WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Art breaks into dental world with tooth tattoos

Art breaks into dental world with tooth tattoos

(Torrance, California-NBC) Sept. 30, 2005 - The next time someone flashes his pearly whites at you, you might want to take a closer look, there might be a Picasso on that tooth.

Dr. Randall Turner looks inside people's mouths for a living, but when he opens wide, "I got Superman in my mouth."

Turner is one of hundreds of Americans wearing the work of Ron Grant, "It's not just paint. It's porcelain you bake on."

The Watkinsville, Georgia, artist is the self-titled Monet of molars. From animals, to logos, to just about anything, if you want it on your tooth, Grant can make it happen.

Turner says, "People are extraordinary on what they'd like on their teeth."

Turner's enthusiasm for the tattoos rubbed off on six of his seven children, who also had Superman permanently baked onto their porcelain crowns.

And it's rubbed off on about 100 of his patients, including Bob Seline, who has a biohazard sign on his molar, "I think of it as part of me, or an expression."

A tooth tattoo will cost you about $200 to $300, but it's not as permanent as a real tattoo. A dentist can grind it off or replace the crown.

And that's just what the men say are so appealing about them. It's a walk on the wild side, without being too wild, or too committed.

Seline says, "It's the danger/biker tattoo I'll never be able to have."

Turner adds, "It's a conservative man's tattoo, church man's tattoo."

A dentist typically won't let you order a tooth tattoo unless you need a crown. The art is then painted and baked on while the crown is made at a dental lab, before it's put in your mouth.

Posted 4:00pm by Chantelle Janelle