Mount a white LED with a tiny battery & circuit in the cap of a tooth. Put it right near the edge of the tooth, and blend the bezel of the LED into the surface of the tooth so it is not normally visible. We're just looking for a micro flash so tiny is good.
Now when you want to make an impression on someone, bite on the tooth a little bit, and 2 seconds later the LED will fire. The effect: a "gleam" in your smile just like in the movies.
It would have to be a very short flash so that most folks wouldn't realize what they were seeing. You also wouldn't want to use it that much as it would ruin the effect. This is good, it means the battery could be tiny.
The only problem would be recharging the battery, which would be in a sealed module (with the rest of the circuitry) inside your tooth. Perhaps some sort of induction charging device at your dentist, so they could charge for the service. (Extra cost option: home charger).
As a medical appliance this would require regulatory approval in most countries.-- krelnik, Oct 23 2002 Dental Implants http://www.dentalim...sfyi.com/index.htmlRoot form implants are often titanium screws [krelnik, Oct 23 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004] LA weekly story http://www.laweekly.com/ink/01/35/a.phpA chap in Los Angeles appears to have rolled his own. Search for "LED" near the bottom. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] "Eyeball jewelry" available in The Netherlands http://www.cnn.com/...lry.reut/index.htmlApr 8 2004: My joke about "Gleam in your Eye" comes true in a way. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Baked, in Japan http://www.guardian.../25/smile-led-teeth [hippo, Jan 26 2011] Quick get me my sunglasses, [krel's] about to smile again.-- blissmiss, Oct 23 2002 awww [bliss] I was enjoying watching the croissant pile amass on this idea without annotations, now you've broken the duck. I wonder what the record is for the most positive (or negative) vote without anno. (and what this says about the idea)-- Zircon, Oct 23 2002 I can imagine clubbers buying this.-- Mayfly, Oct 23 2002 my only question is: what the heck happens when you go to have a meal. that damn thing would be going off every few seconds and it would feel like the paparazzi were after the person you were with. I like the concept though. people definitely need that gleam. forget about all this tooth-whitening stuff. people just need to gleam-- leex, Oct 23 2002 Does it go with the Colgate "ding" sound as well, or is that an optional extra?-- PeterSilly, Oct 23 2002 The ding is an optional extra, we have to cover the royalty payments to Colgate on that one.
Coming soon: "Gleam in Your Eye". <ouch>-- krelnik, Oct 23 2002 If this kind of thing actually went on the market I can imagine somebody having one in every tooth and looking like a camera flash every time they bit down.-- Alphaman, Oct 23 2002 //what the heck happens when you go to have a meal// It won't flash if you're eating, or biting somebody in a bar fight. Maybe have a morse-code-style command structure for programming, or just key on certain words and inflections, like "Cheese!", or "Hey Baby!".
//one in every tooth// Teens will definitely go for that. It will sequence in all sorts of patterns, and in time to their music. Can the gleem teeth communicate with other people's gleem teeth? Girls could indicate that they're "loose" without having to smoke.-- Amos Kito, Oct 23 2002 //just key on certain words //
There is no way you could fit voice recognition into something that small even the touch code would make the thing close to being too big. Thats assuming that you have a battery that small of course.-- Alphaman, Oct 23 2002 [Alphaman], many people have more than one tooth. Need more room for upgrades? Accessories can be fitted in adjacent gleem teeth. Processor, mic, switches, lights, power supply, and more.-- Amos Kito, Oct 23 2002 Possibly you could store the battery in the jawbone.-- Alphaman, Oct 23 2002 Couldn't a natural battery be devised with metal plates in the alkaline juices of the mouth?-- FarmerJohn, Oct 23 2002 You would probably get better power out of the blood - more free ions. Even so I'm not sure I want metal plates attached to the inside of my arteries.-- Alphaman, Oct 23 2002 The lower first molars could be drilled to accommodate a rechargeable power source. Usually these molars are slightly larger. Convenient if you already have fillings first.
The charging unit could be a mouth guard piece with contact plates supplying power to the molar's battery. A pigtail lead comes out of the front center of the guard.
I think the effect would be more aesthetic if the tiny light source was set within the curvature between each tooth and centered in the vertical distance between the bottom edge of the gum and bottom edge of the tooth.
This way the smooth plane of each tooth surface is uninterrupted, light bezels can be enhanced since they'll seam more like jewelry and the power run will be easier to put in place.
I'll wait for some one else to try it out first even though I sense the "look" might surprise me. It's certain to help some people to keep their attention at *eye* level.-- hollajam, Oct 23 2002 another use for AOL discs perhaps-- po, Oct 23 2002 [hj] No that would be if they had their "Gleam in your eye" device on. This instead would ensure that the addressed kept their attention at "mouth" level, just thought you would like to know.-- blissmiss, Oct 23 2002 Just out of curiosity - what does happen if you run electricity through an AOL disk while it is in your mouth?-- Alphaman, Oct 23 2002 //...battery in the jawbone.//
I found a few items on the web about the current state of the art in tooth replacement. Apparently it is common to implant a titanium screw right into the jaw, and use that as a mounting point for a replacement tooth. There would definitely be more room for circuitry & batteries in this form. See link.-- krelnik, Oct 23 2002 I understand that DrCurry has perfected a 'Gleam From the Top of Your Head' device.-- DrBob, Oct 23 2002 ...DrBob, Where is the battery kept?
[blissmiss], your clarification much appreciated. Thank you.-- hollajam, Oct 23 2002 Found a reference to a guy in Los Angeles who apparently built his own. Not quite to the specifications here, though. See link.-- krelnik, Jan 24 2003 In my first annotation on this idea, I joked about an alternate form called "Gleam in Your Eye". See link for something similar that has actually been baked.-- krelnik, Apr 08 2004 Posted as an idea and moved here due to redundancy:
Dental Flash For the ultimate smile
The device is a replacement canine tooth with a piezo-powered xenon flash built in. When smiling for a photo, you gently grind your teeth to activate the device. Depending on the force you use, the device either adds a gentle twinkle to your smile or creates a bright flash to ruin a photograph. When not activated it just looks like you have a diamond set into your tooth.
Inspired by the 'Photo Forestalling Subdermal Face Manipulator'.-- marklar, Jan 24 2008 Had this idea over the weekend, duly bunned and churned. [+]-- theleopard, Jul 13 2009 [hippo] Not the same thing as your link. Similar technology, yes, but aimed at producing a different effect. This idea is about life imitating art, specifically, Tony Curtis' smile from _The Great Race_-- mouseposture, Jan 27 2011 random, halfbakery