page_title: Grill (jewelry)
section_title: Manufacture
hierarchical_section_title: Grill (jewelry) / Manufacture
caption_attribution_description: Tooth mold
context_page_description: In hip hop culture, a grill, 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. They began to be worn by hip-hop artists in New York City in the early 1980s, and upgraded during the '90s 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.
context_section_description: 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.  For more expensive grills, a dentist takes a mold of the wearer's front teeth with a quick set alginate.  A tooth mold is obtained by filling the alginate negative with buff stone, then the buff stone is used to fit the grill to the unique set of teeth.  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 themself.  Such grills may be less comfortable or dependable than grills that are professionally fitted, and in several instances jewelers manufacturing grills in this manner have been charged with practicing dentistry without a license.
caption: More expensive grills are shaped to fit custom dental molds like this one.
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