h a l f b a k e r yExperiencing technical difficulties since 1999
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It's easy enough to locate that niggling bit of lamb chop between your back teeth with your tongue, but such proprioceptive information is lost when trying to transfer it through ones fingers to a toothpick.
Grappling Gum consists of gum, a miniature claw* and a length of floss.
A strip of Dentyne
or folded Wrigley's gum (any sort without a hard candy covering) is inserted and bitten down on to create a cast of the area concerned.
The stem of the claw is then inserted into the meaty irregularity on the cast and the floss wound around the rest of the gum.
The now armed gum is then replaced (the canine impression would be a useful reference point), and chewed down on again.
The claw grabs the offending food as the shaft covers it, and you can use your tongue to pull it out with the floss.
The gum could be peanut butter infused so that it dissolves quickly and allows removal of the floss, or for those not picky about this sort of thing, it could all be swallowed.
* The claw would be designed such that it resembles a whisk that's incomplete at the whisking end, and a hollow external shaft that, as it slides up with biting, closes the 'fingers' around the food. The floss is attached to the base of the 'fingers'.
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Why not just use the floss? |
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[+] for flagrant over-complication. |
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[MikeD], this would probably be most useful for people with tightly packed molars that won't allow floss between them. |
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[21Q], a homemade version could be made from 2 staples (bent in the middle so that the short arms don't quite oppose. You'd probably need to trim these short arms too). The floss would be tied to the apex of the bends in the long bits, and then then slid partially into something like the hollow shaft of an ear bud. Cut to the length of half a staple. Floss coming out the opposite end.
Initially the idea was for food wedged between teeth on the opposing surface of the molars, but it should be able to work safely for food caught between the teeth on the inside or outside too, provided it's placed accurately on the gum (chewing, not gingiva). |
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For overcomplicating without resorting to robotics [+] |
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