Another Christmas Toothbrush Gift: Emmi-dent

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Emmi-dent website

I am not a big fan of toothbrushes that cost a whole bunch of money and claim miraculous results in solving the dental problems of tooth decay and gum disease. I ran across this one, the Emmi-dent, in this Los Angeles Times piece.

Emmi-dent. It's the toothbrush you're not supposed to brush your teeth with. But that's not to say you shouldn't use it regularly.

Like any other toothbrush, Emmi-dent has a head full of bristles. But they're for transmitting ultrasonic impulses from a microchip inside the brush head. When these impulses interact with Emmi-dent's own toothpaste, they cause millions of infinitesimal "nano-bubbles" to form and then collapse. To the bacteria in your mouth, this mass bubble implosion is cataclysmic. The energy released breaks their outer membranes and they die.

"No bacteria equals no plaque, no calculus, no problems," says Peer Blumenschein, chief executive of Emmi Ultrasonic AG in Basel, Switzerland, the parent company of Emmi-Tech Inc. in Canton, Mass. (Calculus, or tartar, is a hardened form of plaque, and that's the sticky coating of bacteria you feel on your teeth before brushing.)
Of course, you may already have tartar on your teeth, and the Emmi-dent "will reduce it over a period of several months," says StephenSpector, president of Emmi-Tech.
To use an Emmi-dent brush, you hold its bristles on your teeth without moving them at all. "It cleans places you can't reach with bristles or even floss. And it restores the original natural color of your teeth," Spector says.
The Emmi-dent (www.emmi-dent.com, $189) requires no abrasive brushing, and there are no abrasives in the special toothpaste, Spector says.

So, should you buy the Emmi-dent?
I mean if it gets folks brushing their teeth more or taking better care of their teeth on a daily basis, then go for it.
If it is a Christmas gift and your price point is right, go ahead.
But, if you haven't been to the dentist or dental hygienist in over a year, then save the money and make an appointment for a professional cleaning. Then, use the rest of the money saved in buying a sturdy manual toothbrush AND use it!

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