DentalSlim weight-loss device literally locks your mouth shut:
UK and University of Otago researchers have presented a "world-first weight loss device," which attaches to the teeth and prevents patients from opening their mouths wider than 2 mm using "magnetic devices and custom-manufactured locking bolts."
The researchers say this medieval-sounding machine, which is fixed to the first molars with orthodontic cement by a dentist, doesn't restrict breathing or speech, but holds people to a liquid diet.
In a study published in the British Dental Journal, seven healthy, obese participants wore the devices for 14 days. They were given a commercially-available liquid diet to follow, giving them 1,200 kcal of energy per day. The mean weight loss over this period was 6.36 kg (14 lb).
[Insert obvious joke about politicians needing this here.]
Journal Reference:
Paul A. Brunton, Jithendra Ratnayake, H. Jonathan Bodansky, et al. An intraoral device for weight loss: initial clinical findings [open], British Dental Journal (DOI: 10.1038/s41415-021-3081-1)
(Score: 4, Funny) by deathlyslow on Friday September 03 2021, @01:12PM (4 children)
My cousin was born with several facial deformities. A cleft lip and pallet, severe under bite etc. When he had it repaired they had to break his lower jaw to get things lined up correctly. They wired his jaw shut but removed one molar. He ate whatever he wanted when ever he wanted. He'd chuck any and everything he wanted to eat in a big blender and puree it and suck it down with a straw, except for the smoked oysters, they are slimy enough as it is. I watched him make a ham and cheese sandwich, lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard the works, chuck it in the blender with a glass of sweet tea and potato chips and let it rip. As you might be able to tell by the sweet tee reference, his neck was a little reddish. If a "dumb hillbilly" can figure out how to work around not being able to open their mouth, anyone can.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @01:25PM (3 children)
Its not meant to be a foolproof option. They give you a key to open it for christs sake.
Its meant as a way to help you stay on track when starting out.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by deathlyslow on Friday September 03 2021, @01:50PM (1 child)
My point was that, "Where there is a will there is a way". If you can self regulate to the "commercially-available liquid diet" 1200 kcal limitation do you really need the extra hardware? You can get fat from eating lots of fruits. There has to be a caloric deficit to loose weight. Very rarely dose one get fat without being unhealthy, true medical problems excepted, thyroid etc.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Saturday September 04 2021, @02:50AM
Yeah, I know someone who had one of the surgical options that restrict your stomach to the size of a golf ball... lost about 100 pounds, then learned how to eat slowly but continuously, and gained it all back.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Informative) by edIII on Saturday September 04 2021, @10:27PM
If you actually need to have your mouth wired shut to lose weight, then giving you access to a key definitely defeats the purpose.
It would be better and less invasive to just hire Vinny. "I see you didn't lose five lbs this week. That's such a shame. Let me introduce you to my motivational tool, you may know it as a phone book"
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @01:22PM (4 children)
Won't work for Politicians since it restricts neither breathing nor speech. We need something that does both.
(Score: 3, Offtopic) by LabRat on Friday September 03 2021, @01:51PM
I don't want them to die; I want them to look like the ghouls they are inside. Anything to stop incumbents being re-elected.
Also, maybe if they didn't eat lavish lobbyist-paid meals, they'd get more work done since they don't need to exercise off the lobster and steak?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @01:57PM
They seem content to aim to restrict each other's speech; that is part of the problem.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Friday September 03 2021, @05:29PM (1 child)
A cop's knee
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday September 03 2021, @08:40PM
OH. NO. YOU. DID-NT!!!!!!
Now say, "Heil!"
:=|
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday September 03 2021, @01:28PM (9 children)
That just sounds more like torture than a healthy way to lose some weight. Next thing you know, they'll be recommending getting the flu, so you can lose all those extra calories. Since, you won't want to eat.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Freeman on Friday September 03 2021, @01:32PM
People want to "magically be healthy", but they didn't "magically get unhealthy". You have to make life style changes that will eventually get you back to healthy. But, people don't want that. They want to be healthy, Now! Give me a pill or something doc!
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by looorg on Friday September 03 2021, @01:38PM (5 children)
Why not just go full out. Just amputate a leg and you'll drop a significant portion of your total weight that way, about 10% of your total weight give or take a percentage or two depending on body type. Who needs those superfluous limbs you are not using anyway ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @08:28PM
David Frost joked on TWTWTW [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday September 04 2021, @02:27AM (3 children)
You jest, but keep in mind the most effective treatment for obesity is hacking into the person and cutting half of their stomach out [wikipedia.org] or surgically bypassing 80+% of the stomach and part of their small intestine [wikipedia.org]. These surgeries are not usually covered by insurance and still rake in $2 billion per year.
Many obese people really are desperate to lose weight and willing to go to great lengths to do it.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday September 04 2021, @06:43AM (2 children)
I know some people that had some version of it done. Yes they did lose weight but in the process became utterly miserable. Now they have to spend a large amount of time just planning their meals as they need to eat more meals but a lot less per meal and they also need to eat various dietary supplies to cover for their smaller intake. There was also the drawback that the weight loss was initially very rapid so they got a lot of lose skin. It works, but it's not a very fun thing to do from what I gather.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday September 04 2021, @06:22PM (1 child)
Both my sister-in-laws have had it with 300+ pounds lost between them. Yes, you need skin reduction surgery after it and also meal planning becomes important. It's very easy to slip into malnutrition when half a sandwich makes you so full you throw up.
Seeing their results, I've strongly considered it. The thought of being able to fit into single-digit sized clothes is enough to make me cry. I haven't been that small since before I was a teenager.
--
I'm fluffy. - Gabriel Iglesias
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:17PM
Do whatever you have to to lose weight naturally first, find a doc who will do thyroid tests and maybe prescribe thyroid drugs first. At least one of the people I know who had it done turned out to actually have undiagnosed thyroid condition. The others lost huge amounts of weight and then in both cases slowly gained it back while having a variety of nutrition deficiencies as a result.
Consider gastric bypass as a solution of last resort, usually when you've alrady had obesity related health issues. Using it any earlier is just more likely to cause you other health problems and the whole process to have it done is not fun or pleasant if you have any alternative.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @02:11PM
The Ebola Diet.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Friday September 03 2021, @02:38PM
I can recommend the “hospital food diet”. The pounds just fall away...
I don’t get the jaw wiring thing: You’d have to be pretty determined to break any diet to justify something that drastic, and the dedicated mind could think of too many fattening liquids and unhealthy snacks less than 2mm thick. Beer and nachos are not known for their slimming properties.
(Score: 2) by LabRat on Friday September 03 2021, @02:00PM (3 children)
The fact that the diet use of this dental hardware is voluntary blows my mind. (Real non-dietary use: replacing wiring the jaw shut surgically.)
People volunteered? To have that hardware... cemented to their teeth? No thanks. I'd rather count calories.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by helel on Friday September 03 2021, @04:54PM (2 children)
There's a good chunk of the population that will try literally anything but a healthy diet to lose weight...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 04 2021, @04:07PM
You don't need a healthy diet. You only need to count calories. With a shit diet, you'll feel like shit, but that is generally not a big change to the alternative where people eat too much crap anyway.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday September 04 2021, @06:25PM
There's a good chunk of junkies that will try literally anything but stopping heroin to get clean.
Why do you think that is?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @02:22PM (1 child)
Jaw wiring has been used for weight loss purposes since at least the 1970s. I remember someone who had it done for that purpose around 1975.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaw_wiring [wikipedia.org]
This appears to be a higher-tech version of that.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Freeman on Friday September 03 2021, @02:52PM
I'd rather be fat than have my jaw wired shut. That's just insane. Seriously though, they paid how much for said procedure, with whatever health risks, because they have low will power or something? Also, this isn't a long term solution, it's literally forcing someone to go on a starvation diet. It is not sustainable and will not help you keep the pounds off when you get it removed.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @03:46PM (1 child)
They'll just put their lard sandwiches and Big Macs into a blender and then slurp up the resulting liquid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @05:20PM
Oh I was thinking of a different access point.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @04:15PM (1 child)
Can I get one of these installed on my wife? Shut her damn mouth....
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @04:24PM
Do they have a Mother-in-Law model?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @05:36PM
They'll have to drill into bone.. or put something on to keep their chin up
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Friday September 03 2021, @06:08PM
I'll bet one shiny dollar that if you follow up with these study participants six months after this procedure 90%+ will have all gained back the weight they lost and the majority will now exceed their starting weight. That has consistently been the result in longer studies, e.g. https://doi.org/10.1381/096089292765560097 [doi.org] :
That this attempt is with "magnets" doesn't change that.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday September 03 2021, @06:31PM (1 child)
My wife and I have both lost weight. It began in 2019, before covid. We began eating out less and eating more home cooked food. Better food. Fresh fruits and veggies.
2020 helped in a way. We stayed at home. Didn't eat out. Got groceries delivered to front door. Etc, etc.
We didn't do any special diet or take any extraordinary measures. We just ate better food.
Sadly, not everyone can afford better food.
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Opportunist on Friday September 03 2021, @08:41PM
And this is exactly the problem here.
The cheapest food is carbohydrates and fat. And since they, i.e. sugar and fat, are also what we are hardwired to like to eat, it's pretty trivial to sell that kind of "food" (I'll use the term loosely here). It's cheap, it's tasty and for most people that has to suffice.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Friday September 03 2021, @06:39PM
I think there's a big flaw with a lot of diets, and this one takes it to the extreme. If you're over-weight there are two phases to consider: The loss phase and maintenance.
It's OK for loss to be a *little* uncomfortable, but maintenance has to be reasonable or you'll get sick of it. You also have to address some potential issues that might be driving you to overeat and/or under-exercise. It could be depression, a stressful situation, or simply sugar addiction which might be more amenable to addiction treatment techniques.
Don't listen to me though--talk to your primary care and tell them that you want to get serious about getting your weight under control. They can probably recommend a plan that will be reasonable, safe, and most importantly one where you will KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF.
I'm willing to wager that most responsible physicians or nutritionists won't recommend a crash diet.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 04 2021, @02:19AM
I'm sure one of us nerds can come up with a "smart" encrypted locking mechanism on the strap at the back of the head.
Better yet, just get a lip hoop ring that goes through both lips in a vertical fashion and then put one of those tiny luggage locks on it. Give the key to someone else You're now trendy fashion wise and you can use both sides of your mouth to breathe too. You can speak like a ventriloquist too...
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Saturday September 04 2021, @04:10AM
I see the definition of "healthy" had been changed at some point. I wouldn't consider an obese person to be healthy.
Anyway, it seems that there are people who don't think eating less is a good way to lose weight, so this must be fake science to them. For those who do understand the conservation of mass but have trouble controlling themselves, this contraption seems as good a method as any, assuming you don't start chugging melted ice cream or bechamel sauce.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Saturday September 04 2021, @06:48AM
A Greek friend of mine joked about a failsafe plan to lose weight: μην τρως -- "min tros", which transalates to "Don't eat!"
More seriously though - the thing that worked really well for me was chinese congee. A thin rice gruel slow cooked with chicken for hours and served with herbs including rosemary. The combination of heat and rosemary seemed to have other beneficial effects (rosemary is supposed to help with H.Pylori)
https://whattocooktoday.com/how-to-make-rice-porridge.html [whattocooktoday.com]
(Score: 1) by Fuzzums on Saturday September 04 2021, @01:21PM (1 child)
TFA states that "To avoid that [choaking] possibility, the DentalSlim Diet Control comes with an emergency unlocking tool for users to carry with them at all times.".
Just imagine you're choaking. Is reaching for that key the first thing you think about? Your primary reaction is panic.
Imagine that you're passed out and need reanimation. Does any emergency responder knows to look for a jaw lock key in the first place? Basically you're still going to die.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 05 2021, @02:06AM
What happens if you suddenly have to regurgitate?
I am known to lose my lunch upon certain odors, some quite common, and upon certain visuals, just as sure as tapping my knee with a little rubber hammer will make me kick the doctor...if he stood in the wrong place, he is in for a world of hurt.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 04 2021, @11:07PM
I expect this will go away after the company is sued by the relatives of someone who vomits and then suffocates.