<story><title>A 3D printed toothbrush for all your teeth</title><url>http://www.3ders.org//articles/20131001-blizzident-releases-3d-printed-6-seconds-toothbrush-tailored-to-your-teeth.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>zdw</author><text>While it obviously appears to shorten the brushing time, it also looks like it would be much harder to keep the device itself clean - everyone who has had a retainer or other removable dental device could likely attest to this. I&amp;#x27;d imagine it would also require more toothpaste.&lt;p&gt;Seeing as toothbrushes in bulk are about less than $1 each, a $300 ($150 refurbished, but ewwwwww...), hard to clean device seems somewhat difficult to argue for.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>brd</author><text>Lets put aside the cleaning argument and discuss cost for a minute here.&lt;p&gt;Its recommended you brush your teeth for ~2 minutes. Lets say with this thing you shorten it to 30 seconds. That means you save 3 minutes per day every day on brushing, assuming you brush twice daily. This works out to about 18 hours a year. If your time is more valuable than 17&amp;#x2F;hr it&amp;#x27;s arguably worth it.&lt;p&gt;Time and time again I see people complain about the cost of daily use items but when you factor in how much you actually use them and the potential benefit you can get out of a them it quickly becomes worthwhile.&lt;p&gt;edit: there is a huge difference between being maximizing productivity and measuring opportunity cost, I&amp;#x27;m arguing the latter. I don&amp;#x27;t expect you to get paid another 18 hours a year. I&amp;#x27;m simply pointing out that depending on how YOU value YOUR time spending $300 on a fancy toothbrush is entirely worth it.</text></comment>
<story><title>A 3D printed toothbrush for all your teeth</title><url>http://www.3ders.org//articles/20131001-blizzident-releases-3d-printed-6-seconds-toothbrush-tailored-to-your-teeth.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>zdw</author><text>While it obviously appears to shorten the brushing time, it also looks like it would be much harder to keep the device itself clean - everyone who has had a retainer or other removable dental device could likely attest to this. I&amp;#x27;d imagine it would also require more toothpaste.&lt;p&gt;Seeing as toothbrushes in bulk are about less than $1 each, a $300 ($150 refurbished, but ewwwwww...), hard to clean device seems somewhat difficult to argue for.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>r0h1n</author><text>How can a product that is &amp;quot;tailor-made to fit into a person&amp;#x27;s mouth using 3D scanning and 3D printing&amp;quot; be sold refurbished?</text></comment>