The latest craze in the genre of body piercings and tattoos is tooth gems. For a price, beauty boutiques are offering to attach tiny, temporary jewels to people’s teeth – often young people. There are also inexpensive DIY kits available. Ariana Grande, Kendall Jenner, and Hailey Bieber are a few of today’s popular celebrities who are popularizing the trend.

Whether tooth gems enhance a smile or just makes it look like you have a piece of spinach stuck to your teeth, we’ll leave to your judgement, but we do have an opinion about the advisability of tooth gems from a dental viewpoint. While these tooth gems are small, they can lead to big problems. The most obvious one is that if it comes loose, one could actually swallow it. A less obvious problem is that the adhesive used to bond the gem to the tooth can damage tooth enamel. Gems can also trap food, germs, and bacteria, resulting in an increased risk of infection. They can also cause discoloration of the tooth!

For those who want to dazzle with their smile, we suggest a whitening treatment as a safer alternative. For an appointment at Discovery Smiles, call 520-721-2000.