Microrobots can brush and floss teeth in a proof-of-concept study • Hacker News Board

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

#211

Post by krageon » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 12:56 PM UTC

matsemann wrote: post #209

skyyler wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't floss, I can promise you that your breath smells. Maybe not bad, but people notice it if you're in close quarters.

Have you done a scientific review, or just talking out of your ass?

Talking out of their ass. It is a simple fact of life some folks never floss and basically don't brush while smelling equally minty to folks that floss and brush twice per day. The easiest way to figure out this is true is thinking about how few people floss (you can ask your dentist, most people don't) and how many people have bad smelling breath (easy to smell when you're in public transport).

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

#212

Post by krageon » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 1:19 PM UTC

unsupp0rted wrote: post #34

dmcgee wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that replace standard brushing, but I worked with a company in Denmark called Novozymes. They produce enzymes for a variety of applications including dental care. They have a set of enzymes that they license to Unilever for a toothpaste called Zendium, which has some market share in Northern Europe. The enzymes break down microfilm that develops on teeth, making brushing more effective. There was RCT done on it I…

Any concern those enzymes would get swallowed and break down membranes in the digestive tract?

Seeing as they pass through the acid in your stomach (and will denature there, which is the point of your stomach) you must be primarily worried about any of the bits before that. These enzymes are made to go in your mouth. If they dissolved the tissues in there they wouldn't be appropriate for that, so this is not a concern.

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

#213

Post by krageon » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 1:22 PM UTC

moffkalast wrote: post #130

dubswithus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember some articles about good bacteria outcompeting bad bacteria in the mouth and preventing cavities. Seems like it probably didn't pan out.

Nah it did, the problem is you have to take a pill every day and they cost way too much for that sort of frequent usage. Like $60 per 20 pills kind of price, which is hard to justify without hard proven evidence of actual benefit.

How did you get this price? Can I get them somewhere? $3 per day to never have teeth issues again is an absolute bargain.

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

#214

Post by moffkalast » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 1:50 PM UTC

krageon wrote: post #213

moffkalast wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah it did, the problem is you have to take a pill every day and they cost way too much for that sort of frequent usage. Like $60 per 20 pills kind of price, which is hard to justify without hard proven evidence of actual benefit.

How did you get this price? Can I get them somewhere? $3 per day to never have teeth issues again is an absolute bargain.

I think I saw it on amazon a few years back? It's possible there wasn't enough demand to keep selling it, but I've also no idea what it was called anymore.

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

#215

Post by moneywoes » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 2:19 PM UTC

macinjosh wrote: post #9

svantana wrote: post #3

I find it strange that there is so little innovation in the field of everyday tooth care. Particularly the inefficiency of brushing one tooth at a time. I like the idea of https://blizzbrush.com/ , has anyone tried it? It's a bit suspicious that the single-pack is "sold out", but the 5 and 10-packs are not.

If you are in the US, like me, you might not be aware of Novamin toothpastes. They are available in other countries. It is my understanding that it can enclose dentin tubules exposed by enamel loss. This article provides some background: https://medium.com/@ravenstine/the-curious-history-of-novami...

Isn’t Biomin the same thing

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

#216

Post by michelb » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 2:44 PM UTC

arnejenssen wrote: post #93

sudofail wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

Maybe NOVAMIN doesn't do much: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/

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

#217

Post by linsomniac » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 4:19 PM UTC

Gigachad wrote: post #169

linsomniac wrote: post #135

ProTip: I went from rarely flossing to basically every day with "this one weird trick": I now floss my teeth in the shower. I like staying in the shower a little longer, so the 2 minutes went from chore to luxury. And the amount of food I remove on a daily basis is astonishing!

I started using those floss picks with the handles. I resisted the idea for ages since it seemed wasteful but I really hate wrapping the floss around my fingers. The picks make it so much easier, you can get them made of non petrochemical plastics (PLA) as well making them slightly less bad for the environment.

I also switched to the picks with handles as part of that change. I used to do the "tie floss into a loop" trick, but it was kind of a pain in the butt to do that. So part of lowering the barrier was going with picks. I also hate the waste, but figure it's worth it for the tooth longevity.

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

#218

Post by linsomniac » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 4:31 PM UTC

doublerabbit wrote: post #143

linsomniac wrote: post #135

ProTip: I went from rarely flossing to basically every day with "this one weird trick": I now floss my teeth in the shower. I like staying in the shower a little longer, so the 2 minutes went from chore to luxury. And the amount of food I remove on a daily basis is astonishing!

You can brush your teeth in the shower too.

Done and done! That's another part of that plan, I floss and then brush.

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

#219

Post by linsomniac » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 4:38 PM UTC

matsemann wrote: post #152

linsomniac wrote: post #135

ProTip: I went from rarely flossing to basically every day with "this one weird trick": I now floss my teeth in the shower. I like staying in the shower a little longer, so the 2 minutes went from chore to luxury. And the amount of food I remove on a daily basis is astonishing!

Isn't the science on flossing not showing any benefit? Edit: looked it up. No solid scientific evidence flossing helps.

I don't know about scientific evidence, but I do know that personally, for my teeth, when I went from infrequent flossing to frequent: My dental visit time went down, he spent less time scraping off plaque, and my gum pocket readings went down from 2-4 to 1-3. I also know that basically every day I'm pulling an amazing amount of food out from between my teeth, which if I didn't floss would sit there and build up plaque.

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

#220

Post by arrosenberg » Thu, Jul 07, 2022, 5:07 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #202

arrosenberg wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Consider if you removed all the wings on misquotes in a city. That's not an accurate analogy for biofilms. Even if it was, I noted below that the mechanical action of brushing your teeth annihilates any biofilm (i.e. plaque) that has built up. That being the case, how do you explain the fact that people who brush their teeth are not suffering from infection from advantageous disease? If you wipe out your gut flora,…

I think you may have confused me with the other poster: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32007812 Anyway brushing your teeth doesn't sterilize your mouth or even disrupt your mouth flora that much. But brushing and flossing does do many things. It helps your spit/toothpaste to remineralize your teeth repairing microscopic damage, removes leftover buts of food, and generally makes your mouth noticeably less hospit…

I'm not confusing you for anyone - I explicitly said I was making the same point. You are arguing that genetically modifying mouth bacteria to not-form biofilms could be detrimental to health, and I pointing out that if that was true, we would already see those affects from daily brushing. You seem to agree that brushing removes biofilms, so I guess I don't understand your original hypothesis.