3D-Printed Toothbrush Cleans Your Gnashers In Six Seconds

[Raistlin]

Aside from basic modifications, the form factor of the humble toothbrush has remained pretty much the same for centuries, but now engineers are proposing a completely new 3D-printed design that cleans teeth in a mere six seconds.

The Blizzident is a 3D-printed device that's custom made from a scan taken by your dentist and it looks like a set of dentures spouting puffs of white hair.

With the bristles placed at multiple angles, it works a little bit like a car wash for your teeth, guaranteeing an even and thorough clean across your teeth.

Using it is pretty simple, and requires little more than biting down and releasing around 10-15 times over the course of six seconds.

This allows the bristles to replicate the "Modified Bass" and "Fones" brushing techniques, which clean your molars and the space underneath the gumline.

It also cleans around the gumline using the "Sub-Gingival Bass Technique" that's supposedly highly recommended by dental hygienists, but difficult to apply by hand.

"6 sec toothbrush" - blizzident.comchrissleis

Blizzident isn't just a time-saving device, though, it also supposedly eliminates human error of brushing by hand, which often causes people to miss spots or brush too far up or down on the gums.

Don't think this gets you out of flossing though -- the Blizzident's handle also serves as a floss dispenser. The toothbrush even has little slits to feed the floss through, although this sounds needlessly fiddly.

To get your own Blizzident, all you need to do is get your dentist to take an impression or scan of your teeth and get them to upload it to the company's server.

From there, the toothbrushes are 3D printed by high-precision machines using a technique called Stereolithography and are made from the same specially classified bio-compatible printing material used to create implantable medical devices.

"One reason to use this expensive 3D-printing machine/material combination is to achieve totally smooth surfaces, for perfect hygiene. Ordinary 3D printers produce rough surfaces, where dirt can hide and cannot easily be cleaned," a company spokesperson tells Wired.co.uk.

The bristles on a Blizzident are used for only 12 seconds each day, rather than the recommended 360 seconds for an average toothbrush, meaning it needs replacing just once a year. As you might suspect this is not cheap -- your first Blizzident will cost 299 and subsequent models will cost 159.

A cheaper option is to get your old Blizzident refurbished.

Most toothbrushes can't be recycled because the bristles are anchored to metal blades, which can't easily be replaced, but Blizzident's inventors have come up with a new anchoring technique that allows them to do this.

Send back your year-old toothbrush and for 89, they'll remove the bristles, disinfect it and put new ones in for you.