Question:
Has anyone else seen the commercials about the tooth brush that changes the
polarity of your teeth to repel germs? Does anybody know if this device is
effective?
Answer:
I've not seen the ads, but from your description, it wouldn't work. Any charge
generated on your teeth would dissipate pretty quickly; your saliva is fairly
conductive, and connects to your innards pretty well (touch your tongue to a
9V battery for a simple demonstration). So your entire body would acquire the
charge, and your first contact with a ground will eliminate it (zap! if you're
wearing insulating shoes).
This doesn't even consider weather germs would be repelled by electric charge,
but I have no reason to expect that they would be. The mouth is just the wrong
place to try to induce and maintain any net static charge in the first place.
If it's a strong enough charge to make germs pop off of you the way dust
particles can fly off of a statically-charged CRT (a charge-transfer effect),
your hair would be standing on end and you'd shoot huge sparks from the
closest extremeties to ground; so don't stand near me, please. Depends on what
"effect" you want, I guess!
But sometimes the medium is not at fault. I have been using the Sonex $100
ultrasonic toothbrush (1.6 Megacycles) distributed by Magellen and it
works. My teeth are free of plaque for the first time in twenty years.
Just hold the Sonex gainst your teeth. No need to brush. The vibrations
kill germs. (But the brush head cannot be seen to move). I follow this
therapy with a Rotadent electric toothbrush (rotating brush head) to clean
my teeth.
Or brush with the Sonex (if you choose) like a normal toothbrush. It wears
out the heads faster and you have to order through the mail.
Now, to be purely scientific about this, you must STOP brushing and see if
sonic treatment alone keeps your teeth free of plaque. Give it one month,
and just hold it against your teeth, as you describe. I *dare* you.
Uh, I don't think it's possible to "ionize" your teeth noticeably for
more than maybe a few milliseconds; and you'd probably find the
attempt acutely painful. Saliva is conductive, and so are your gums.
fit was advertised as an ionizing toothbrush then I rather doubt that
electrostatics has anything to do with it. I don't think I really wan
to ionize anything in my mouth on a regular basis, however.
That's sounding better, though you don't specify that the frequency with
which you brush your teeth is also the same. Further, you mention nothing
about toothpaste, for instance. Tartar control gunk is a recent invention,
for instance. Are youstill using the same toothpaste you did for years?
You mention nothing about changes in diet or your water supply either,
which are also variables you'd need to control. I'm willing to accept the
data point (though certainly not for the reason the product claims), but
only if I know that the ONLY difference in your dental care is the
addition of the vibration treatment. That's the difference between a
clinical study and an anecdote.
