rexresearch
Xuehui ZHANG, et al.
Electroshock Toothbrush vs Plaque
https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/chinese-scientists-make-a-toothbrush-that-uses-mild-electric-shocks-to-reduce-plaque/ar-AA2gL5B2
South China Morning Post
Chinese scientists make a toothbrush that uses mild electric shocks to reduce plaque
Story by Shi Huang
The self-charging devices can generate tiny currents designed to disrupt the spread of bacteria in the mouth
No matter how thoroughly you brush your teeth in the morning and evening, the battle against bacteria is almost certain to be lost.
Within a few hours of brushing, it will return in force and rebuild a solid defence line on the surface of your teeth.
From ancient times to now, humanity has essentially had only one way of dealing with it, whether it was using twigs and sticks or the first bristled toothbrushes, which date back to 10th century China.
But even today's most advanced electric brushes are still relying on physical friction to remove dental plaque.
Now a group of researchers from China has decided to take a different approach by letting the toothbrush generate its own electricity to eliminate the bacteria silently.
Its bristles are designed to generate tiny electric currents that catalyse the production of reactive oxygen species, which disrupt the spread of bacteria in the mouth.
In a clinical trial, those using the electric toothbrushes showed significantly greater reductions in dental plaque, gum inflammation and bleeding compared with those using regular toothbrushes.
The study was published online in the journal Science Advances.
Zhang Xuehui, the corresponding author of the article and director of the Dental Materials Laboratory at Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, said the new toothbrushes "combine physical cleaning with sustained antibacterial effect, thus highlighting the potential of self-charged materials in advancing oral healthcare".
Zhang and his team used polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) to make bristles that generate a mild current.
The self-charging brushes generate a tiny electric current. Photo: Handout
In laboratory and animal experiments, these self-charging bristles achieved a superior cleaning efficacy compared with traditional nylon toothbrushes, with a cleaning efficiency of over 99 per cent and good biocompatibility, the study said.
The researchers then carried out a trial involving 115 volunteers with tooth and gum diseases such as periodontitis or dental caries, half of whom were asked to use a regular nylon toothbrush and half of whom were given the new brushes.
All volunteers were given identical instructions on toothpaste and brushing methods.
After three months the researchers examined the volunteers' mouths and found that dental plaque levels, gingival inflammation and gingival bleeding all decreased significantly in the group using the new brushes.
This suggested that the removal of more dental plaque had helped to reduce inflammation and bleeding.
The brushes also proved to be safe to use, with no volunteers reporting problems such as pain, numbness or electric shocks.
Zhang added that the further comparisons with existing technology would be needed to establish the advantages of the new technique.
Zhang has been asked for comment.
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.aeg5744
Self-charged toothbrush facilitates tooth healthcare maintenance
Yanhui Lu1, et al.
Toothbrushes have undergone no substantive improvements beyond their mechanical function for about 1118
years to date. Conventional toothbrushes often fail to establish an antibacterial environment on the tooth surface,
allowing bacteria to recover and recolonize. Here, we developed an innovative self-charged toothbrush that inte-
grates daily tooth brushing with piezoelectric functionality, synergizing both optimal mechanical properties and
stable electrical activity. The self-charged toothbrushes can generate reactive oxygen species to disrupt bacterial
membrane integrity and diminish bacterial adhesion by combining static antibacterial inhibition through surface
potential with dynamic piezoelectric stimulation. Clinical evaluation revealed that the localized piezoelectric stimula-
tion of self-charged toothbrushes can mitigate plaque formation and gingival inflammation. Mechanistic studies
further revealed that the self-charged toothbrushes induced oxidative damage to the oral pathogenic bacterial
membranes, thereby impairing the ATP-binding cassette transporter pathway. Hence, this study developed a con-
cept of piezoelectric PVDF toothbrushes that combine physical cleaning with sustained antibacterial effect, thus
highlighting the potential of self-charged materials in advancing oral healthcare.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1150093
Toothbrush produces electricity to battle plaque-making bacteria
Abigail Eisenstadt
A new toothbrush generates electricity through bristle movement to wage war on plaque-producing pathogens. The invention successfully reduced cavity- and periodontitis-causing bacteria better than regular mechanical brushing in the mouths of 115 volunteers over 3 months. The toothbrush is humanity’s mightiest soldier in the battle against dental plaque, physically debriding bacterial biofilms on teeth every night. Yet, bacteria always regain ground, and so the battle begins each morning afresh. Yanhui Lu and colleagues have now upgraded this warrior, creating a toothbrush that generates electrical charges as its piezoelectric monofilament bristles bend during brushing. This process produces reactive oxygen species that destroy biofilms on teeth. In the lab, the device effectively culled oral pathogens such as Porphyromonas gingivalis (which causes periodontitis). Lu et al. also evaluated the toothbrush’s utility in real mouths. They assigned these toothbrushes to a total of 115 volunteers, who received the same brushing instructions. The relative abundance of several oral pathogens in volunteers’ mouths decreased, according to results from gene sequencing and metagenome sequencing of samples. Overall, this toothbrush can improve plaque control, gingival inflammation, and bleeding compared with conventional nylon-bristled toothbrushes.
Patents
Antibacterial electric toothbrush based on pulse ultrasonic piezoelectric response principle and antibacterial method -- US2025359973
The invention discloses an antibacterial electric toothbrush based on a pulse ultrasonic piezoelectric response principle and an antibacterial method. The electric toothbrush comprises the toothbrush head and the driving mechanism used for driving the toothbrush head to vibrate, the driving mechanism is arranged to be capable of generating low-intensity pulse ultrasonic waves, the toothbrush head is provided with the piezoelectric bristles, the electric responsiveness of the piezoelectric bristles is enhanced through ultrasonic vibration, the excellent antibacterial effect is achieved, and the antibacterial effect is improved. The electric toothbrush not only can effectively inhibit bacteria of the toothbrush head which is still placed, but also has improved bacteriostatic activity in a tooth brushing operation process, and can effectively inhibit dental plaque and prevent oral diseases such as periodontitis.
Toothbrush filament, preparation method thereof and toothbrush -- US12569057
The invention provides toothbrush filaments, a preparation method thereof and a toothbrush, the toothbrush filaments are prepared by adopting the preparation method, the temperature and time of annealing treatment are regulated and controlled, and the voltage, distance, temperature and time of corona polarization treatment are within the range of the application, the prepared toothbrush filaments have good piezoelectricity and monofilament bending recovery rate, and particularly, the toothbrush filaments have good electrical conductivity and good monofilament bending recovery rate. The piezoelectric constant of the toothbrush filaments in the standing state is larger than or equal to 0.4 pC/N, certain polarization charges stably exist on the surfaces of the toothbrush filaments, the problem that bacteria breed on the toothbrush filaments in the standing state can be effectively solved by means of the action principle of physical electrical stimulation antibiosis, and therefore the antibiosis performance of the toothbrush filaments is improved. A dynamic voltage signal generated by the toothbrush filaments under the action of external force (equivalent to a tooth brushing process) is 0.6 V-1. 5V, and a piezoelectric signal of the toothbrush filaments in a brushing process can effectively remove bacteria on the surfaces of teeth, so that tooth diseases such as caries or periodontitis can be prevented; the monofilament bending recovery rate of the toothbrush filaments is 60%-80%, and the use requirements of toothbrushes can be met.