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Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

penntoday.upenn.edu

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Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#91

Post by NikolaNovak »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #87

Can anyone recommend an electric toothbrush? I have always used a regular manual one, but lots of people including a dentist have recommended an electric one. Wanna see what the hype is about.

I've used regular $10-$25 electric tooth brush for a decade and assumed they're good enough.

I've gotten Phillips Sonicare for holiday, and understanding that this is anecdotal evidence, I am shocked at its increased ability to dislodge food from the crevices. I could swear that sometimes the vibration it puts on the tooth, dislodges food from places it's not yet directly touching, just through the vibration through the tooth, which never happened with cheaper electric brushes. Overall, my teeth feel far cleaner afterwards, kinda like after the dental hygienist is done. So it gets my support, expensive as it may be.

Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#92

Post by whateveracct »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #87

Can anyone recommend an electric toothbrush? I have always used a regular manual one, but lots of people including a dentist have recommended an electric one. Wanna see what the hype is about.

The cheap Oral B one is fine in my book. I've gone through a couple (battery slows down over the years). Honestly the no1 feature of an electric toothbrush is the timer (30s x4).

Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#93

Post by arnejenssen »

sudofail wrote: post #88
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #87

Can anyone recommend an electric toothbrush? I have always used a regular manual one, but lots of people including a dentist have recommended an electric one. Wanna see what the hype is about.

Philips Sonicare is the way to go. Lot of different options, but they're all great.

Philips sonicare + Waterpik flosser. Sensodyne Repair&Protect (has NOVAMIN that restores the teeth)

Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#94

Post by uoaei »

legalcorrection wrote: post #82
bmau5 wrote: post #60

This is very interesting and has a lot of potential, especially for people who struggle to brush their teeth, but I think there's another future where brushing and flossing largely become obsolete. If we could develop a more effective mouthwash tailored to restoring each persons oral microbiome we could likely reduce the need for brushing and flossing and instead replace it with a daily mouth rinse that clears out fo…

This doesn't sound possible. A big component of oral hygiene is removing the relatively large chunks of food that are hiding invisibly between your teeth. If you leave them there, they will rot and smell bad and cause other issues like infections. You need a physical object like the bristles of a tooth brush and/or floss to physically dislodge the bits of food. That's why every culture developed some way to clean the…

It doesn't seem far-fetched to imagine a chewing-gum-like substance which achieves this.

Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#95

Post by tcoff91 »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #87

Can anyone recommend an electric toothbrush? I have always used a regular manual one, but lots of people including a dentist have recommended an electric one. Wanna see what the hype is about.

The oral-b ones are very good. Sonicare's have big reliability issues in my experience.

Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#97

Post by yunohn »

barbazoo wrote: post #79
yunohn wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody wants to go to the dentist until it’s too late, because it’s so expensive nor covered by health insurance. Even if it’s not intentional, dentists aren’t R&D specialists. They’re a service, at a premium price, whose livelihood depends on people going for treatments.

What lever do they have to prevent new products from being developed that help people take care of their teeth?

The lever is the lack of funding and motivation brought about by the previous factors. It’s not an individual choice, rather a medical industry wide systemic issue.

A popular example: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sachs-asks-biotech-re...

Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#98

Post by bmau5 »

coryrc wrote: post #80
Victerius wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like a dishwasher but for teeth?

Some people rarely brush their teeth and never get cavities. Some people brush thrice daily and floss and still get cavities and need root canals. The working theory is we could all be in the first group with the right bacteria in our mouth.

That's it exactly. Some beneficial species play an active role in suppressing the pathogenic species (those that release acid or cause gum disease) and have other benefits including helping us break down dietary nitrate into nitric oxide, which is critical for heart/brain health.

My company tests/researches the oral microbiome and we're starting to discover the signatures of what puts people in one group vs. the other, with hopes of helping develop more personalized approaches down the road, but for now helping people understand what will work best for them.

Here's my company for anyone who is interested in learning more: https://www.bristlehealth.com/

Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#99

Post by bmau5 »

cheschire wrote: post #86
legalcorrection wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't sound possible. A big component of oral hygiene is removing the relatively large chunks of food that are hiding invisibly between your teeth. If you leave them there, they will rot and smell bad and cause other issues like infections. You need a physical object like the bristles of a tooth brush and/or floss to physically dislodge the bits of food. That's why every culture developed some way to clean the…

GP did say "replace" but they also said "reduce" so I'm thinking they meant replace the majority of brushing, but probably not all of it. If they had an effective way of removing lettuce from teeth chemically, I'd be afraid of side effects.

Yes, thank you for catching this. As the comment above pointed out there will still be a need for removing larger food particles and hard to reach areas, but ideally with the addition of the mouthwash/intervention I'm mentioning we could drastically reduce the incidence of oral disease.

Re: Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study

#100

Post by bmau5 »

Victerius wrote: post #77
bmau5 wrote: post #60

This is very interesting and has a lot of potential, especially for people who struggle to brush their teeth, but I think there's another future where brushing and flossing largely become obsolete. If we could develop a more effective mouthwash tailored to restoring each persons oral microbiome we could likely reduce the need for brushing and flossing and instead replace it with a daily mouth rinse that clears out fo…

Like a dishwasher but for teeth?

I was referring to something more along the lines of what the above comment mentions (rebalancing with beneficial bacteria), but there are companies working on something like a dishwasher for teeth, one example is below:

https://freshhealth.com/

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