In pop culture, a grill (most commonly referred to as grills or grillz), also known as fronts or golds, is a type of dental jewelry worn over the teeth. Grills are made of metal and are generally removable but can also be permanent. They were popularized by hip-hop artists in New York City in the early 1980s, and upgraded during the 1990s in Oakland. They became even more widely popular during the mid-2000s due to the rise of Southern 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, grillz 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] Etruscan females are said to have worn grills to show their status up until 100 AD, as well as the Mayans and also other cultures. The practice of using gold and/or precious stones on teeth has waxed and waned over human history. 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]
Gold teeth which grills can imitate and are not mutually exclusive with, are a form of permanent dental prosthesis where the visible part of a tooth is replaced or capped with a prosthetic molded from gold.
The academic paper titled "Gold Work, Filing and Blackened Teeth: Dental Modifications in Luzon" describes tooth accessories, ornamentation, and/or appliances as an ancient practice which dates back as far as 4,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. Changing or filing the teeth and beautifying them (i.e. with gold or blackening) could be seen as a way to show one's status. Early traces of gold teeth were found in the 1300-1400s. They were found in Luzon, an island in the Philippines.[5]
Gold dental appliances have gone in and out of popularity as a status symbol for many years. Archeologists also found gold dental appliances from the Etruscan people of Italy, as early as 630 BCE, interpreting them to be some of the earliest forms of bridges and replacement teeth. Gold wire was used in dentistry in ancient times,[6] and for filling cavities in the 19th century.[7] Gold is suitable for dentistry because it is malleable, nearly immune to corrosion, and closely mimics the hardness of natural teeth, thereby causing no harm to natural teeth during chewing.[8] Gold was used before silver became available and has continued to be used for specialized purposes.[8] Dental restorations are often made from a combination of precious metals.[8]
As the dental industry adopted CAD/CAM processes for most of the crown and bridge fabrication, gold manufacturing still relied on the ancient "lost wax" technique, which requires a significant amount of time, skill, and labor. Recent developments have seen the advent of CAD/CAM milling of 100 mm diameter pucks of dental alloy to facilitate the direct milling of crowns and bridges from the solid puck. This effectively eliminated the risk and difficulty of the lost wax process and simultaneously improved upon the quality of the devices.[9]
In Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, concentration camp survivor Dr. Miklós Nyiszli (who served on Dr. Josef Mengele's medical kommando) describes the "tooth-pulling kommando". These teams of eight, all "fine stomatologists and dental surgeons" equipped "in one hand with a lever, and in the other a pair of pliers for extracting teeth", worked in the crematoria. Stationed in front of the ovens, their job was to pry open the mouths of prisoners who had been gassed and extract, or break off, "all gold teeth, as well as any gold bridgework and fillings". The teeth were collected and stored at the camp before being sent on to the Reichsbank to be melted down and converted into gold bullion, which could then be sold with no trace of its origin.[10]
Gold alloys are still used by dentists today. They most often combine gold with other metals such as palladium, nickel, or chromium to increase the strength of the crown and reduce its cost.[citation needed]
"In the 1800s, dentists started to use gold as material for filling teeth." Gold fillings are thought to be older than "amalgam fillings, and by extension, that makes them much older than composite or porcelain fillings."[11][better source needed]
According to the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Ruchi Sahota, a dentist in Fremont, Calif., reports that gilded canines and incisors were common throughout the early and mid 1900s. “Gold was used very, very often, for routine dental procedures" for people.[12]
Britannica cites American dentist William Taggart who in 1907 introduced a precision machine that allowed dentists to create gold restorations with minimal tooth removal. "[13]
According to National Geographic, immigrants from the Caribbean had gold dental work due to its then low-cost and it was commonly seen in the neighborhood of Brooklyn and the Bronx. Native New Yorkers began to see it as a fashion statement especially with the rise of hiphop in the 1980s. Grills went mainstream in the 1990's with Vietnamese immigrant Johnny Dang creating "blinged out versions." [14]
Grills are made of several types of metal (often silver, gold or platinum) that are sometimes inlaid with precious stones; they are generally removable, though some may be permanently attached to the teeth.[15] Gold grills can be made from 10-karat, up to 24-karat gold. The gold can be tinted yellow, white and rose color.[16]
Grills can cost anywhere from one hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on the materials used and the number of teeth covered.[15][17]
Grills received mainstream attention, including on network television, when, during the 2012 Summer Olympics, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte posed with a grill that sported stones in the design of a U.S. flag; he had previously worn diamond grills after earlier competitions.[18]
The insertion of gems into teeth predates hip hop culture.[19] Hip hop artists such as Raheem the Dream and Kilo Ali began wearing grills in the early 1980s;[17]
New Yorker Eddie Plein, owner of Famous Eddie's Gold Teeth, and Johnny Dang and Paul Wall are often credited with kickstarting and expanding the trend.[17][20] 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 was Just Ice who would popularise gold fronts by donning his custom teeth on the cover of his 1987 album Kool and Deadly photographed by Janette Beckman. The teeth would appear on both the front and back covers of the artwork.
With grills popularity rising, Plein made gold caps for Flavor Flav, Big Daddy Kane and Kool G. Rap.[17][20] He later moved to Atlanta, where he designed ever-more-elaborate grills for rappers like OutKast, Goodie Mob, Ludacris, and Lil Jon.[17][20]
According to Forbes, "Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Cardi B," "are all loyal clients of Vietnamese immigrant Johnny Dang. Some fans have even tattooed illustrations of Dang on their body. But Dang wasn't always known as the king of bling, with his golden palace of fine jewelry."[21]
Grills remained popular in the Southern U.S., especially in Houston or Memphis, even as they rose and fell from popularity elsewhere,[22] and the rise of Dirty South rappers in the 2000s spurred a nationwide grill trend.[17] During this time, grills frequently appeared in hip hop music, most notably in the 2005 number one single "Grillz," by Nelly, Paul Wall, Big Gipp, and Ali, and in other Paul Wall songs.[1] Wall is known for his grill business as well as his rapping; his clients include Kanye West and Cam'ron.[1]
Grills maintained their popularity into the 2010s, with French grillmaker Dolly Cohen creating custom oral jewelry for Rihanna, Cara Delevingne, and Rita Ora.[23]
Custom grills maintained its popularity in the music industry, not just men but women, as well. Beyonce, Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga are notable among female popstar celebrities to have sported grills.[24]
While early grills could not be removed easily and involved reshaping the tooth itself to fit the grill, grills are today made from custom dental molds.[17] For more expensive grills, a dentist takes a mold of the wearer's front teeth with a quick set alginate.[25] A tooth mold is obtained by filling the alginate negative[26] with buff stone, then the buff stone is used to fit the grill to the unique set of teeth.[25] However, for inexpensive novelty grills, a jeweler may make an impression by having the wearer bite into dental putty or wax softened in water, or the wearer may do this themselves.[27][28] Such grills may be less comfortable or dependable than grills that are professionally fitted,[29] and in several instances jewelers manufacturing grills in this manner have been charged with practicing dentistry without a license.[30][31]
According to the American Dental Association (ADA) in June 2006, no studies have shown whether the long-term wearing of grills is safe.[32] If the grills fit properly and are worn only intermittently, wearers are at a low risk for dental problems, according to the ADA.[22][20] The ADA has warned, however, that grills made from base metals could cause irritation or allergic reactions, and that bacteria trapped under a grill worn on a long-term basis could result in gum disease, cavities, or even bone loss.[20][32] School districts in Alabama,[17] Georgia,[17] and Texas[33] have banned grills for reasons both disciplinary and health-related.
Just as other hip hop fashions have been criticized, grills have been denounced by some commentators as expensive, ostentatious, and superficial displays that strain the finances of poor youth.[22]