This Sabahan “ices out” people’s smiles with Swarovski gems starting from RM100/tooth

Elena Laurel Moujing has TikTok to thank for inspiring the start of her tooth gem career.

To be fair, Elena has already been interested in cosmetic dentistry since she got her first tooth gem four years ago. But it was seeing the tooth accessory trend on social media that pushed her to start her own business, Saltyeeth.

“Once you show a tad bit of interest in tooth gems, the social media algorithm will just serve you a whole lot of tooth gems content,” she expressed. “I said to myself when watching, ‘it’s time Malaysia has someone that ice people out for real’.”

At the time, Elena was in her hometown of Sabah due to the MCO. Having been based in Kuala Lumpur for a few years, she wasn’t sure about starting her business there.

But after a month at home with family and being asked about her career direction, Elena decided to kickstart her business, proving that she is doing something.

“We all need to be pressured a little sometimes to take action,” she shared.

So, Elena took a course from a dental practitioner from Australia, who provided her with the necessary materials and tools to open Saltyeeth last August in Sabah.

At first, Elena relied on word of mouth to get clients. While she said that many people there still live in conservative communities and aren’t as daring to do bold designs, she also expressed that “orang KK pun suka ber-style and bercantik, actually (people in KK still like to style and beautify themselves, actually)”.

Saltyeeth clients would visit her family home to get the service. Elena’s parents were supportive, going so far as to offer water to clients and hype them up after their sessions.

“It felt like I had a little team, and it was honestly so fun,” she shared. “Sometimes my dad would help me take some pictures and record the sessions too.”

Those photos helped Elena garner some attention from West Malaysian residents, and she realised it was time to move.

Going to the big city

Saltyeeth is currently located inside a bigger event space called Polydextrous Studios in Petaling Jaya.

Here, Elena can be found applying tooth gems to her clients. She describes the procedure as similar to getting braces, but probably more relaxing.

“The gems would look good on all shades, sizes, and arrangement of teeth,” Elena claims. “Crooked, straight, or protruding.”

However, one thing she might not be able to work with is dirty teeth. She urges customers to get their teeth professionally cleaned first if they haven’t done so during the past two years.

The tooth gems typically last from one to six months, but Elena herself has seen them stay on for nine months and counting.

“It all goes down to the gem placement and your eating habits,” she explained. “The lesser impact and friction they get from food, the longer your gems can last.”

Elena also recommends using toothbrushes with soft bristles. And if you’re still concerned about swallowing the gems, she assures that the gems used are Swarovski crystals, which are nickel and lead-free. Worst case scenario, it’ll just come out naturally.

When that happens, “One shall be blessed with crystals in their faeces,” she joked.

With no special promotions going on, the base price is RM100 for the first classic gem design. The price increases from there, and customers will be charged accordingly to the chosen designs.

Sometimes, clients even bring their own gems. In those cases, Saltyeeth charges RM100 for the first tooth and RM30 for any additional ones.

Penetrating the Malaysian market

Although the tooth gem industry has been booming on social media as of late, the majority of Saltyeeth’s audience online are non-Malaysians.

“I think tooth jewellery is still pretty foreign to Malaysians,” Elena said. “A lot of people still get shocked when they find out you can put crystals on your teeth!”

But thanks to Saltyeeth’s unique branding, it has welcomed a wide range of customers into the studio from kids to mothers, to influencers. Perhaps getting tooth gems could become a practice as normalised as getting manicures and pedicures.

Elena personally sees tooth gems as a semi-permanent piece that is perfect for those who are lazy to dress up, as it ensures you’re always bling-ed up and ready to go.

According to Elena, there are some dentist’s clinics, tattoo parlours, and beauty salons that provide tooth gem services locally. However, she believes Saltyeeth has the most extensive range of designs.

“I would like to proudly say that Saltyeeth is the first in Malaysia that wholly does tooth gems,” the founder beamed. 

Bright, shiny future

Through Saltyeeth, Elena hopes to be able to work with more artists to create more content and designs.

Other than Sabah and Kuala Lumpur, Saltyeeth has also provided its services in Johor. Elena hopes to visit Sarawak, Ipoh, and Melaka before the end of the year as well.

“As tooth gems are trending right now, we want to see more editorial works incorporating tooth gems into their work too,” she said. “I’m pretty excited to see if that happens in the near future.”

Perhaps one day we’ll see tooth gems splashed across the front pages of Malaysian magazines. But for now, Saltyeeth’s social media pages are definitely the go-to spot if you want to catch a flash of toothy, blinged-out smiles.

• Learn more about Saltyeeth here.
• Read more articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.

Featured Image Credit: Saltyeeth