Does this make my new electric toothbrush the dental equivalent of a SegWay?

Ok... Matt, here's what confuses me about the whole toothbrush issue. Why is it necessary to have "slip guard" rubber grip handles on a non-electric toothbrush? Your comparison to the racing stripes of a running shoe make sense... but then I wonder... Is it possible that out "there" somewhere, someone has had a fatal toothbrush injury? Does the dental hygeine industry fear that someone might get sooo carried away with vigorous brushing that the brush might slip wholly out of that person's hygeine-happy fingers and, say, poke an eye out? These are questions that keep me up at night. How did we manage before our toothbrushes were made safer with that little rubber strip? How many possible dangerous toothbrushing scenarios were staved off by such an invention? Will we ever know? How far can I carry this line of reasoning before someone cuts me off........

You know . . . I'm sure I read somewhere, or more likely saw on TV, that prison inmates sometimes fashion shivs out of sharpened toothbrush handles. Maybe after whittling around all the ergonomic styling and scraping off of rubber grip inserts, your average con has a poor platform from which to fashion his/her stabbing implement. It's sorta the penance of the industrial designer: fashion shoes that sometimes lead folk to prison but overdesign to make sure the violence stops at pacified toothbrush design.

Reminds me of my students fascination when a student gave a presentation on the Anarchist Cookbook to supplement our reading of Fight Club.

You realize, based on this and CJ's post, that it's now only a matter of time before toothbrushes are banned from carry-ons.

I love your observation. It is of course the same reason: we want to protect our teeth and feet, and get the most of our brushing and rushing efforts. There are toothbrushes that clean your teeth less efficiently while they scrape off the (insert odontologic terminology for outside of teeth here). There are running shoes that are heavy, but do not protect your knees from banging into asphalt.

Most of us don't know how to judge the hair of a toothbrush or the insoles of a running shoe. But if the rest of the toothbrush looks over-designed by a batallion of engineers, we sort of suspect at least one of them had the task of choosing the right material for the important parts.

Everyday semiotics.

I think the dental term Anders was parenthetically groping for is "enamel".

Y'know, I stick the darn thing into my mouth at least twice a day, and have never put much thought into the make up of the bristles. I suppose I guessed that they were some sort of nylon fiber. Would my teeth be affected differently if commit to the switch from the nylon fibers of my $0.89 toothbrush to the microfibers or fiberoptics of a $14.99 "tootbrushing system"?

Not sure about semiotics, but I never thought athletic shoe styling says much of anything, and razzle dazzle design components have never really said "safety consideration" to me -- otherwise I would've told my friend to ditch the childseat from his station wagon and load it up into the Dodge Viper I admit to drooling over every now and then. Really, the sneaker or "athletic" shoe that's got my brand loyalty are Merrill's line of trailrunners (and I'll be picking up my endorsement check through the usual means, Mr./Ms. Merrill) ... not because the trailrunner shoe fits my athletic and casual dress needs moreso than racing flats or cross trainers or diving flippers (does Nike make diving flippers?); but because I've grown to trust Merrill's hiking boot line. I grew up during the athletic shoe style wars where through marketing/design the big manufacturers were trying to seduce buyers with the promise of cool, and really, though you don't hear much about gunfights over shoes anymore, I don't think the big sneaker mfrs ever got out of that mindset. (Now someone will tell me Merrill's owned by Rebok or whonot). Maybe it is semiotics, but at least from an idiosyncratic consumer perspective, it's not simple.

how are the bristles put in to toothbrushes? please respond
thannks

I liked both toothbrushes and athletic shoes much better BEFORE their respective industries started "new and improving" them to death. These crazy angled toothbrushes do not follow the laws of physics and instead of going in the direction my hand is heading, end up ramming into my gums (OUCH). And the shoes with a million colors never coordinate with the rest of my clothes. Therefore, I shop for the increasingly hard-to-find old-fashioned toothbrushes, and wear plain white Reebok Princess shoes. Thanks for letting me vent.

Besides the regular ones are cheaper.