Does Your Toothbrush Have an App Yet?

My children’s orthodontist has this scanner in the office to make retainers. It’s incredible.

It's technology for the wealthy only.

These advances are great but whatever the cost of acquiring the technology will be passed on, in some measure, to the patients. My dental insurance hardly covers today's expenses so while I applaud the technology I fear the cost.

New dental technology is great, but "smart toothbrushes" are ridiculously stupid. They're not using solid technology or coding, and they're not actually trying to make anything better for anyone. They're just making a new product because they know how to market it. They can get people hooked on their apps, encourage them to store even more of their humanity inside of a nightmare rectangle, and sell ads all while pushing more product and creating more waste. Meanwhile, the dental company isn't that great at security, so you should assume any information the app receives is public knowledge. I have an electric toothbrush I received as a gift. It's excellent because the mechanical action of the brush head is more effective than what my uncoordinated arm can manage. But it has seven different settings, a programmable RGB LED ring, a time-keeping feature, and is bluetooth-enabled. Those features add nothing of value whatsoever. At most, an electric toothbrush needs a high and a low setting. But they market the different speed profiles as being for "polishing" or "tongue brushing" or "power cleaning" and it's just nonsense. Bottom line? Don't trust anyone with your data, especially not toothbrush marketers.

Digital scanners make highly accurate impressions, and today they are far better than the analog technique. From a digital file the lab can produce a perfect fitting restauration. In a vast sortiment of suitable materials. Less expensive. By not using traditional silicone, polyether material we also add an environmental advantage.

Long ago, I flew transport planes in Viet Nam. We always took ground fire coming in for a landing. I would much rather do that over again than go to a dentist. The suffering I have endured in the name of "dental hygiene" and poor repairs has convinced me: repair only emergencies, and only then when extraction isn't optional. All this whiz-gee equipment is going to further push costs into the stratosphere, and how much of it is going to genuinely reduce patient suffering?

So, how about getting rid of the dental drill? (Or, better yet, the need for it?)

And yet, in the US dental care is not considered—for insurance coverage—“health care.”

As a semi retired Boarded Restorative dentist, I am always interested in ways to provide quick appropriate and affordable care to my patients. However, I am always depressed by the focus on REPAIR. Dental disease is actually an elective disease and can be easily prevented. So yes, new tools are great, but given the cost of them, one has to wonder why folks in the profession don't focus on not having to do the repairs. WHY? money. Money to pay back the educational costs and the costs of buying the new toys. Sadly, in my view, dentistry has shifted from being a PROFESSION to being a BUSINESS. Oh, that it were not so!

This is all great stuff (I actually enjoy dental appointments and I have good insurance), but while those of us with means can now have Westinghouse white, perfect Chiclet teeth, it's common to see working Americans with missing / decayed teeth because they can't afford even basic dental care. I've never understood why dental care excluded from primary insurance coverage and Medicare.