I tried the Kickstarter-funded 'toothbrush of the future,' and I loved it

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Brushing your teeth is as much about dental health as it is about keeping your mouth clean. We've all heard the urban myth that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's, and most of us like to feel a measure of control over something as unappetizing as that.

But more than a few of us have probably noticed the little flaw in logic to brushing our teeth with a brush, only to put it back in our cupboard until the next time we need it to clean our teeth. We wash our towels when they're dirty, but we keep putting the same thing into our mouths to clean it, and then put that and whatever is on it back into the cupboard? Something isn't quite right there.

In search of a more sanitary approach to dental hygiene, I came across Boie USA.

They started out on Kickstarter and have graduated to a full-fledged e-commerce marketplace. They make toothbrushes out of a rubber-like material that's less abrasive on your enamel and gums, is BPA and Phthalate-free, and best of all, has silver embedded into the bristles and toothbrush head so it will kill bacteria on contact and keep it out of your mouth.

Not surprisingly, the most sanitary approach to oral care isn't having a toothbrush where bacteria have been able to breed for months. For $10, Boie's brush is a no-brainer.

Depending on how you brush, the toothbrush you own right now probably won't (and shouldn't) last more than a few months. Every time you replace it, you add to the 50 million pounds of plastic that discarded brushes add to landfills each year. Instead of contributing however-many-more millions of pounds, Boie has designed their toothbrushes to have detachable heads, so instead of throwing the whole thing out, you can just replace the toothbrush head.

This means lower costs to replace and less waste on earth. And because the heads are made out of a rubber-like material, they won't break down and need to be replaced as often, so you'll save money there, too. As a part of their community-central business model, all of their materials and manufacturing happen within the US, too.

Since first reading about them, I tried one out and subsequently gave one to a friend as well.

The brush heads may look like they'll be too harsh against your gums and teeth, but somehow it's the best and gentlest cleaning I've had.

My electric toothbrush can be a hassle I forget to charge or too harsh on my teeth and my traditional drugstore toothbrush doesn't do as good of a job. The Boie toothbrush has pretty much replaced both for me.

My gums have never bled while using it, despite the thicker, firmer bristles, and my teeth feel cleaner after using it. I'll keep my electric toothbrush around (those things are expensive), and I haven't gotten to try newer variations of that myself, admittedly, but I'm more than happy with my $10 fix. Plus, it's much nicer to know that when I want to brush my teeth, I won't be putting anything back in my mouth that I want to keep out.

Buy the Boie USA Antimicrobial Toothbrush for $10

This article was originally published on 5/31/2017.