Advertisement

It’s official — tooth gems are back on the beauty agenda thanks to Iris Law, FKA Twigs and Bella Hadid

 (FKA Twigs rocks embellished pegs )
(FKA Twigs rocks embellished pegs )

Since Pinterest predicted that a tooth gem comeback was imminent in January this year — in 2021, the platform saw an 85 per cent uptick in searches for “tooth gems”. And recently, Gen Z It-girls Iris Law, Hailey Bieber and Bella Hadid have all posted selfies of diamante-encrusted smiles. Global pop stars Rosalia and FKA Twigs have also sported dental bling, on their latest album covers — in fact, the Spanish singer is hardly seen without Swarovski crystal butterflies across her front teeth these days.

On TikTok #ToothGems has more than 146 million views, with countless teens uploading videos of their gleaming gnashers to the app. “It’s a fun, temporary way to change your image,” says Nicki Alonso, who runs tooth gem studio @squiishiis. “I think the Euphoria aesthetic — where they use gems as accessories to make-up — has boosted their popularity, but also, it’s an alternative to getting a piercing for your body — one that’s painless and only semi-permanent.” A manicure for your mouth, basically.

The revival is in keeping with the wider Noughties renaissance, which has seen those too young to remember them from the the first time around getting nostalgic over low rise jeans, thin eyebrows and cropped baby tees.

Tooth gems were in fact first worn by Ancient Mayans, who decorated their teeth with jade, turquoise, gold and hematite to symbolise higher social status.

By the 1990s, they were decorating hip hop royalty — and by the mid-2000s they had filtered into the mainstream.

Like much of the 2022 beauty zeitgeist they have an air of DIY about them — with many influencers on TikTok demonstrating some questionale application methods from their own homes.

“They are relatively harmless if properly applied,” says Dr Greg Grillo (ExpressDentist.com). Done properly, the process is similar to getting braces (dental bond is applied and then a bit of UV light). It is pain free and usually over within 10 minutes. However, as Dr Grillo warns, it’s best to have your gem applied by a dental specialist (and whatever you do, never, ever use super glue). “A dentist will use a non-toxic bonding agent,” he continues.

Although some people go full out with multi-coloured, glitterball fangs, Alonso has found that most normally stick to just one or two gems. “I thought people would be a bit more wild with the designs they choose. But they generally get very simple things to accentuate their teeth rather than having them take center stage.” It’s probably the best approach, considering tooth gems can last months or years, depending on your diet, mouth acidity and the level of aftercare you commit to. (I speak from experience: fourteen months after I got a gold Chanel logo on my upper right incisor — and after one failed removal attempt with tweezers — I found myself waiting four hours in a dentist’s reception for the gem to be buffed off.) “They should definitely be removed by a dentist to avoid damage,” confirms Dr Grillo. Or just get something you’re unlikely to grow sick of any time soon.