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This is the wrong problem to try and solve. Toothbrushes are a solved problem. If you want to disrupt at-home dentistry, solve flossing instead. That one's sti
by toki5 13y ago
This is the wrong problem to try and solve. Toothbrushes are a solved problem.
If you want to disrupt at-home dentistry, solve flossing instead. That one's still a pain in the ass that comes back to bite (heh) a huge amount of people down their roads.
- josefresco 13y agoFloss picks. They mostly solved my flossing reluctance. That and my dentist threatening a more invasive cleaning process if my gum health didn't improve. They seem like a waste (mine are recyclable) but I found for myself and kids they are 100 times easier than traditional floss. /I do not own stock or a website selling floss picks
- DanHulton 13y agoAgreed a million percent. I hated flossing and I still do, but these are so easy to use, that it's absolutely overcome my reluctance. Most nights are like "But I don't wanna floss, enh, it's like a couple seconds, whatever."
- subpixel 13y agoPro-tip: if you use a floss pick, rinse it in water and dip it in mouthwash every time you move between teeth. Using the same small piece of floss for all your teeth actually spreads bacteria, etc. throughout your mouth, causing all the things you're trying to avoid by flossing in the first place. Dentists & hygienists never floss two sets of teeth with the same piece of floss. (And yes, they go through a crap-ton of floss.)
- npsimons 13y agoUsing the same small piece of floss for all your teeth actually spreads bacteria, etc. throughout your mouth, causing all the things you're trying to avoid by flossing in the first place. Citation needed; I've heard this one before, and I just don't buy it. I've always believed (perhaps wrongly) that flossing was meant to remove food debris the bacteria lives off of that a toothbrush can't get to. Dentists & hygienists never floss two sets of teeth with the same piece of floss. (And yes, they go through a crap-ton of floss.) Maybe my hygienist is doing it wrong, but she uses very little floss and uses the same piece for multiple tooth gaps.
- coryl 13y agoHmm, is this actually an issue worth worrying about? Your mouth is already awash like one big swamp. It doesn't strike me that you could "contaminate" an area any worse than your tongue could. The purpose of flossing is to dislodge food particles and plaque buildup in difficult to reach places. These are the energy sources for plaque/cavity causing bacteria. No energy source = no bad bacteria = no problem.
- subpixel 13y agoMy evidence is anecdotal: I used floss picks for months, went to the dentist, and he accused me of not flossing. My sister is a hygienist, and she told me that's her experience with patients as well, and that you need clean floss to avoid spreading bacteria into the places you're trying to clean. Optimal form may also be hard to achieve with floss picks - you want to form a 'c' shape with the floss partially wrapping around your tooth. That's impossible to do with a short, taught piece of floss.
- reustle 13y agoYep. I never flossed but I now have these things everywhere. A bag in my driver side car door, in my desk, in my backpack, etc.
- rip747 13y agoa dentist friend of mine gave me a floss card once (looks like a credit card only has floss in it). still have it and i don't know what i'm going to do when it runs out, it has literally been a life saver for me. if there is one thing i hate in life is having something caught between your teeth all day. Edit: thank you google! http://www.flosscard.com/order-retail-10-packs/ http://www.flosscard.com/order-retail-10-packs/
- nocman 13y agoWow. How did you use your floss card to prevent yourself from being killed? I'd love to hear that story. (I'm taking the word "literally" ... um ... literally here) :-D
- vidarh 13y agoInterdental brushes works well for me. Pretty much like a toothpick but a brush, and deforms more. Small enough to pretty much always have one with me - my gums get easily inflamed so it's a relief to be able to use them anytime.
- wikiburner 13y agoThe Reach Access ones are even easier. No stretching your mouth open to get to the molars. Highly recommended.
- trafficlight 13y agoI don't know, 6 seconds of brushing sounds pretty good.
- jlgreco 13y agoAgreed. At that point it becomes something I could actually see myself doing after every meal.
- phogster 13y agoIsn't there a thing as overbrushing?
- jlgreco 13y agoProbably; all I know is that my dentist always tells me I should brush after all meals. However that is probably assuming the standard "3 meals a day" instead of the modern American "continuous meal throughout the day, with occasional breaks for breathing".
- DanBC 13y agoModern advice is to brush before eating. You clean the teeth so stuff doesn't stick to them. Brushing after eating brushes when your teeth are being attacked by acid. (http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/dentalhealth/Pages/Teethcleaningguide.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/dentalhealth/Pages/Teethcleaningg...) > When should I brush my teeth? > Brush your teeth for at least two minutes in the morning before breakfast and last thing at night before you go to bed. > Never brush your teeth straight after a meal as it can damage your teeth, especially if you've had fruit, fizzy drinks, wine or any other food that contains acid. > This is because tooth enamel is softened by the acid and can be worn away by brushing. Instead, wait an hour after a meal before brushing your teeth to give your saliva chance to neutralise the acid. Obviously, I'm not a dentist and nothing I say is meant to replace anything an actual dentist tells you.
- 13y ago
- dice 13y agoFTA: >According to the company, By simply biting and grinding, Blizzident automatically cleans all teeth perfectly within six seconds, and you can even floss and clean your tongue at the same time.
- jotux 13y agoI've had basically the same idea as the the article, but for flossing, since I was a kid. You would mold your teeth and then cut slots in the mold between the teeth. You would then string floss through all of the slots and put the whole thing in your mouth. A single bit down would floss all of your teeth at once. A neat idea, but not that practical.
- gcb0 13y agoTake my money!
- klipt 13y agoBut moving floss vertically in and out is bad flossing technique. You're supposed to curve the floss around the tooth: http://www.oralb.com/topics/proper-flossing.aspx http://www.oralb.com/topics/proper-flossing.aspx > Contour floss around the side of the tooth.
- jotux 13y agoThis is why it's not practical.
- crystaln 13y agoTie a piece of floss in a circle. That solves most of the problem.
- loceng 13y agoTooth health was solved thousands of years ago - and it's called Oil Pulling. Toothbrushes are the norm because of marketing budgets of teaching society to buy 1 disposable product (toothbrush), which then requires buying another product on a recurring basis (toothpaste). There are different kinds of oils you can use for different benefits, though overall you just need the suction and vacuum that the oil allows for (with the density of the oil). It's great for your gums and teeth overall - and has other benefits relating to tongue health, tasting of food, etc..
- alanctgardner2 13y agoI was really curious, so I looked up Oil Pulling [1]. 15-20 minutes of swishing oil around in my mouth? I don't see how that's ideal for anyone, it sounds disgusting and terribly time consuming. The literature linked from Wikipedia also doesn't talk about any of the benefits you discuss, and I'm a little skeptical. Why can't I achieve this by just swishing my own spit around all day? 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pulling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pulling
- talmand 13y agoNot only all that, but the Wikipedia article states that after spitting out the oil you would then clean your teeth, gums, and tongue as you normally would. It only seems to be a remedy for specific situations.
- loceng 13y agoTry it. I don't have any links that reference the technique I learned, though you want to only have so much oil in your mouth that you can maintain swishing it around (through your teeth, back and forth, etc) for the 15-20 minutes. I wouldn't start with 15-20 minutes either - you won't be able to maintain it, your muscles in your mouth will get tired. You need to rinse after with a roughly half-water, half-hydrogen peroxide mix - after spitting the oil into your toilet (into sink could cause clogging issues) - and swish it around in your mouth for 10-15 seconds, through your teeth, etc.. This will help whiten your teeth too - most toothpaste companies add a bit of hydrogen peroxide to the toothpaste for this effect. Spit isn't as dense as oil, and so it won't create as much pressure when being squeezed through your gums - which will loosen out anything stuck in your gums, that floss could otherwise get, and instead of floss jamming in say a piece of meat in further, the swishing and suction that occurs from a 'tight' vacuum in your mouth helps pull the stuck material away. You don't have to swish for 15-20 minutes either, even a few minutes will do similar - though 15-20 minutes has added benefits, mainly related to the blood flow with your tongue, and the muscles in your mouth / throat, etc.. More so if you use sunflower oil because sunflowers absorb radiation (another thing you'll probably want to look up because you'll say "BULLSHIT!" -- Wikipedia doesn't have anything on it, though a search on Google brings up various results). P.S. If you oil pull with sunflower oil (can't remember if you want refined or unrefined) then after ~3 days you'll start to get a brown spot at the back middle of your tongue - you can gently scrap that off with a spoon. After a week or so that'll likely stop showing. Anyway, try it yourself - is all I can really suggest..
- pdonis 13y agoToothbrushes are a solved problem. Sure, if you don't mind spending several minutes doing it. I, for one, would love a toothbrush that got it all done in six seconds. solve flossing instead According to the article, this "toothbrush" also substitutes for flossing, since it can put bristles between the teeth.
- swalsh 13y agoWater in a bottle is pretty much a solved problem. Just take a plastic bottle, and put water in it. If you want to disrupt the beverage industry, try adding new flavors instead. ------------------------- The phrase "Solved problem" is one of the most frustrating things I hear engineers mutter.
- marcosdumay 13y agoYou know, most of the times the problem is really solved, and the inventor just loses the time and money he could invest on some unsolved problem. Yeah, some times an extraordinary invention just changes the scope of the problem, or solves it so much better that "good enough" stops being enough. But if you have one of those solutions, you probably know it, and should also know that the problem is solved - how can you revolutionize a mature market without knowing it's mature? (That'll probably be the case here if that brush really works.)
- pedalpete 13y agoToothbrushes are not a 'solved problem' because a toothbrush is not a problem. Clean teeth is the problem (or cleaning teeth or not clean teeth or !clean_teeth). Toothbrush is a solution to the problem, this is another solution. Just like you say 'solve flossing instead'. Flossing is not a problem, stuff stuck between your teeth causing decay is the problem.
- Peaker 13y agoTransportation was also a solved problem, before the car.
- brk 13y agoNot really. Cars allowed for distance, cargo capacity and speed to increase dramatically. This potentially saves you a couple of minutes per day. Maybe significant from a proportional perspective, but not in an absolute sense.
- eof 13y agoEH.. I spend ~5 minutes a day brushing my teeth.. if I brush during the day instead of just at night/morning.. it migh tbe 7-8. If I could legitmately get that down to say, ~30 seconds.. I might save 4.5 minutes x 365 days = ~27 hours a year. If I make $10/hr and have plenty of time; this doesn't make sense. If I make $100/hr and am limited on time; this is potentially pretty sweet, especially if I am able to get a better cleaning.