Personalized Dental Products
At SmartPractice, I get to play a major role on the company's Innovation Team. As the designer, I conceptualized
new product ideas and helped chosen concepts become legitimate products the company could sell to dentists.
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.
new product ideas and helped chosen concepts become legitimate products the company could sell to dentists.
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.
Toothbrush Holder Shelf
Goal: To make a cost-effective, personalized toothbrush holder as a dental giveaway
that the end user would see every day for practice exposure.
that the end user would see every day for practice exposure.
Sketches
Early concept sketches for a toothbrush holder leaned most heavily on a cup that could hold multiple brushes,
as this would provide the most cost-effective option. But after surveying how people kept their toothbrushes at home,
we learned some drawbacks of the idea. Namely, a cup would hold onto residue after brushing, and wouldn't
suit households that only had a freestanding sink with no countertop space.
Study Models
We learned a favorite, and much-used holder on the market was the one paired with Quip toothbrushes. They fixed to a wall
or a mirror, kept the brush dry, but didn't suit all sizes of toothbrush (some brushes would have the bristles touching the mirror,
which was not desirable), and the personalization would be sideways if imprinted. So my next approach was a shelf design.
Form
The final design served all purposes we hoped for: It had a large imprint space to allow for effective personalization, it held all of our toothbrushes away from the mirror and off of counters to reduce residue, it was inexpensive to manufacture, and it provided horizontal & vertical holding options. Additionally, the products can easily nest within each other, which is useful for cost-effective shipping. Material
One of the biggest considerations for the product was the material. I chose a frosted white polypropylene which had 3 major benefits: It is waterproof (and would gain no unsightly watermarks), doesn't require flame/plasma treatment before imprint (many products require this or the imprint will easily come off due to oils in certain types of plastic... the additional time spent doing the treatment translates to additional cost for the customer), and finally, it is easy to clean and water won't cause warping. |
SmartRemover Dental Device Removal Tool
Goal: To create a personalized aligner remover tool that would help the end user
comfortably remove their aligner between brushing/eating/wear.
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 CEO, 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.
Form
Our final design incorporated each of the takeaways we discovered with our study models. In additional 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 info. 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. |