Teeth tattoos are nothing new; in fact people have been getting them for the past twenty years. If you’ve never come across one before, you might soon, as dentists have seen a sudden surge in their popularity.
Fox News interviewed Scott Atkin of CEO of Creative Dental Laboratory in Scottsdale, Arizona. Atkin says he’s been making teeth tattoos in his laboratory for the past fifteen years. These days, his technicians are creating a few hundred a year. The designs are requested and then drawn by hand under a microscope.
Another dental laboratory based in Connecticut called Suburban Dental had their first request from a patient back in 1995. The patient wanted an image of a corvette printed onto their tooth. At first, it wasn’t clear how the company would transcribe a design onto a tooth. After some experimentation, they figured out how to do it: “by hand-painting a patient’s chosen artwork onto a crown and then baking them into the material in a kiln” (Yahoo).
So that’s the catch — you can’t get a tattoo on any of your real teeth. It has to be a porcelain crown or bridge, since the design has to be hand-drawn under a microscope first. The ink used are specially made ceramic stains just for teeth, and they will last forever — no matter what you eat or drink.
But the good thing about ‘tatteeth’ is that they don’t have to be permanent like skin tattoos. As soon as you’re over it, the inked layer can be scraped off with a diamond or rubber wheel. Also the price won’t break the bank: tooth tattoos cost between $75 to $200, although a complicated multi-tooth pattern could set you back up to $1000.
A tooth ‘tattooth’ doesn’t damage your teeth and “is no more painful than having a more typical crown fitted” according to the Daily Mail. A dentist will need to take an impression of the tooth where the tattooed crown will be fitted, then the mold is sent off to a creative dental laboratory for design placement.
So what do you guys think? Would you get your mouth decorated with your favorite sports team? Your children? Your company’s logo? Something expressing your heritage?
Dr. Mike Malone and his team practice expert cosmetic dentistry in Lafayette, LA. Dr. Malone is the former president and current accredited member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is also the official Cosmetic Dentist of the Miss Louisiana USA and Miss Louisiana Teen USA pageants. Check out his website for more information.