While R&D money has been thrown willy-nilly towards the pursuit
of touch-screen computers and rocket ships, researchers have all but
forgotten the lowly toothbrush. All, that is, but one intrepid Canadian
researcher who has developed a toothbrush that forgoes toothpaste by
utilizing electrons to foster natural chemical reactions to clean teeth.
And it can be run on the same amount of energy as a light-powered
calculator.

The concept has been in development for over 15 years by Dr. Kunio
Komiyama, a dentistry professor emeritus at the University of
Saskatchewan. The current version, the Soladey-J3X, is manufactured by
Japan-based Shiken company and is about to undergo real world tests. It
works by directing electrons to the bristles from a small solar panel at
the brush’s base. The electrons react with acids in the mouth to kill
bacteria and breakdown plaque. No toothpaste necessary.

It’s a small innovation but, if it is proven to work, this is just
the kind of innovation that can help help cut down on the carbon
footprint of electronic toothbrushes as well as from the industrial
creation of toothpaste (a $2.2 billion dollar market in the US alone).
It’s a good thing.

Via Physorg, source (Japanese) cnbeta.com.