{"id":46276,"date":"2026-04-21T18:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T10:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=46276"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T10:51:07","slug":"inside-hong-kongs-tooth-gem-trend-as-fans-add-sparkle-to-their-smiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=46276","title":{"rendered":"Inside Hong Kong\u2019s tooth gem trend as fans add sparkle to their smiles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">As part of the ongoing Y2K revival, there has been a global resurgence in tooth gems \u2013 and the trend is steadily gaining traction in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">These semi-permanent dental fixtures, which became popular among subcultures in the 1990s, are usually just a few millimetres in size and are applied to the surface of the tooth with an adhesive.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Most Hong Kong establishments offering them double as makers of <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">grillz<\/span> \u2013 removable decorative dental covers \u2013 or tattoo parlours, and there is even one dentist and hip-hop enthusiast in the city who has carved out a corner in his surgical office for his passion projects.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Dr J, who prefers to go by his alias, is a dental surgeon in Hong Kong\u2019s Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood who began making grillz for friends several years ago. In 2022, he also started offering tooth gems.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cHistorically, it was dentists who did tooth gems\u201d, he says, citing that the earliest use of the ornaments can be traced back to ancient Mayan and Aztec civilisations, where the elite would inlay precious stones into holes drilled in the teeth as symbols of status and spirituality.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-12vv9w2 e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Hong Kong-based dental surgeon Dr J has dedicated a corner of his practice to making grillz and tooth gems. Photo: Dr J\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/21\/d96cfe38-a6da-47e0-9735-d371508b3e94_4c3bc3f2.jpg\" title=\"Hong Kong-based dental surgeon Dr J has dedicated a corner of his practice to making grillz and tooth gems. Photo: Dr J\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Hong Kong-based dental surgeon Dr J has dedicated a corner of his practice to making grillz and tooth gems. Photo: Dr J<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">When tooth gems became popular at the end of the 20th century, most people did not go to dentists to have them attached. But now, Dr J says, more dentists in the West, particularly in the United States, are making the accessories. He sees this as \u201ckind of a full-circle moment\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/fashion-beauty\/article\/3350815\/inside-hong-kongs-tooth-gem-trend-fans-add-sparkle-their-smiles?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of the ongoing Y2K revival, there has been a global resurgence in tooth gems \u2013 and the trend is steadily gaining traction in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5815,1251,4878,3569,5010,21047,21046,8119,7400],"class_list":["post-46276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-add","tag-fans","tag-gem","tag-hong","tag-kongs","tag-smiles","tag-sparkle","tag-tooth","tag-trend","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}