Gimmick? UltraBlu Toothbrush

[skace]

Hey, restocking my bathroom stuffs and came across this: http://www.drugstore.com/produ...=0&btrx=BUY-PLST-0-CAT

What the hell is that? Someone stuck a blue LED in a toothbrush and it's actually supposed to help my teeth? Is this complete garbage or is there any validity to their statements. I can't seem to find many independent reviews of the products.

 

[techs]

Bump cause I want to know the answer, too.

 

[dullard]

I know UV light kills lots of bacteria (the closer to about 250 nm the better). And even then, you need 10+ minutes of exposure to kill most bacteria. I don't think blue light kills many at all. The dental blue that they describe peaks at 460 nm. Since I assume for that price it is an unfiltered, low power LED, it'll have very little blue light and will be in the 430 - 490 nm range. It'll never get near the 250 nm needed to kill most forms of bacteria. However, I don't have any knowledge of what types of bacteria live in the mouth though and maybe there is a special blue-light sensitive strain.

My best guess is that it'll kill next to nothing and is really just a gimmick. Even if it did kill things, you could just open your mouth with normal lights on (since normal lights are a mix of all colors) and you'll get some of that blue spectrum to do the same thing.

 

[krylon]

Originally posted by: dullard
I know UV light kills lots of bacteria (the closer to about 250 nm the better). I don't think blue light kills many at all. The dental blue that they describe peaks at 460 nm. Since I assume for that price it is an unfiltered, low power LED, it'll have very little blue light and will be in the 430 - 490 nm range. It'll never get near the 250 nm needed to kill most forms of bacteria. However, I don't have any knowledge of what types of bacteria live in the mouth though and maybe there is a special light sensitive strain.

My best guess is that it'll kill next to nothing and is really just a gimmick. Even if it did kill things, you could just open your mouth with normal lights on and you'll get some of that blue spectrum to do the same thing.

Is this why porn stars all have great teeth?

 

[Gibson486]

UV rays are used in water and waste water as a method to kill bacteria. I am not sure if a blue LED can produce a UV ray in that spectrum to kill bacteria. So, yes there is some validity to it, but that does not mean the product is not BS. Also, to much UV can lead to cancer....

 

[jonnyGURU]

This is so fail.

Blue light is used by dentists because it accelerates the oxidizing effect of the hydrogen peroxide based bleach they put on your teeth.

When done at the dentist office, one can sit in a chair for up to an hour with their mouth propped open, filled with bleach and a blue light shining in.

This thing is just a blue light on a tooth brush. There's no bleach and you're not going to sit there shining the light on your teeth for an hour.

Besides, studies have shown that even when you radiate blue light on hydrogen peroxide for an hour, the effects are negligible so dentists are starting to move away from it.