For the T'boli tribe, pearly white teeth make human beings no better than animals. To enhance their appearance, T'boli women grind and blacken their teeth. Men do the same to gain power over animals.
Their practice is called tamblang. It consists of two steps. First, the nibik, when the teeth are filled into regular shapes. Then, silob or olit, when the teeth are blackened with sap of a tree. Sometimes, women cover their teeth with gold as a sign of affluence. Only datus and their kin can have gold teeth. T'boli tribe claims this custom from the Muslims.