Grin and bare it

The grills phenomenon has a long history. Once crafted solely for corrective dental procedures such as crowns and fillings, gold-capped teeth8212;also called 8216;8216;fronts8217;8217;8212;slowly became chic in the late 1970s. By the early 8217;80s, as hip-hop became mainstream, stars such as the late Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC and rappers LL Cool J and Roxanne Shante took gold to new stylistic heights. Yet it was the British-born and Bronx-reared rapper Slick Rick, revered for witty rhymes and eye-dazzling jewellery, who is credited with creating early demand for grills.

8216;8216;I8217;d see guys on the street who dressed really flashy. I remember seeing one guy who had a ruby in his mouth,8217;8217; Slick Rick says. 8216;8216;Growing up, I just tried to blend their style with mine.8217;8217;

The popularity of grills would come and go, but it remained a fixture in southern states. Once southern rap emerged in the late 8217;90s and gave rise to everyone from Juvenile to Lil8217; Jon 038; The East Side Boyz, jewellery-coated teeth have become as enduring a symbol in hip-hop as rope chains and Kangols.

8216;8216;Pamela Anderson, Ashton Kutcher and Elton John can wear all the bling they want, but there8217;s one place they8217;ll never go. They won8217;t get fronts because it8217;s one of the last things that hip-hop is keeping for itself,8217;8217; says Minya Oh, a radio personality also known as Miss Info and author of Bling Bling: Hip Hop8217;s Crown Jewels.

But these days, merely watching rap stars shine just isn8217;t enough. Richard Simon, 27, a chef from Trinidad who lives in Brooklyn, paid 900 for the removable white-gold and diamond fronts that adorn his top and bottom teeth. 8216;8216;This is a piece of my urban culture that I choose to hold onto,8217;8217; says Simon. 8216;8216;When I first met my girlfriend, she said, 8216;I like everything about you except one thing.8217; And I was like, 8216;Uh. I don8217;t know if we can make this work because I love my fronts.8217; Now she understands and sees them as a part of me.8217;8217;

Urban jewellers and such websites as gangstagold.com are overwhelmed trying to keep pace. 8216;8216;It8217;s been crazy. People are asking for grills with multicolored gold and diamonds that stretch out to eight teeth,8217;8217; says Rudy 8216;8216;Freeze8217;8217; Athouriste, owner of Daed Jewelers in Miami. 8216;8216;A lot of people are trying to incorporate this into their budget. And with tax time and refunds coming up, just imagine what8217;s about to happen,8217;8217; says Freeze, who has been designing grills for seven years.

To produce the fronts, jewellers use a waxy substance to create a dental impression, which is then coated with additional chemical solutions and left for 30 minutes to harden. The metal is then designed to the customer8217;s taste. 8216;If we8217;re just talking about something that fits and isn8217;t worn all the time, then that8217;s OK,8217;8217; says Dr Matthew Messina, a spokesman for the American Dental Association. 8216;8216;But if it8217;s worn for long intervals, there8217;s a serious risk for tooth decay.8217;8217;

Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, author and veteran hip-hop journalist, says the industry8217;s fascination with avarice should be viewed in a broader context. 8216;8216;Most rappers are young men from fairly tough circumstances who dreamed of matching the materialism they saw in captains of industry like Donald Trump,8217;8217; Hinds says. 8216;8216;We need to do a better job at promoting what financial empowerment really means.8217;8217; LAT-WP