Times to grill and bare it

Gold teeth are trashy. They are frowned upon by the snobbish. They are associated with taxi drivers, s'khothanes or people from Limpopo. "No woman under 21 has any business having a gold tooth," a Facebook friend posted. But what was once seen as trashy has come back into fashion. Taxi drivers, s'khothanes and people from Limpopo are on to something.

Kobus van der Merwe, owner of Izi Tooth Jeweller, a Cape Town-based company that supplies dental jewellery both nationally and abroad, says gold teeth are as popular as they were when the company started in the early 1990s.

"People used to have their teeth pulled out in order to fit in gold teeth, but now people are wearing gold on their natural teeth."

In many countries, gold teeth were a symbol of wealth. In the predominantly Islamic country of Tajikistan they were so popular that the president banned them, along with other ostentatious trends, in 2007.

But in some parts of the world, gold teeth aren't about showing off or fashion, but are rather about culture. Tooth modification and wearing gold teeth was part of the Mayan culture, and some descendants still wear gold teeth to mark their heritage.

In the US, gold teeth have evolved into grills: removable gold caps worn over a row of teeth. Rappers started wearing them in the 1980s and they had a revival in 2005 with rapper Nelly's massive hit song Grillz. Grills aren't only made of gold - they can be platinum and/or decorated with diamonds.

Other rappers like Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, Trinidad James and 2 Chainz are proud wearers of grills, as are pop stars such as Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and even Madonna. Locally, rapper AKA is the most prominent example of a celebrity rocking grills.

Van der Merwe says there are four types of dental adornments: gold dentures; gold in-lays, used to fill gaps between teeth; stick-on jewellery; and grills.

Stick-on jewellery works in the same way braces do, says Van der Merwe, and they leave no damage to tooth structure and can be removed years later.

Grills, he says, haven't quite taken off in South Africa and this is partly because of the price factor. "If you use real gold, grills can easily cost R50000." There are cheaper fake alternatives though.

But whether your grills are real or not, Van der Merwe says it is important that you don't neglect your dental hygiene.

"They are purely decorative, so you're not supposed to wear them for very long. You can wear them for an evening but not for days without brushing your teeth."

If you're thinking of getting grills or a gold tooth, now would be a good time - the celebs are doing it and, better yet, the gold price has dropped.