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Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

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Re: Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

#61

Post by bmau5 »

david_l_lin wrote: post #56
mrfusion wrote: post #51

Interesting work! Are there any treatments that kill the pathogenic but leave the beneficial microbes? Does mouthwash kill them equally? What about h2o2 or xylitol?

A majority of the products marketed today non-specifically ablate the microbiome. While they are effective at reducing the microbial titer as a whole, they are ineffective at specifically targeting pathogenic microbes associated with disease.

I'd just add that we're hoping to develop products that specifically reduce/eliminate oral pathogens while encouraging growth of probiotic species

Re: Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

#63

Post by gumby »

david_l_lin wrote: post #58
gumby wrote: post #50

How does your IRB feel about having people pay to be part of a study? Do you look for specific non-dental disease factors, such as microbes that can lead to damage to the heart valves? What about signs of oral cancers (would those be strained out in the process of rejecting the human cells?)

There have been some intriguing studies associating the oral microbiome with systemic diseases such as cardiovascular indications, diabetes, oral cancers, and neurological diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Some studies even suggest causal links between pathogens that reside in the mouth and arterial plaque and even neurodegeneration. With the Bristle platform, we will have the resolution to dive deeper in…

What about the part about charging people to participate in a study? That seems backwards and morally questionable. Usually the entity doing the study reimburses the participants for their expenses and inconvenience. Is this not an IRB-approved study?

Re: Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

#64

Post by TheTaytay »

jedberg wrote: post #40
carabiner wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's Cavibloc, which is supposed to reduce cavity-inducing bacteria. It was developed at UCLA. There's also CloSYS, which is basically a highly diluted bleach that clears your mouth of bacteria. It is ADA approved. There's also Xylitol, which is also supposed to help reduce bad bacteria. I've been using all of these for the past year, and my most recent dental cleaning had almost no tartar buildup, which is really…

> but some of her claims have been controversial among other dentists. I have a lot of dentist family and friends. Anything that isn't "drill and fill" is controversial to them. :) Dental school these days seems to really stress that everything must be treated with intervention by a dentist that happens to bring money to their practice. They are also super frightened of new technology. There was a technology that was…

We became exposed to this mentality and reluctance to adapt when exploring solutions to our son’s cavities. There is an amazingly effective treatment called SDF that arrests cavities with no need for drilling by painting it on in a procedure that takes about 1 minute. It’s proven to work, is non invasive, and much easier to use to treat a squirming small child. It’s been used for decades in Japan. Only recently did it become allowed in the US. Yet a couple of years ago it was still shockingly difficult to find dentists who knew about or approved of its use. I was also surprised to find very little literature linking particular bacteria to tooth decay. I think Bristle is on to something here, and I am glad that they are pushing this research forward. Tooth decay seems to have many of the hallmarks of an infection, yet its primary treatment is still to remove damaged portions of teeth with a drill. It feels remarkably primitive.

Re: Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

#66

Post by psychiatrist24 »

carabiner wrote: post #33
dflock wrote: post #26

> detect the earliest signs of cavities and gum disease - then provide evidence-based recommendations and treatments to help prevent them. What preventative treatment is this? If it isn't just "brush & floss", then what is it? If it's so great, why not just tell everyone about it now - why do you need a microbiome test?

There's Cavibloc, which is supposed to reduce cavity-inducing bacteria. It was developed at UCLA. There's also CloSYS, which is basically a highly diluted bleach that clears your mouth of bacteria. It is ADA approved. There's also Xylitol, which is also supposed to help reduce bad bacteria. I've been using all of these for the past year, and my most recent dental cleaning had almost no tartar buildup, which is really…

But should you simply kill all bacteria in your mouth? Perhaps some are actually useful?

Re: Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

#67

Post by david_l_lin »

tlb wrote: post #65

Some people suffer from bad breath due to their oral microbiome. Could your test diagnose that too and suggest solutions?

Halitosis is absolutely a wellness indication that we eventually plan to report on as we gain more insight to the pathways involved. A number of studies have suggested that sulfate reducing bacteria may be a culprit for bad breath, and we eventually may be able to target those specific microbes and limit halitosis in the near future.

Re: Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

#68

Post by thotsBgone »

psychiatrist24 wrote: post #66
carabiner wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's Cavibloc, which is supposed to reduce cavity-inducing bacteria. It was developed at UCLA. There's also CloSYS, which is basically a highly diluted bleach that clears your mouth of bacteria. It is ADA approved. There's also Xylitol, which is also supposed to help reduce bad bacteria. I've been using all of these for the past year, and my most recent dental cleaning had almost no tartar buildup, which is really…

But should you simply kill all bacteria in your mouth? Perhaps some are actually useful?

Just kiss someone with better bacteria and you'll be fine.

Re: Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

#69

Post by hellbannedguy »

dflock wrote: post #26

> detect the earliest signs of cavities and gum disease - then provide evidence-based recommendations and treatments to help prevent them. What preventative treatment is this? If it isn't just "brush & floss", then what is it? If it's so great, why not just tell everyone about it now - why do you need a microbiome test?

I’ll get hammered for my statement because it’s beyond antidotal. I’m also a bit superstitious, and feel I should just dummy up right now.

I’ve noticed some people just have good teeth, and others are not so lucky.

I’ve been down on my luck for years now. Close to being homeless. I haven’t been to a dentist in over two decades. I still have my all my teeth, except wisdom which I had pulled proactively when I had insurance.

Why do I still have my teeth, and my gums don’t bleed, or are recessed?

1. I feel it’s because I developed a neurotic compulsion to pick my teeth with those disgusting disposable tooth picks, with the floss. (I say disgusting because I see them discarded everywhere, and I worked for the inventor of the product. (Actually his wealthy father invented them, and fully funded his sailboating brat of a son a son to peddle them. He is now a 1 percenter, and yes—I’m jealous.

2. I’ve tried to use an ultrasonic toothbrush once a day.

3. I don’t eat much sugar, but I eat a lot of carbs?

4. Buy a few dental cleaning picks/tools, and learn how to scale your teeth yourself. If you’re gentile, and use common sense, you can get most of the gunk off. Below the gum line is another story though?

Take what I said with a grain of salt. A dentist told me 20 years ago, “you have great teeth, but let’s wait for the X-ray, and look at the bone. He said I got lucky.

I hope my next exam goes the same way?

Re: Launch HN: Bristle (YC W21) – At-home microbiome test to improve oral health

#70

Post by bobmaxup »

david_l_lin wrote: post #60
chrisallick wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah but do you give access to information that comes from users engaging with your service? is your revenue generated from anything other than products and dtc services? ive just become skeptical of any company suggesting they can be profitable/have a future without a data pipeline that allows others to buy their data, run analysis on data, build models on data. and i believe in the near future we run a real risk of…

We do not sell personal microbiome, genetic, or survey-related data and don't have plans to do so. We will make every effort to keep your personal data yours. We de-identify all your data so that it can only be analyzed as an aggregate, so while your microbiome data and health survey data contribute to new scientific discoveries, they also remain completely personal. It will be nearly impossible for interested partie…

> It will be nearly impossible for interested parties (such as insurance companies) to get a hold of your personal information on the Bristle platform and use it as leverage for their pricing

How is it nearly impossible?

From what I understand, this oral "profile" is stored and then provided to the user on demand.

Isn't the general premise that overall health is causally linked to this profile? If the data was monetized differently in the future, couldn't the association between user and this oral profile possibly give insurance companies something to base pricing decisions on?

How could the report itself be anonymized? Send the user a link to a stored report devoid of any and all personally identifiable data and then destroy any and all personally identifiable data associated with the link?

How can anyone trust someone to actually do what they "promise" with their data without extremely punitive regulation?

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