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Medicine Technology

Team of Dentists Create "The Six-Second Toothbrush" 98

Posted by samzenpus from the but-I-want-them-brushed-now dept.
dryriver writes "A team of dentists has created a toothbrush they say can clean teeth thoroughly in less than six seconds. Manufacturer Blizzident uses the same scans dentists use to fit braces and an extremely precise 3D printer to create a brush for each individual customer. Each brush contains about 400 soft bristles and requires the wearer to grind their teeth in order to clean. Its makers say it eliminates brushing errors that people typically make, but experts say more research is needed. The technology comes at a price — a customer's first brush, which will last for a year, costs 299 euros ($405; £250). Subsequent brushes are cheaper, and old ones can be reconditioned for less than 100 euros, the company says. 'Because you are brushing all your teeth at the same time, you are brushing extremely quickly,' the company says. 'You brush all the difficult-to-reach and interdental regions without even having to think about it.'"
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Team of Dentists Create "The Six-Second Toothbrush" More

Team of Dentists Create "The Six-Second Toothbrush"

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  • SkyMall (Score:3)

    by Frosty Piss ( 770223 ) * on Wednesday October 02, 2013 @07:01PM (#45020329)

    I predict that this item will show up very shortly for around $100 in SkyMall magazine...

  • done to determine whether this type of brush is effective, or more specifically, whether it is MORE effective than brushing with a standard manual or electric brush. At that price, it better be MORE effective.

    • It doesn't necessarily have to be more effective. If it's equally effective there are probably a number of people who will buy it just because it's interesting and saves them maybe one minute of time every day.

    • Re: (Score:2, Redundant)

      by TheLink ( 130905 )
      Another thing to consider: it may take 6 seconds to clean your teeth well, but how long does it take to clean the brush properly after it cleans your teeth?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ami.one ( 897193 )
        Now that's what I call "insightful" ! My Electric Shaver takes just a little less time than my manual Gillette 3 blade razor and then a full 15 Minutes to clean (I clean once every 3 days though, but still it's a big pain to open the 'foil' system and then use the brush to remove stuck hair bits from both sides of each of the 10-20 blades)
  • This is odd, but I have been considering a device like this for several months now. Except, if I were to do it, the bristles would move like a sonicare brush, instead of having to grind your teeth around to clean them.

    You just have to pop the device in, let it run for 10-30 seconds, and your teeth are clean, and it could even floss for you.

    Guess that will be next year's model . . .

    • You just have to pop the device in, let it run for 10-30 seconds,

      Yeah, that'll be so awesome when the next model takes FIVE TIMES AS LONG!!1!

    • Re:I would have added more features (Score:4, Insightful)

      by khellendros1984 ( 792761 ) on Wednesday October 02, 2013 @08:12PM (#45020929) Journal

      You just have to pop the device in, let it run for 10-30 seconds, and your teeth are clean, and it could even floss for you.

      That doesn't really sound better than something that you use for 4-24 seconds less, doesn't have any moving parts, and doesn't require a power source. The device from TFA already reaches the interstices of your teeth, so it should have the same effects as flossing anyhow.

    • Re:I would have added more features (Score:5, Funny)

      by Chuck Chunder ( 21021 ) on Wednesday October 02, 2013 @08:50PM (#45021223) Journal

      Guess that will be next year's model

      Next up is the 1000 blade shaver, perfectly moulded to your face. One quick stroke and your whole face is clean shaven.

      Either that or you are bleeding to death.

      • Careful you don't use the programming for the wife's beav.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by yotto ( 590067 )

          I just had the most hilarious webcomic idea pop into my head. Starts with a guy walking into work with a mustache and beard that exists only under his nose in a thin line.

          It'd probably look too much like a Hitler 'stache though. Maybe if he was blonde. Hmmm.

          For someone with no artistic talent, I'm giving this a lot of thought.

      • There was a joke in the Soviet Union that a shaving machine was displayed in a technology fair. All the man had to do was to insert his head in the machine and press a button, and the machine did the rest.

        -"How amazing!", a bystander said. "Just think about this, every face has a different shape!"

        -"Not after going through this machine!", the inventor replied.

    • Guess that will be next year's model . . .

      Clean up is a snap! And you don't even need a toothbrush anymore with the new wild ride edition: Just squirt some toothpaste in the bush before going down town.

    • The idea of a flossing version has occurred to me as well. A similar kind of custom-molded set of trays with floss strands.

      Put it in your mouth and bite a couple of times and you floss your entire mouth.

      I'm not sure how you'd change the floss without a complex re-stringing process, but maybe it could be strung with some kind of strong filament that could be easily cleaned and sterilized without needing to be changed.

  • Prior Art (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Just chew on this for six seconds...

    http://img1.etsystatic.com/005/0/6262900/il_fullxfull.399675811_ozpd.jpg?ref=l2

  • Sounds pretty ground-breaking. Six second from the recommended 120 seconds--and how many of us do that?--is a lot of time saved, and if the device cleans our teeth better than we normally do (needs verification as noted above), that's a net win there too. Given the market for teeth whiteners and electric toothbrushes, there's certainly a social premium placed on attractive teeth, not to mention the very important health benefits of consistent dental care.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      Six second from the recommended 120 seconds--and how many of us do that?--is a lot of time saved

      I can't tell you how thankful I am that my schedule has never been so tight that saving 114-seconds on personal care could feel significant.

      How do you find the time to post on slashdot?

      • 114 seconds a day * 365 days (life of the brush) works out to about 11 1/2 hours. At $405 that means it costs about $35 per hour of time savings. Not a great investment in time but not horrible, and probably worth it to a fair number of people.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by narcc ( 412956 )

          and probably worth it to a fair number of people.

          That is absolutely insane.

          That 11 1/2 hours is not in any way contiguous -- what could you accomplish in that time, in 114 seconds a day? How could that possibly offer any advantage, let alone one worth $35/hour?

          Even if you could come up with some fantastic task that could justify the value placed on that tiny bit of time, who the hell can't manage to find 114 seconds of extra time per day? Go to bed 114 seconds later than normal, no weird untested toothbrush or dentist appointment required.

          What if you sha

          • Oh shit... I'm supposed to be at work in 10 minutes... pull on clothes, shove toothbrush in mouth, grind teeth, run out the door.

            Sometimes 2 minutes is the difference between brushing and not brushing. This would have a place in the glove box, next to the cordless razor and the cologne. They should make a watertight case so you can leave it soaking in mouthwash when you put it away.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Inda ( 580031 )
              Euuuuuwwwwww.

              Be two minutes late for work. Make the time up by staying two minutes late or working 0.004% harder and faster throughout the day.

              • Re: (Score:3)

                by ffejie ( 779512 )
                Sometimes being two minutes late for work means missing the train, meaning you're 30 minutes for work, meaning you get seen as a not-hard worker, meaning you get fired and have all the time in the world to brush your teeth! Problem solved!
          • It's not about the 2 minutes you save, but about the knowledge that you have properly brushed your teeth without missing a single spot every time you use this brush. It's easy to claim that more than half of the people that come into a dentist that need work done, end up there because they haven't brushed their teeth properly at least once a day for their entire life. You may not safe money on toothbrushes this way, but you will possibly break even on total dentistry costs even at the price point this brush

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by hurfy ( 735314 )

          Subtract the time spent at the dentist, getting to the dentist, waiting for the dentist !
          I assume the cost includes the dentist visit or does it?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dlgeek ( 1065796 )
        Because it will encourage you to brush more often? I'm good about brushing in the morning, but I'm very inconsistent at night (or consistent about not brushing).

        If I had one of these, I'd keep it in my pocket and brush after every meal, snack, or peice of candy, or whenever my mouth felt I could use it. There'd be a big benefit in going from once or twice a day to 10-15 times a day.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by sFurbo ( 1361249 )
          Not necessarily. Brushing too much can be hard on the teeth and gums (but I think this is more related to brushing too hard), and brushing also removes the amoebas that feed off of the bacteria in your mouth (or so I have heard, but it might just be somebody extrapolating), so you might be worse off brushing 10-15 times a day.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Guignol ( 159087 )
        I see all this interest for this product and I think my next Idea will blow this one out of the water
        5 seconds toothbrush !!! [youtu.be]

      • Because I already brush for 6 seconds only, and I'd rather the 6 seconds I can be bothered for actually clean my teeth properly?

  • If this does what it says it does, the cost they cite is negligible. Although I wonder if fluoride ions take longer than six-seconds to work their magic. i'm still waiting for ultra-sonic tooth re-growing technology to be approved here in my United States.

    • > Although I wonder if fluoride ions take longer than six-seconds to work their magic.

      I hear fluoride is just industrial waste and is being used by the government for mind control. I got this info from sites that folks who claim that mercury in vaccinations is causing autism pointed me to, and it's on teh interwebz so it must be true. ;)

    • Fluoride has several functions when it comes to dentistry.

      1) act as a catalyst for rebuilding teeth. It helps calcium and phosphates dissolved in your saliva to be (re)introduced in your teeth and rebuilds them that way. It does this by remaining in the porous surface of a tooth.

      2) It acts as an antibacterial agent. Again, any bacteria it encounters will have trouble functioning and reproducing, slowing or killing the damage to your teeth. If your teeth are clean, there are very few bacteria in your saliv

  • Multi-core parallel processing comes to toothbrushes!

    Let the one-upmanship begin! Can anyone say "razor blades"?

  • A toothbrush from Blizz(IDENT)? WoW! (Score:5, Funny)

    by __aadhrk6380 ( 585073 ) on Wednesday October 02, 2013 @07:41PM (#45020699) Journal

    Does this mean trolls teeth get cleaner due to surface areas being easier to access? Should I roll a troll for better hygiene?

    If we do heroic brushing runs will we get epic gum lines?

    Will it be a bad thing if a good tooth drops?

    Can I rez a molar to avoid an extraction?

    Will we be able to eat on Tuesdays, or will nutrition be down due to maintenance?

    Should I just go ahead and plan to make my wisdom teeth shamans, priests and mages or are there options?

    Subscription based MMORPG's (Molar-based Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) are obviously the wave of the future. I can see Blizz changing the Headless Horseman to the Tooth Fairy this year.

  • No thanks, I would rather use a Dentic [wikia.com] - minty!
    Just remember: *never* swallow one and they taste horrible fried - words to live by.

  • As someone who suffers from TMJ disorder the thought of deliberately grinding my teeth every day makes this idea a non-starter.

  • It's $435 for the first year, and $135 each year thereafter.

    That's more than 50 times what I spend on toothbrushes in one year right now.

    But it would only reduce my brushing time by about a factor between 15 and 25.

    The economics are not worth it.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I used baking soda toothpaste once in my life...it was salty and unpleasant. Maybe some people can deal with that, but in my mind, the minty = fresh association is the one that controls my toothpaste purchasing :)

  • I do. Strange as it sounds, it gives me a few minutes to think midday or just before bed. Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoy the 4 minutes I spend brushing my 2 year olds teeth.

  • Wouldn't you need more than 6 seconds to ensure that the chemicals in the toothpaste have taken hold?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by KritonK ( 949258 )

      Not really. Brushing works mainly by mechanical action. The "chemicals" are mostly there for flavor.

      In this sense, 6 seconds seems just about right. My dentist recommends 7-10 passes with the toothbrush per tooth (or group of teeth, given that you can brush more than one tooth at the same time). Grinding your teeth for six seconds would make at least this number of passes.

      If you ask your dentist how to brush your teeth properly, you'll learn that proper brushing also involves massaging your gums, which is s

  • Surprised nobody has said they would buy this, though some could see the benefits. If it works as good as my electric (Oral B, one of those expensive ones with the charging base and the 30-second alert so you know to change quadrants) I'm all in. I hate brushing my teeth but do it pretty religiously, and if I can not do it for 2 minutes twice a day, sounds like a pretty good use of my money.

    Someone else mentioned that they could brush easily after every meal and that seems a good idea as well. Also, wheneve

  • Who is in such a dire need of a quick brush that they need this? Is two minutes too much to spare these days?

  • But what happens when someone comes out with Five Second Teeth? Then you're in trouble...

    Noooo NOT Five, I said SIX. No one's coming up with Five..Who brushes their teeth in five seconds?

  • I avoided the dentist for about 5 years because each visit was more like a trip to a confessional, with lots of criticism and guilt about not flossing. I was brushing my teeth about twice a day and they said I absolutely HAD to floss. I would try flossing but it would be a 35 minute ordeal and there was just no way I was going to spend that much time every day doing that.

    After a filling broke I knew I had to go to the dentist but rather than go back to the asshole I figured I'd look into sedation dentistr

  • Looking at the pictures, I don't get how the device cleans the outside of your teeth. I honestly can't see this achieving mass market success for a few reasons. First, the price needs to come down - as a consumable item, people aren't going to want to blow a lot of money on it. Then there are issues with cleaning / hygiene - lots of crap can get stuck in those bristles. Then there's the risk involved - people aren't willing to risk their dental hygiene on an untested / unproven technology. For most peo
  • I still don't understand why this has to be custom fit to your mouth/teeth, since every part of brushing is handled by the bristles, why does it matter if it is formed perfect for your teeth? I imagine, like most other products, this could be sized up to a small, medium, or large, or even have a brush that could be trimmed off (with scissors, like a mouthguard, for instance).

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