
A 3D printed toothbrush for all your teeth - jschwartz11
http://www.3ders.org//articles/20131001-blizzident-releases-3d-printed-6-seconds-toothbrush-tailored-to-your-teeth.html
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stephengillie
Wow, what's with all of the hate? Someone uses a new technology to create a
device that could be a more efficient way of solving a current problem, and
the best comments that anyone can write are complaints about how it's a bad
idea or solving the wrong problem because they personally don't have this
problem? What an awful way to encourage inventive people to follow their
dreams and build new products for everyone. These attitudes kill
entrepreneurship.

~~~
pdx
I'm very excited about this. The 6 second thing would be a Godsend for my 5
year old, who I spend 90 seconds every night brushing his teeth for him,
trying to stave off more tooth decay on his teeth (bad teeth run in my
family). I feel guilty about only doing 90 seconds, and he hates that we even
do that long. This would be huge for our evening routine, and maybe for his
long term tooth health (baby tooth health can effect adult tooth health)

I'm disappointed at the $500/person price tag. ($300 plus dental impressions),
but I'm still really thinking about this for him and for me.

~~~
novaleaf
for my 4 year old son, I brush his bottom teeth and count to 100, then brush
his top teeth and count down to zero. maybe it's because i started this
routine when he was 2, but he sits through it A-OK.

no cavities yet, and i hope it helps him with numbers too.

~~~
GotAnyMegadeth
One of the parents at my school took a bullet for the rest of the team and let
her son not brush his teeth. They became black, holey and disgusting, and I
imagine quite painful. Everyone in school knew that that's what happened if
you didn't brush your teeth. Worked on me and my brothers, and I remember the
kids in my class boasting about how long they brushed their teeth for.

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donpdonp
It looks impossible to change the angle of the brush, meaning only the major
face of each tooth gets touched by the bristles. This seems more to do with 3D
printing, than dentistry.

What is interesting is the change from mass produced to 'mass customization'
where things are made with efficiencies of scale, yet each one can be unique
(within limits).

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zdw
While it obviously appears to shorten the brushing time, it also looks like it
would be much harder to keep the device itself clean - everyone who has had a
retainer or other removable dental device could likely attest to this. I'd
imagine it would also require more toothpaste.

Seeing as toothbrushes in bulk are about less than $1 each, a $300 ($150
refurbished, but ewwwwww...), hard to clean device seems somewhat difficult to
argue for.

~~~
brd
Lets put aside the cleaning argument and discuss cost for a minute here.

Its recommended you brush your teeth for ~2 minutes. Lets say with this thing
you shorten it to 30 seconds. That means you save 3 minutes per day every day
on brushing, assuming you brush twice daily. This works out to about 18 hours
a year. If your time is more valuable than 17/hr it's arguably worth it.

Time and time again I see people complain about the cost of daily use items
but when you factor in how much you actually use them and the potential
benefit you can get out of a them it quickly becomes worthwhile.

edit: there is a huge difference between being maximizing productivity and
measuring opportunity cost, I'm arguing the latter. I don't expect you to get
paid another 18 hours a year. I'm simply pointing out that depending on how
YOU value YOUR time spending $300 on a fancy toothbrush is entirely worth it.

~~~
owenmarshall
So, it takes me approximately one minute to walk to the bathroom per day. I
probably average four trips, so that's four minutes.

But if I just peed in a jug at my desk, I could save four minutes per day, or
about one whole day every year!

\--

For most people, saving three minutes a day is negligible. I know I'd get far
more utility turning on noprocrast then I would trying to optimize for those
three minutes.

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toki5
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.

~~~
loceng
Tooth 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
I 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
Not 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.

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cstross
"And you can floss your tongue simultaneously" \-- way to trigger my gag
reflex.

No, seriously. I'm sure this will work for some people, but for those of us
with a strong gag reflex this is a nightmare device. (I know whereof I speak;
I've had to have dental imprints taken for prosthodontic work several times,
and I _always_ come close to throwing up -- when having my jaws packed with
something not dissimilar in size and shape).

~~~
jlgreco
I agree, this device looks neat but I fear it would be very difficult for me
to use. I could _probably_ get use to it eventually, but it would almost
certainly have me throwing the first few times and just gagging long after
that.

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matthewbaker
A lot of negativity in the comments, I'm surprised. Electric toothbrushes
aren't more effective than traditional
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_toothbrush](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_toothbrush)),
but have huge sales numbers.

Packaging is a problem right now, but put that thing in something
unapologetically plastic and shiny and there may just be a market.

~~~
pdonis
_Electric toothbrushes aren 't more effective than traditional_

There's a key qualifier: "assuming that the person using the manual toothbrush
will brush effectively". I have a huge amount of trouble brushing effectively
with a manual toothbrush; with an electric I can just let the toothbrush do
the work.

~~~
matthewbaker
Good point. That should be noted and it also furthers my original point: This
new device claims an even simpler and shorter process.

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daigoba66
A dentist (unverified) offers an opinion on the product:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1ni570/the_world...](http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1ni570/the_worlds_craziest_toothbrush_cleans_your_teeth/ccivlo2)

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tilsammans
What I really want is nanobots that live in my mouth and discard of bacteria
the moment they appear. Every night I'd put some fresh nanobots on my tongue
and they will last a day. I'd even splurge for the nanobots deluxe, they
directly remineralize the calcium in my teeth. They extract the calcium from
the bacteria they kill!

~~~
lotyrin
What I want is a seed batch of probiotic flora (possibly even GMOs) that
compete with S. mutans for nutrients and are better houseguests.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Yeah this never works. Scattering some daffodil seeds in a field full of weeds
- the weeds win. I never understood the 'probiotic' concept.

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asmosoinio
I have been told by a dentist that the reason for "you must brush your teeth
for 2 minutes" is mostly because the tooth paste should have time to work on
the teeth. I.e. Not to remove physical "dirt". In which case you should keep
the paste on for two minutes even with this device.

Disclaimer: I never checked on the 2 min fact, but do think a dentist would
know.

~~~
aestra
Nope, it is to make sure you do a "good job" brushing. Increasing time
increases plaque removal.

[http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6479/do-i-
have-t...](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6479/do-i-have-to-
brush-my-teeth-at-least-3-minutes-each-time)

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tantalor
> One of the great advantages of 3D Printing is the ability to design and
> create customized versions of everyday objects.

This is not a customized version of an everyday object. This is a completely
new object nobody has ever made before. Calling it a toothbrush is like
calling an automobile a "horseless carriage".

~~~
lightbritefight
An automobile is a horseless carriage. Many new objects that displace older
objects are refereed to initially in reference to the established product.
This serves the same purpose as a toothbrush, so its entirely sensible to
refer to in terms of a toothbrush. Calling it a "whizgonger" or some such is
neither descriptive or useful for anyone.

~~~
marshray
It's a teethbrush!

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gcb0
Anyone with half a brain knows no self respecting density will sell this.

The number one they teaches kids is that you don't brush food into the gum...
So any magic brush that works by biting will push the food to where? Hint:
it's not away from the gum.

Would love if they worked around this problem though...

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zallarak
This is interesting but a pointless optimization. I use a cheap brush and have
no dental issues to date. Also, for those of you like me who will criticize
this -- make sure your small business isn't a virtual analogue of this.

~~~
avalaunch
You're making a weird assumption that because you have no dental issues nobody
does. Or that because a cheap brush is good enough for you it's good enough
for everyone.

33% of Americans have untreated tooth decay (CDC). An optimization may be just
what the average American needs.

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standeven
My dentist told me that the most important part of brushing wasn't the
technique or type of brush, but the time. The two minutes of fluoride contact
is the most important part of the process, and this product removes that.

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bdickason
Interesting, they're using 3DSystems' Visijet material which is approved for
use in 'guides.' I wonder if they're safe to put in your mouth every day?

Very few 3D Printing materials are actually safe for consumption.

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dameyawn
Now just give it some rigidity and attach it to a Sonicare handle. The high
frequency vibration and resultant cavitation kill bacteria (or so says some
papers on it).

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speedyrev
This is technology fixing a problem that doesn't exist.

~~~
brianobush
have you ever been to the denist and they ask you to focus on some area of the
mouth? for perfect brushing, yes, this is a solved problem. however, I don't
think everyone is a perfect brusher.

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wellboy
It's not about how much absolute time this brush saves, it's how much it saves
relatively in comparison to the status quo and in that way it is just 30 times
better. If you deduct the higher costs and whatever you might lose some of
that, but you will still be above the magic "10 times better" threshold that a
product needs to be to beat competition.

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notthemessiah
Seems a lot like the razor for all of your facial hair:
[http://www.shavingstuff.com/archives/011601.php](http://www.shavingstuff.com/archives/011601.php)

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WalterSear
As nice as this sounds, it's going to take me a while to get used to using a
>refurbished< toothbrush.

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pron
Great idea. Will probably do well on late-night shopping channel shows.

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6ren
Next: cut out the dentist

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iends
Please don't...my wife's a 4th year dental student :(

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nsxwolf
I bet you this thing doesn't get your teeth clean at all.

It's also not for people with TMJ.

~~~
MrBuddyCasino
Thats what I was thinking, for me this is a bit in the "I can't believe they
invented it" territory. A 3d printing curiosity.

~~~
stephengillie
May the great Maker forbid people from using their imagination to find better
solutions to current problems with new technology.

~~~
nsxwolf
In this case, I have doubts they have improved on anything. Where did you get
the impression anyone is against the idea of finding better solutions in
general?

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pattle
What about toothpaste?

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omarforgotpwd
this is the most unappealing thing i've seen this year

