Grill maker’s bling comes from the heart
Grill maker’s bling comes from the heart The gold teeth shop called Mr. Bling Bling doesn’t look very shiny on the outside. [...] David Moon, who has run the tiny store near the corner of Geary Boulevard and Fillmore Street for 15 years, brings a sparkle to the neighborhood that is undeniable. Regulars know Moon, 47, as Mr. Bling Bling, or Bling, or just MBB. Customers don’t seem to mind that he plays contemporary gospel in the background instead of hip-hop. Grills were made fashionable in recent years by hip-hop artists like Lil Wayne, Paul Wall and Flavor Flav, but many of Moon’s customers are less interested in style than in hiding imperfections in their real teeth. The gold grill is often a cheaper solution than dental work, he says. Ten grills later, he says, his little cousins are begging to follow his golden path. Ruben Bantilan, 27, traded jewelry he inherited from his grandfather for his first teeth from Mr. Bling Bling, an eight-piece set of lowers cast in white gold. “I’ve wanted one as sort of a fashion statement and my grandpa’s jewelry was just sitting around, so I decided to do something with it,” Bantilan said.