Over the years we have been subjected to several idiotic fashion trends involving teeth - diamond studs, grills, etc. Japan saw their opportunity and vaulted onto the bandwagon immediately with their contribution - LED covers for teeth. The luminous contraptions were originally invented by Japanese designers Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi, to advertise a winter sale at a clothing shop. When the teeth began to be sold commercially, they came with the tagline "Party in your mouth" - we can only assume that Japanese folk are more immune to innuendo than us Brits. Following this, Japanese teenagers (as they tend to do) enjoyed the craze exponentially, and began to join up in large groups after nightfall to scare the crap out of random strangers. For a strange fashion gimmick, the designers have put a lot of functionality into the LED smile. The teeth-covers light up when the user smiles, and they can then change the colour of the LED (or make them flash) using a hand-held, wireless control switch. Despite the fairly impressive level of tech, this craze has all the dubious appeal of making the practitioner look like a poorly-devised android from an 80's B-movie.
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