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Lifehacker
Colgate? Dead. Crest? Gone. Aquafresh? Don't make us laugh. Look, people—laser toothbrushes are here. That means no more tarter, cavities or root canals. Life will be better. From the manufacturer Smart Miracles:
You know how a pressure washer can clean all of the crap off the side of your house and into those hard-to-reach gutters? Well, picture the same thing—only with your teeth.
In Brazilian industrial designer Fabio Dabori's world, we won't brush our teeth with bristles, synthetic reminders of a barbaric time we cleaned our teeth with animal hair. No, we are enlightened beings, and we will make our pearly whites beam eerily with...a sponge. Electric toothsponges.
Scientists are hard at work on making teeth regrow the crystals that make up dentin and enamel, allowing them to phase out fillings and drillings completely. The goal is to spot tooth decay early and then get the teeth to grow healthy tooth-matter over the bad spots. No fuss, no muss. They say that the tech will be ready for primetime in just a few years. So long, toothbrush! I don't need you anymore! [Wired via Neatorama]
Flossing sucks. I tell my dentist I floss, but I really don't, because I hate flossing. Using a waterpik is a nice alternative to flossing, but I'm not the kind of guy who goes out and buys fancy appliances for my mouth. This, however, could change that: the ShowerFloss. Attach it in your shower behind your showerhead and add your gums to the list of body parts you clean in the shower. It comes with two different coloured piks so you and your significant other can share the bounty of healthy gums, and it'll set you back a mere $US25. Your dentist will be so proud! [Book of Joe]
Say hello to Simroid, a new robot from Japan designed to help train dentists. Forgive me for being a little off-colour here, but this thing looks like it's better suited to give BJs, but it's looking a little too downsy to sell well in any of Japan's numerous sex shops. In any case, it's loaded up with sensitive teeth so it can say "that hurts" if it gets stabbed in the gums or something. It also has a gag reflex so it can react if an "instrument" is stuck down its throat. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to step away from the keyboard before I write jokes about this thing that'll get me fired. Must… practice… restraint… [IT Media via Pink Tentacle]
Out here on the toothbrush beat, you run into all sorts of fear-mongering products such as the VIOlight Toothbrush Sanitizer. Now you can take that germophobia out on the road with the VIOlight Travel Toothbrush Sanitizer, a smaller version of that near-miraculous home version that probably does no good but might make you feel better anyway.
Just like the home version, this travel version works with ultraviolet rays, and its makers claim that 99% of the germs are killed in seven minutes. Never mind that the 1% of bacteria that are left are probably superstrong, and might just put the hurt on you 10 times as much. But then, the way you feel about this product is probably a whole lot more important than the way it actually works. But hey, it's your $27.99. [productdose]
At last, we have an excuse other than stress to crack our molars and spend thousands on dental repair. Researchers at Osaka University have developed a remote sensitive to tooth grinding. Surprisingly, it's fairly low-tech in nature. IR sensors are placed over patients' temples because the temples are an area that moves only with the specific activation of rear molar movements. In other words, talking and eating won't open your garage door.
As of right now, the device can only turn a CD player on and off (I mean, give a guy a DVD player at least). But scientists are confident that the controls have far more potential, with the goal of checking email on a mobile device. It reminds me of Back to the Future II. "You get to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!"
[digitalworldtokyo via ubergizmo]
Toothbrushes, they just need updating. Right? Well, according to yet another delusional contestant on American Inventor, a better solution would be a little nub you stick on the tip of your tongue. You then use your tongue to get your teeth clean, hoping it doesn't come off and get lodged in your throat, giving you a really embarrassing obituary. It's sure to turn the whole dental care industry on its head! [American Inventor]
This is Dento-Munch, a robot developed by scientists to help with research into dental products. Kazem Alemzadeh of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory is one of the
engineers behind the team, at Britain's Bristol University, and he reckons that Dento-Munch could cut down the time needed to trial new products, as machines up until now have been poor imitators of humans.
Dento-Munch's upper and lower "jaws" consist of two platforms. The lower one is capable of moving six degrees of freedom (unlike the current lab simulators, which are only capable of 2 degrees) and can move and rotate up and down, forwards and backwards, and left and right - just like its human counterpart.
