We recently connected with Alyssa Vigil and have shared our conversation below.

Alyssa , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Becoming a tooth gems artist has been the biggest risk I’ve taken. I started my business at the beginning of the pandemic and didn’t know how everything would turn out due to masks and social distancing. I lost my job due to covid and needed money to pay my bills and live. I didn’t want to rely on unemployment and decide to shoot my shot at being a tooth gem artist. I purchased my tooth gem kit and my friends helped me out by letting me practice on them. Social media has been a great place for me to share my work and gain most of my clients. Today my business is bigger than I ever imagined and was 100% worth taking the risk for.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Alyssa Vigil and I am a tooth gems artist. I started doing tooth gems almost 3 years ago and my business has grown huge since then. I was inspired by other tooth gem artists in LA and wanted to share this art with people close to me. I love doing tooth gem art because it’s such a great feeling to see my clients happy with their results and how they look with them and watching them come back for more. It’s not common to get tooth gems done in Salt lake so when they find me on social media or hear about me from close friends it feels good to hear people talk good about my work.

The process of getting a Tooth Gem is quite simple and fast. I start off by wiping the tooth dry and adding Etchant Gel to the area of the tooth they want the gem placed on. I then add Bonding Adhesive and Composite Flowable to the area and place the gem on it and cure it with a curing light. The process can take up from anywhere to 7-15 minutes depending on how many gems you are getting done. Tooth gems can last up from 6 months to 2 years depending on your lifestyle. Brushing your gems softly will help them stay on longer. It’s safe to have and won’t cause any damage to the tooth or enamel. They can easily be removed by your dentist.
Tooth Gem Art is a way one can express their smile with jewelry, whether it is a Swarovski crystal, 18k gold gem or white charm gold bonded to your tooth. For the most part, I would say that Tooth Gem Art is still evolving, so I am excited to see what it evolves to. I receive questions such as “Will this affect me visiting my dentist?” And the answer is no. I have gone to visit my dentist with mine and they don’t have any issues with them. Additional questions I have been asked is “I wear a retainer, will it still fit?” If you bring your retainer with you we can work around it! “Can I still whiten my teeth?” You can, but I would try and avoid the tooth/ teeth with the gems.
It’s important for my client to know that this is temporary and won’t cause any damage to the tooth. Additionally, if they plan on whitening their teeth, I do recommend that it takes place before they decide to add a gem.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started building my audience on social media after I felt comfortable with doing tooth gems and had photos to post. I came up with name AV Gems from my first and last name. I created my Instagram and added photos of tooth gems I did on my friends and from there they would share the photos on their profile. My advice would be to come up with a catchy name/ logo that fits your business. Hashtags are a huge part of posting on social media. I had a lot of people reach out to me due to them searching hashtags with tooth gems and Salt Lake City in the same tag.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I love seeing my clients reaction to their new tooth gems. They always feel so excited about their new smile. It’s exciting seeing tooth gem artists from all over Instagram posts of their creative looks and feeling inspired by them. I try to come up with new looks for clients when they come see me and are unsure of what to do and them loving it once it’s on the tooth.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @avgems_