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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

#81

Post by m_ke »

hellbannedguy wrote: post #69
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 insu…

Can definitely confirm this. My brother and I grew up on the same diet, followed the same routine of brushing twice daily, flossing, using mouth wash and going to the dentist at the same time but for some reason he has only had like 2 fillings in the last 25 years while I've had to get some work done on almost every tooth and have had like 6 root canals done.

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

#82

Post by SamBam »

TheTaytay wrote: post #64
jedberg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 i…

Did you see any of the permanent staining that is mentioned in a sister comment's aappublications link (https://www.aappublications.org/news/2016/08/05/SilverDiamin...)?

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

#83

Post by bmau5 »

mrfusion wrote: post #78
bmau5 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That sounds great. Does xylitol do that to an extent?

It seems that more research is needed to confirm, but there are some studies and use cases where Xylitol seems to prevent tooth decay. This study has a great review[1] under "Xylitol and other polyols": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5830181/

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

#84

Post by bmau5 »

Causality1 wrote: post #62

So do we actually have useful data for this? Are oral microbiomes regular enough that you can tell me "hey you're missing species X, go make out with someone with good teeth to reintroduce it to your mouth"?

Great question. We have a good idea of which species drive oral diseases, so we can tell if you have an overgrowth of these species. Our hope is through Bristle we can better characterize what constitutes a healthy microbiome so we can develop better oral care products and guide treatments (though we haven't studied the effects of making out yet)

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

#85

Post by cromka »

sfjailbird wrote: post #73
psychiatrist24 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There are many that are not only useful, but essential to oral health. You can supplement with probiotics, which have been proven in quality studies to improve mouth/nose/throat health, and, to a lesser extent, even prevent caries. The bacteria cultures are known by their shorthand K12 and M18, respectively. In New Zealand this is part of official health guidelines. On phone so can't look for references but look it u…

I think I read here recently that mouthwash can cause cancer – even the non-alcoholic one, presumably because of the altered microbiome.
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