teeth

Watch: How to brush your teeth in space

For those of you who hate brushing your teeth under normal circumstances, think about how much harder it is to clean those pearly whites in space, with zero gravity and no sink to get water from or spit into afterwards.

In another in his series of entertaining how-to videos from space, International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield shows how to take care of those chompers in space. Does the toothpaste go up your nose? How do you get the toothbrush wet in the first place?

Check out the below video in which Hadfield answers those questions and more. And here's a spoiler: he has a unique way of cleaning his toothbrush post usage. … Read more

Vibrating dental device could cut brace-face time in half

Let's face it. Some things are just plain easier for kids today. Want to ask someone to the school dance without feeling so awkward? Just use your thumbs. Need to do research for a school paper? Just pick your search engine.

But perhaps my biggest tech envy to date can be found in the newly FDA-cleared AcceleDent system, a device that, when worn just 20 minutes a day, can dramatically speed up orthodontic tooth movement.

Traditionally, dental braces reshape the positioning of one's teeth by applying force to them. The AcceleDent device, worn with braces, simply speeds up tooth movement by vibrating them 20 minutes a day. (Insert inappropriate middle school joke here.)… Read more

Playing molecular Legos with viruses

It may be benign, but researchers have turned the virus M13 into a sophisticated engineering tool that could lead to the manufacturing of materials with biomedical properties that can be fine-tuned, such as bone, skin, and corneas.

"We took our inspiration from nature," said Seung-Wuk Lee, an associate professor of bioengineering at UC Berkeley who describes the team's self-templating material assembly process in the journal Nature. "Nature has a unique ability to create functional materials from very basic building blocks. We found a way to mimic [this]."

Lee points to the protein collagen as the … Read more

Prosthetic dentistry: Print your own teeth

What if, instead of waiting a few weeks for your dentist to produce a cast for dental implants or replacement crowns, your jaw was scanned and, during that same dentist's visit, you were able to pull a perfect polymer shape out of a 3D printer and be on your merry way?

Mechanical engineers in Iran report in the International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing that printing our own teeth may not be so far off into the future.

While the process could be prohibitively expensive for years to come, it turns out that 3D printing, coupled with the comparatively affordable cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), may ultimately revolutionize prosthetic dentistry.

The tech, called rapid prototyping, uses a 3D image to control a laser that cures powdered or liquid polymer into highly complex shapes. In fact, Hossein Kheirollahi of the Imam Hossein University and Farid Abbaszadeh of the Islamic Azad University say this technology can produce just about any solid, porous, or complicated shape.

While the Iranian team has been able to demonstrate the use of rapid prototyping in developing dental objects quickly, we're likely at least a few years out from actual commercial development.

Below, watch tool replication via 3D printing:… Read more

Crave 31: Depression in a box (podcast)

This week, Donald and Jasmine bask in the glory of an Eric Franklin-less Crave, ogling a glimpse of the future in the form of new holographic technology. Also on our radar at the moment: a new type of mood lighting for your teeth, some bus-stop distractions for our fellow San Franciscans, and superdangerous flaming gloves that no meth head should ever possess. And, of course, no show would be complete without some excitement over beer, in this case a speedy bottom-filling beer-dispensing system. Finally, we stuff our faces--both real and ceramic--with cookies, pizza, and a spectacular-looking torta.

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video… Read more

This toothbrush ditches the bristles

In the evolution of the toothbrush, will the standard bristle model end up being the Australopithecus afarensis of the tooth-cleaning species? With a new concept device that replaces bristles with sponges, Fabio Dabori seems to suggest that today's brushes could one day go the way of that early human ancestor.

The Brazilian industrial designer says his patent-pending Giro Sponge can carry water, massage gums, and polish teeth at the same time. It's especially suited to babies, the elderly, denture wearers, and people with gum disease, he says, and can even be used for pets.

He's made two … Read more

The 404 161: Where we shock the monkey

On the show today: Justin calls in from bed, the Spanish Olympic basketball team is a bunch of racists, some chicks are using wide contact lenses to achieve "Anime eyes," fake porn inspectors, and putting Lojack in your PS3.

Sorry--today's post just won't be as long as Justin wants. It's just not gonna happen. We don't understand how he finds the time to do it anyway, so we're not gonna try and do it ourselves.

With Justin's trip to the "doctor," it leaves Wilson and I to fend for ourselves … Read more

Wireless mouth cam takes close-up of your chompers

Ever wondered what the inside of your mouth looks like? For those who missed out on dental school or are just purely curious about which teeth that piece of spinach is stuck between, Chinavasion will soon be selling a wireless dental camera for consumer use.

While it's not the first dental camera Crave has highlighted, the wireless capability and a promised cheaper price is worth noting.

The device has a 1.3-megapixel camera for video or still shots and a 2.4GHz wireless receiver that can connect with a TV or computer to transmit the toothy images to friends … Read more

Holy NaCl, Batman! It's a saltshaker!

On some distant birthday past, I received a salt and pepper shaker set. Not an ordinary set, what with tubular glass canisters tapering up to a functional stainless steel screw top. No, these were teeth. Top ridge for the salt, separate bottom for the pepper.

As confusing as I found the gift to be, there was something pretty cool about it. I mean everybody uses salt and pepper right? Why not make a cool delivery device for them? For some reason or another, I had a vague knowledge that people collected shaker sets and I imagined that I could build … Read more

Where we're biting off a little more than we can actually chew

Today Dave Karp from Tumblr.com tells us why we should all be tumblelogging. Plus we'll get a movie review from Justin and Dave about--brace yourself--Teeth. All this and the new Cleveland show, Indiana Jones 4, and Uwe Boll's craptastic Postal movie. EPISODE 102 Download today's podcast