THE PROCESS

Your impression becomes a hand-poured plaster model: the exact copy of your dental arch. I work on that cast, millimeter by millimeter. The basis of everything is physical, tangible, yours: not a generic file.

The plaster model goes through a professional 3D scan: your arch becomes a file accurate to a tenth of a millimetre. On that model I sculpt the grillz digitally, tooth by tooth: thickness, gum line, the way the piece hugs the tooth are all decided here. Same gesture as a goldsmith on wax, different tool. A well-made sculpt is a grillz you don't feel in your mouth.

From your design file the piece is born in ISO 22674 chrome-cobalt dental alloy, at a certified printing centre in Italy. It comes back to me raw, matte, still rough. From here on it's all handwork.

File, burrs, abrasive paper. I remove the burrs left by printing, adjust thickness, check that every tooth fits without forcing. This is the stage that decides comfort: a well-finished grillz disappears, a badly finished one you feel all day.

The last step. Progressive pastes up to a mirror: the metal goes from matte to full reflection. If there are settings or stones, this is when they go in. If the piece is a Premium, after the mirror it leaves for the gold-effect PVD treatment at a specialised Italian centre, then comes back to me for the final check. It leaves exactly as you see it in the photos: that one is yours.