Real grillz and a Party Guard solve a similar problem — a custom-fit piece that goes over your teeth and makes a statement — in almost opposite ways. One is metal, fitted by a jeweller or a dentist, and either removable at a real cost or permanently cemented. The other is a removable mouthguard moulded from your own dental impression, priced like a mouthguard rather than like jewellery or dental work. If you are trying to decide between the two, here is what actually separates them: cost, commitment, the fitting process, and what each one is actually for.
The short answer
Real grillz — whether a custom removable piece or a permanently cemented set — are fabricated from actual metal by a jeweller or a dentist, fitted to an impression of your teeth, and priced like jewellery or like a dental procedure. A Party Guard is a removable, custom-moulded mouthguard: same starting point, a cast of your own teeth, but built from multi-layer EVA instead of metal, finished in colours, chrome, glow and glitter instead of karats, and priced flat at $99 no matter which finish you pick. If what you want is a statement look for a night out that you can take out whenever you want, that is what a Party Guard is built for. If what you want is real metal in your mouth, that is a different product, made by a different kind of professional, and it deserves its own research — starting with whoever would actually be making the piece.
What real grillz actually are
"Grillz" covers more than one product, but they all share the same starting point: metal, custom-fitted to your own teeth, made by someone who takes an impression of your mouth before fabricating anything.
At one end are custom-fitted removable grillz — a single cap or a full-arch piece, usually gold, gold-plated, or silver, sometimes set with stones, built to clip on and off like a retainer. A proper custom piece starts with an impression taken by a jeweller who specialises in dental jewellery (sometimes a dentist is involved instead), which is what separates it from the generic, one-size "fashion grillz" sold online — those are not fitted to your mouth at all, and tend to fit and look like it. A genuinely custom-fitted piece is a real commitment: an in-person fitting, a production timeline usually measured in weeks, and a price that — because it is set by the weight of actual metal plus craftsmanship — often runs into the hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on the karat, the metal, and how many teeth are covered. We do not sell grillz and have no visibility into any specific jeweller's pricing, so treat that as a rough sense of range, not a quote, and confirm directly with whoever would be making yours.
At the other end are permanently cemented gold teeth — caps or crowns fixed over your natural teeth by a dentist, meant to stay in for years rather than come out at night. That is a genuine, largely irreversible dental procedure, not a fashion accessory. It is a conversation to have with a dentist who can examine your teeth in person, not a decision to make based on a mouthguard company's blog post.
What a Party Guard actually is
A Party Guard is not metal and nothing about it is cemented to anything. It is built the same way every GumGear product is built: you take a dental impression at home with a kit we mail you, we use that impression to produce a positive cast of your exact teeth, and multiple layers of medical-grade EVA are pressure-laminated over the cast to fabricate a guard that fits only you — the same impression-to-cast process behind every GumGear guard, with a digital scan step along the way to confirm the cast before fabrication starts.
Where it diverges entirely from a sports mouthguard is finish. A Party Guard comes in colourways, chrome and iridescent finishes, glow-in-the-dark, glitter, and your own custom text or artwork — it is built to be seen, not hidden under a jersey. Every finish costs the same flat $99, it takes 10–14 days from the time your impression ships back to us to a finished guard at your door, and you wear it the same way you would any mouthguard: in for the night, out when you are done. See the finishes and design one yourself.
Cost: a flat $99 vs. a jeweller's quote
A Party Guard costs $99 regardless of which finish you choose — chrome, glow, glitter, a custom design, it is one price. Real grillz do not work that way, because they are not priced like a manufactured product with a fixed bill of materials. A custom removable piece is priced by metal weight, karat, stone-setting, and tooth count, which is why quotes for real gold dental jewellery vary enormously and often run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars — we are hedging that figure deliberately because we have no pricing visibility into the jewellery side of this and do not want to quote a number we cannot stand behind. Permanently cemented gold teeth are priced as dental work on top of the metal itself, which adds another layer of variability entirely.
The practical takeaway: a Party Guard is priced like a mouthguard. Grillz are priced like jewellery, or like dental work for the permanent kind. Neither is the "correct" price — they are different products with different cost structures, and the right comparison is what each one is actually for, not which number is smaller.
Permanent, semi-permanent, or removable
It is worth being precise about which tier you are actually comparing, because the three get talked about interchangeably and they are not the same decision:
- Permanently cemented gold teeth are a dental procedure. They do not come out, and reversing one means another dental procedure. This is a dentist decision, not a style decision.
- Custom removable grillz come out like a retainer, but the piece itself is a real, standalone metal object you own — a genuine investment you keep, store, and wear repeatedly, priced accordingly.
- Party Guard is also removable, but at $99 it is not a once-and-done investment — it is closer to a piece of gear you might own more than one of, in different finishes, for different nights, without re-running the jewellery-pricing math each time.
How each one actually gets fitted
Both start with an impression of your teeth, but the process around that impression looks very different. Custom grillz typically mean an in-person fitting with a jeweller (or, for the permanently cemented version, a dentist), followed by a production timeline usually measured in weeks before the piece is ready to fit or cement.
A Party Guard skips the in-person appointment entirely. We mail you an impression kit, you take the impression at home in a few minutes, and a prepaid label sends it back to us. From there it is 10–14 days to a finished guard — the impression becomes a cast, the cast gets pressure-laminated in EVA, and the finished Party Guard ships to you. For the exact step-by-step on taking the impression itself, see how to take a dental impression at home.
Comfort and everyday wear
Metal against your teeth and gums for extended wear is a different physical experience from a soft, structured EVA guard, and the two products are generally worn differently as a result. A permanently cemented piece is worn continuously because it is not designed to come out. A custom removable grillz piece is typically worn for the occasion it was made for rather than slept in. A Party Guard uses the same EVA construction as every other GumGear mouthguard, moulded from your own cast so it seats the way a mouthguard is supposed to — lightweight, no sharp edges, and built to come in and out easily rather than stay in place indefinitely.
Who each one actually suits
Real grillz — removable or permanent — suit someone who has already decided they want actual metal: a long-term piece they will own and wear repeatedly, who is comfortable with a jeweller's or a dentist's cost and timeline, and for the permanent version, someone who has had the conversation with a dentist about a change that does not come back out easily.
A Party Guard suits someone who wants the statement-mouthguard look for a specific night, event, or season without the metal price tag — or who wants to try the look, in a finish they actually chose, before ever considering something permanent. It also suits anyone who is not in a position to get a permanent dental modification in the first place: if you currently have braces, the at-home impression kit cannot produce a usable impression over brackets and wires — the putty needs to release cleanly from whatever it is moulded around, and it cannot do that without tearing or distorting. A braces-compatible fit needs an in-person professional dental scan, which is not part of our current process. Get in touch with us first if you are in braces and interested in a Party Guard, so we can tell you that upfront rather than send a kit that will not produce a workable impression.
What a Party Guard is not
Choosing between them
If the goal is how it looks and feels for a given night out, a Party Guard is the lower-stakes, fully reversible choice: $99, your own impression, a finish you pick yourself, and nothing permanent happens to your teeth either way. Design your own Party Guard to see the full range of colours and finishes. If you have already decided you want real metal — removable or permanently cemented — that is a different process entirely, run by a jeweller or a dentist rather than a mouthguard company, and it is worth researching and pricing directly with them before committing. For the full picture of how the impression-based fitting process works across GumGear's products, the complete custom mouthguard guide covers it end to end.
