Once you had to be a rock star to go in for dental decoration. Mick Jagger led the way, having a diamond fitted into a tooth to add a certain flash to Jumpin' Jack's grin, writes Reg Little.

With her gold tooth, Sporty Spice is another who has put her money where her mouth is. And Simply Red's Mick Hucknall famously features a ruby in his gnashers.

Now fashion is ready to meet dentistry head-on at your local dental surgery. Oxford dentists like Maria Hardman, who practises at St Clement's, are opening up the whole sparkling world of tooth jewellery to people not quite figuring in the new list of Richest Britons. Ready-made jewellery is coming on to the market made of 18 and 25-carat gold, some with diamonds and rubies. There is a choice of 23 designs, costing about £50 each, with dentists expected to charge the same to fit them.

But the the real beauty of the so-called Twinkles is that they are semi-permanent and easily removed in minutes.

For people do change their minds, as Mick Jagger knows only too well. The Rolling Stone originally had an emerald, but he switched to a diamond when everyone mistook the costly green stone for a piece of spinach. Ms Hardman said: "The jewellery is glued on, so the tooth is not damaged in any way. Nothing like this has been available before at affordable prices."

Previously, teeth were drilled in the interests of vanity. So are dentists' surgeries about to become centres of fashion? Well it might cost £100 a go, but a few parents will see it as altogether preferable to body piercing.

And it would also seem a golden business opportunity for dentists.

Story date: Friday 30 April

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