and other adorn ments.
Many of the mouthpieces - made from dental imprints - are purchased online. But they are sold at local outlets too, like Wired Up at Tower City.
Jeremy McGrew, manager at the Wired Up kiosk, said business has been booming since the release of “Grillz.”
Generally, tooth imprints are made and sent to a jeweler who fashions the fronts and returns them to the client or retailer where the items were purchased.
Although people like Owens may find it cool to flash their fronts, the mouth jewelry has caught the attention and concern of the American Dental Association.
Matthew Messina, a Fairview Park dentist and ADA spokeman, said improper use and care of fronts can result in serious gum disease or cavities.
Owens’ story confirms Messina’s concern that teens are wearing their mouthpieces for long periods without cleaning them often enough.
Messina has no problem with the aesthetic aspect of a grill, but he warns of problems down the road if they are not kept clean or if they are bonded to natural teeth.
Snap-on grills do not fit particularly well in and around the teeth, he said, allowing food and bacteria to get trapped underneath, which can cause cavities or other problems like gum disease or gum recession.
Other dangers include allergic reactions to cheaper materials used to make the grills and adverse reactions to jewelry cleaners, which can burn gums, Messina said.
“The really wealthy who have them made of high-quality precious metals, you will have less allergic reaction,” Messina said. “Someone going more of a cut-rate route, where they are using lesser metals, we see a lot more metal-allergic reaction to more-base metals.”
Steve Michaels, who makes grills for Midwest Goldfronts in Minneapolis, said he gets clients from as far away as Cleveland and Los Angeles.
Michaels said Midwest Goldfronts does quality work and discourages customers from attaching fronts with permanent cement, which dentists say can cause tooth damage and cost more money to repair.
Messina said some vendors may be unaware that in some states - Ohio included - taking an impression of someone’s mouth is considered dentistry, which requires a license.
That did not seem to concern a group of four or five teens strolling the corridors of Tower City on a recent weekday. They all smiled - revealing their bling.
Jerri
