Inpop culture, agrill (most commonly referred to asgrills orgrillz), also known asfronts orgolds, is a type of dental jewelry worn over theteeth. Grills are made of metal and are generally removable but can also be permanent. They were popularized byhip hop artists in New York City in the early 1980s, and upgraded during the 1990s inMiami, Florida. They became even more widely popular during the mid-2000s due to the rise ofSouthern hip hop rap and the more mainstream pop culture status hip hop attained. Since then, grills have reached the mainstream; a "hard flex of both style and wealth, grills have always been a symbol of power and social status – right from its origins that can be traced back to over 4,000 years ago."[2] Sub-Saharan African people are said to have worn grills to show their status up until modern years. Although grills have been around for over 4,000 years, the rise and fall of their popularity at different times in different countries is a reflection of fashion trends.[3][4]
Grills can imitate and are not mutually exclusive withgold teeth, a form of permanentdental prosthesis in which the visible part of a tooth is replaced or capped with gold.
Grills have their roots in the Southern U.S. This was a cultural element of poor American people who couldn’t afford the proper dental work.[citation needed] This turned into a fashion statement throughout the country itself.
Grills are made of several types of metal (oftensilver,gold orplatinum) that are sometimes inlaid withprecious stones; they are generally removable, though some may be permanently attached to the teeth.[5] Gold grills can be made from 10-karat, up to 24-karat gold. The gold can be tinted yellow, white and rose color.[6][dubious –discuss]
Grills can potentially cost thousands of dollars, depending on the materials used and the number of teeth covered.[5][7]
Grills received mainstream attention, including on network television, when, during the 2012 Summer Olympics, Olympic swimmerRyan Lochte posed with a grill set with stones in the design of an American flag; he had recently worn diamond grills after earlier competitions.[8]
The insertion of gems into teeth predates hip hop culture.[9][10] Hip hop artists such as Raheem the Dream and Kilo Ali began wearing grills in the early 1980s.[7]
New York-based Eddie Plein, owner of Famous Eddie's Gold Teeth andJohnny Dang are often credited with kickstarting and expanding the trend.[7] Plein began adapting dental crowns from single teeth into multiple caps thus creating the first grills originally known as fronts or caps. His first notable celebrity customer wasJust Ice who would popularize gold fronts by donning his custom teeth on the cover of his 1987 albumKool and Deadly photographed byJanette Beckman.
With grills popularity rising, Plein made gold caps forFlavor Flav,Big Daddy Kane andKool G. Rap.[7][11] He later moved toAtlanta, where he designed ever-more-elaborate grills for rappers such asOutKast,Goodie Mob,Ludacris, andLil Jon.[7][11]
Grills remained popular in the Southern U.S., especially inMiami,Tampa,Memphis andAtlanta even as they rose and fell from popularity elsewhere,[12] and the rise ofDirty South rappers in the 2000s spurred a nationwide grill trend.[7] During this time, grills frequently appeared in hip hop music, most notably in the 2005 number-one single "Grillz," byNelly,Paul Wall,Big Gipp, andAli, and in otherPaul Wall songs.[1] Wall is known for his grill business as well as his rapping; his clients includeKanye West andCam'ron.[1]
Grills maintained their popularity into the 2010s, with French grillmakerDolly Cohen creating custom oral jewelry for Barbados singerRihanna as well asCara Delevingne andRita Ora.[13]
Custom grills maintained its popularity in the music industry, not just men but women, as well.Katy Perry,Beyonce,Madonna,Miley Cyrus,Lady Gaga are notable among female popstar celebrities to have donned grills.[14]
While early grills could not be removed easily and involved reshaping the tooth itself to fit the grill, grills are today made from customdental molds.[7] For more expensive grills, a dentist takes a mold of the wearer's front teeth with a quick set molding compound, such as silicone rubber or dentalalginate. A tooth casting is obtained by filling the alginate or silicone rubber negative mold with a gypsum cement such as Buffstone, which is removed from the mold when set and used as a positive form on which to build a wax model that conforms exactly to the original set of teeth. The resulting wax model is cast in gold using the lost-wax process, then it's finished by hand, and precious stones, if any, are set into the metal. Some manufacturers take shortcuts from this difficult and expensive process, offering generic grills backed with a molding compound to make them fit the teeth, or use base metals like brass and nickel. Such grills may be less comfortable or dependable than grills that are professionally fitted.[15] In several instances jewelers manufacturing grills from impressions they've made from their client's teeth have been charged with a felony:practicing dentistry without a license.[16][17]
According to theAmerican Dental Association (ADA) in June 2006, no studies have shown whether the long-term wearing of grills is safe.[18] If the grills fit properly and are worn only intermittently, wearers are at a low risk for dental problems, according to the ADA.[12][11] The ADA has warned, however, that grills made frombase metals could cause irritation orallergic reactions, and that bacteria trapped under a grill worn on a long-term basis could result ingum disease,cavities, or even bone loss.[11][18] School districts inAlabama,[7]Georgia,[7] andTexas[19] have banned grills for reasons both disciplinary and health-related.