Bored with body art? - PHOTO

Tooth tattoos are an emerging trend as people seek to decorate their mouths with images of their favorite things including the logo of their football team, a cartoon character or a message to a loved one.

Tattoos can’t yet be applied to healthy teeth, but for patients requiring a crown, a tooth tattoo becomes a viable option and compared to body art is considerably cheaper and less painful.A dental stain tattoo costs between $75 and $200 and is no more painful than having a more typical crown fitted. Although tooth art is experiencing a surge in popularity, the technique isn’t new.The Suburbia Dental Laboratory in Bloomfield, Connecticut, made its first tattooed crown almost 20 years ago, when a customer asked for an image of a corvette to be added to a crown.The process involves a dentist taking an impression of the tooth where the crown is to be fitted.The tooth mold is then sent to somewhere like the dental lab where the design is added and the crown is fired in an oven at 212 degrees.Dentist Steven Landman with Ellington Dental Associates in Connecticut has done everything from Grateful Dead to Harley-Davidson logos and patient initials over the past ten years.He even has his own tooth art – a drawing done by his daughter of her and her two brothers.One of Landman’s satisfied customers is Tim Miller, who told WFSB that he opted for a shamrock in honor of his wife’s Irish heritage.'I thought about tattoos in the past but let’s face it, everyone has a tattoo and it’s no longer cool or unique. So that’s why I went ahead and got the tooth,' said Miller.A tooth tattoo doesn’t damage your teeth and can be left in place for years, just like traditional porcelain crowns.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az