Famunion

Bad Ass Plasma Blowtorch Kills Plaque, Cleans Teeth, Kills Bacteria

// June 11th, 2009 // Technology

If you thought that your Sonicare toothbrush was great, wait till you see this new bad ass way to brush you teeth in action. (Drum roll) I present, a way to clean your teeth with fire…from a little tiny blowtorch. Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry and USC Viterbi School of Engineering have developed a pencil-sized plume of plasma on the tip of a probe that actually stays at room temperature. How this bad boy works is by destroying biofilms, complex colonies of bacteria, that help protect bacteria in the mouth from conventional antibiotics. It does this using plasma, the fourth state of matter, which consists of electrons, ions and neutral species and is the most common form found in space, stars and lightning. Except that the plasma used here is safe to touch and only increases the tooth’s temperature by 5 degrees in ten minutes.

So there you have it, finally a way to brush your teeth and feel like a bad ass doing it.