Balinese people traditionally have their adult incisors and canines filed to make them even, in a ceremony called Matatah. The purpose, as a Balinese friend tells me, is to remove the naturally animal nature, in order to become fully human. There are six negative characteristics associated with this animal nature, including lust, greed and anger, familiar to Christians as three of the seven deadly sins. Everyone has them to some degree, and tooth filing represents your ability to gain control over them.
It's interesting to me that when Westerners write about this ceremony, they almost invariably refer to Balinese Hindu "castes"-- while I've never heard a native Balinese refer to a caste system, and when I asked a local about it, he said there really wasn't one, unless you count the obsession with lighter skin. The tooth filing ceremony may seem to be related to Hinduism, but artifacts indicate that it was being practiced on the island 2000 years ago, long before the religion was brought there. Tooth filing is performed on both boys and girls, and takes place when the child reaches puberty. Because it's expensive, families must save for the filing and festivities, and may combine it with a baptism or wedding, or a number of children's filings, in order to cut down on the expense.
Judging from the linked video, it looks like it could be uncomfortable at least, if not momentarily painful, but not any worse than the reactions you'd see in a tattoo parlor or the Piercing Hut at the mall, and in my view, a much more attractive outcome.
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