Healthy Skepticism And Gums

We see a lot of dubious claims in this business. From the magical skin-improving power of some precious metal to the health benefits of berries and botanicals, marketers love scientific hand-waving.

This Pursonic toothbrush has two features that sound iffy on the surface but are, it turns out, actually science. The first, which you’re likely familiar with some version of, is that it brushes your teeth at 31,000 strokes per minute, which is roughly more than the speed at which you brush manually. This is true, and it works! (The only questionable part is that the original “sonic” branding referred to the stroke speed lying within the range of human hearing. However, 31khz is beyond that range).

The second feature is this UV sanitizer, which kills 99.9% of bacteria on the brush head (between uses). UV light is everywhere though, right? Why and how does that kill bacteria?

The answer is actually pretty dang neat, and we’re going to butcher it for you in our layperson interpretation. UV light can cause a chemical reaction between two molecules of Thymine, one of the bases of DNA. This screws up the DNA’s whole deal, and usually some little cell fixers stop by to clean up the mess. But if the damage is too severe the fixers can tell the rest of the cell “we’re boned” and the cell self-destructs. That’s the end of the road for bacteria, which are single-celled, but in multi-celled beasts like humans it results in a sunburn (and sometimes cancer).

So the very electromagnetic wavelength your mom slathered you in Banana Boat to protect against is what you will wield to kill the germs on your toothbrush. Kewl.

You are encouraged to remain vigilantly skeptical of any purported powers of magnets, copper, toxin cleansers, and even vitamin C (it doesn’t do anything, sorry.) But as far as ultraviolet light goes, U’V got our thumbs up. Ugh, sorry. At least we didn’t make this whole writeup a UV40 joke like we originally planned.