Reinventing The Toothbrush
Hate brushing your teeth? A strange new 3D printed toothbrush can drastically cut down your brushing time to less than six seconds, according to its manufacturer Blizzident.The toothbrush looks more like a mouthguard a toothbrush. It is lined with 400 soft bristles that clean the wearer's teeth when they grind them from side to side. It is made using the same dental scans that dentists use to fit braces, so each model is specially made.
Blizzident says it performs all the necessary brushing steps that many people regularly forget. "Because you are brushing all your teeth at the same time, you are brushing extremely quickly," said Blizzident. "You brush all the difficult-to-reach and interdental regions without even having to think about it."
But novelties like this come at a price. Unlike regular manual toothbrushes, which cost under $5, a customer's first toothbrush costs $405. Each brush lasts for one year and can be reconditioned for less than $140.
This isn't the first time someone has tried to reinvent the toothbrush's design, which has basically stayed the same for hundreds of years. A student at New York's School of Visual Arts tried to popularize the miswak "tooth-cleaning" stick that is popular in the Middle East and Asia. The miswak stick is used by biting or cutting off an end of the stick before each use, which exposes new, clean bristles inside the stick.
Would you use Blizzident's new toothbrush, a miswak stick toothbrush, or neither?
