Personalized Dental Products
At SmartPractice, I get to play a major role on the company's Innovation Team. As the designer, I conceptualize new product ideas, make prototypes, and make our ideas a reality. Things that were of greatest importance as I drafted concepts included the ability to personalize the product, reducing manufacturing costs so dentists could use the products as giveaways, and a focus on ergonomics and the use of the products in an everyday context. Study models & material options were considered for thoughtful execution.
Dental Aligner Removal Tool
Goal: Create a personalized tool that would help the user comfortably remove their aligner between brushing/eating/wear.
Sketches
After hearing about the pain point of aligner users struggling with removing their aligners between meals, we decided this was the product we would like to tackle. My concepts included a couple iterations with a toothbrush (since our user would have to brush their teeth after meals and before putting their aligner back on).
The travel toothbrush was an early favorite of the team, but based on research of dental patients & dentists themselves, we knew our dental market would prefer to spend money on a low-cost giveaway item. Similarly, the Swiss Army Knife style had multiple components which would make it more costly to manufacture. We decided to keep things simple with the key design that could fit in an aligner case.
After hearing about the pain point of aligner users struggling with removing their aligners between meals, we decided this was the product we would like to tackle. My concepts included a couple iterations with a toothbrush (since our user would have to brush their teeth after meals and before putting their aligner back on).
The travel toothbrush was an early favorite of the team, but based on research of dental patients & dentists themselves, we knew our dental market would prefer to spend money on a low-cost giveaway item. Similarly, the Swiss Army Knife style had multiple components which would make it more costly to manufacture. We decided to keep things simple with the key design that could fit in an aligner case.
Study Models
I prepared several study models of the favorite options we wished to pursue. I made a funny little model of the travel toothbrush style in case we wanted to pursue it down the line. But the main pursuit would be the key shape. We wanted to maximize the personalization area while keeping the tool compact. Friends tested to see how comfortable certain hooks would feel in their mouth. Aligners naturally have to fit very snugly, and the hook would inevitably brush against the gums in order to hook onto the aligner. The more squared-off hooks were the least comfortable, so in the final iterations, we would pursue a rounded shape.
I prepared several study models of the favorite options we wished to pursue. I made a funny little model of the travel toothbrush style in case we wanted to pursue it down the line. But the main pursuit would be the key shape. We wanted to maximize the personalization area while keeping the tool compact. Friends tested to see how comfortable certain hooks would feel in their mouth. Aligners naturally have to fit very snugly, and the hook would inevitably brush against the gums in order to hook onto the aligner. The more squared-off hooks were the least comfortable, so in the final iterations, we would pursue a rounded shape.
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Form
Our final design incorporated each of the takeaways we discovered with our study models. In addition to rounding out the hook for gum comfort, we also rounded out the body shape so that no hard edges would press against the user's face. Our final design also featured a small ridge to help with improved finger grip. We received excellent feedback. A lot of the users hated having to use their finger nails to remove their tight aligners, and they found this design to be fast, easy and comfortable to use. Our manufacturing & marketing team also liked having a fairly sizable space to pad print a dentist's logo & contact information. Material
We had several options for the material of this product. Our primary objective was to have a medical-grade plastic that was safe for the user to continually put in their mouth. The solution for this was simple: we looked to some prominent plastics used in the creation of toothbrushes. Some of the options included polypropylene, polyethylene & clear ABS. We chose a semi-translucent polypropylene, which was an aesthetic choice but had the added benefit of having a very high melting point. Meaning if the tool was left in someone's pocket and went through the laundry, or if someone decided to clean it in their dish washer, the plastic would not warp. |
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