THE LIFESAVER TOOTHBRUSH. A PROJECT BY PARODONTAX

A toothbrush designed to turn losing blood, into giving blood.

There is a lack of blood donation around the world, blood needed to help heal people. At the same time a third of the adult world’s population suffer from bleeding gums.

Parodontax, the toothpaste to help stop bleeding gums, developed a toothbrush using the world’s first one-minute blood typing test, designed to turn losing blood into giving blood. Dentists will use it with their bleeding gums patients, encouraging them to help people while their gums are being healed with parodontax.

A website allows you to know how many people nearby, need your same blood type, turning a bleeding gums issue into a recruitment campaign for blood donors.

If you are going to bleed, bleed for someone else.

We began our process by selecting and pursuing the world’s most compact blood typing test (GLIF) developed out of the University of Melbourne. GLIF was acquired by a private biotech company, Haemokinesis, with whom we partnered with to create the custom version of their test to fit our brush assembly.

The first step was to design and prototype the toothbrush itself. This involved a number of 3D models created from original 2D sketches. We used MakerBot 3D printers in our NY lab to run several PLA prints to fine-tune size, ergonomics and fit of the screw on cap.

We created the final brush prototypes using finished, high-quality SLA, selected due to is durability and ability to recreate tight geometry. The hygenic silver-based bristle assembly is commercially available through Piave in Italy, which the brush head was designed specifically for.

The goal of this social campaign will be to change in a positive manner the way people think and consider their help in such an important and relevant issue like blood donation.

We will also awaken in the medical and dental community an interest in a tool to generate awareness about blood donation and self healthcare.

This low-cost test could be useful in poor countries, help saving lives and even help people to have a better health attention.