The Golden Grills

Forget necklaces, forget earrings, in fact, forget traditional forms of jewelry altogether. The latest trend is a jewel encrusted grill and it's hitting the street in a big way. A grill is a removable gold or platinum mouthpiece that can feature diamonds and cost between a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars.

On the cover of his latest release, Paul Wall sports his diamond dentures

Grills are worn over the teeth and can be removed just like dentures. A single cap can range from $25 to $40 but the elaborated jewel laden grills favored by high profile rappers can cost upwards of $10,000.

And it's not only plain patterns crowning the mouths of these stars. Some of the fanciest grills include stones set in tiny letters spelling out album titles, neighborhoods or nicknames.

Despite the high price of the items, the fashion has filtered downwards to the general public. "It's a fad gone wild," Eddie Plein, owner of Eddie's Gold Teeth in Atlanta told the Washington Post.

One of the reasons for the popularity of the grills is that, like other jewelry, it is a public display of wealth and achievement. Wearing a grill shows that "you ain't broke or poor no more," Christian "Froggy" Urena explained to recordnet.com.

The only people who seem to have a problem with the trend are dentists, who recommend taking the grills out when eating and sleeping to prevent the risk of cavities, gum disease and even bone loss. "It's not what looks good or what looks bad," said Matthew Messina consumer adviser for the American Dental Association, quoted in the Washington Post, "they're just cleaning nightmares."

The trend for golden teeth began with rappers in the 1980s; today the fashion is popularized by rappers such as Nelly and Paul Well. Nelly's song 'Grillz' features Wall and begins with the line, "Rob the jewelry store and tell them, 'make me a grill.'"