AcceleDent Aura at CES – by Salle Hayden

January 2014, An early stage company took the visibility option to be seen at both Eureka Park’s Entrepreneurial Area and the Unveiled Press event at CES this year.. The area of medical technology was prevalent at the show, and it was being displayed both by startups and established firms. One of the areas is Dental/Orthodontia. Today there are so many orthodontia patients who are adults. They either want to improve their appearance or hang on to healthy teeth that just aren’t meeting in an effective bite. What it your orthodontist told you that you could wear braces for up to 50% less time with the same results?

AcceleDent has the first product that may be able to help adults (and kids, too) reduce the time that braces actually have to be worn by from 35 to 50%. This device is a hand-held computer with a cushiony silicon pad mouthpiece projecting from the computer that fits between the upper and lower teeth for the patient to hold inside the mouth. When turned on, the bite-shaped pad is stiff enough to send a gentle vibration through the teeth and jaw. The pulse assists the teeth to move through the jaw bone into the direction that the braces are adjusting them.

This concept was adapted to an orthodontic application from sports applications for orthopedic healing. And even before this vibration technology was understood, in the early 2000s, there were techniques that had been used in the sports world – maybe as early as the first Greek Olympics – by athlete trainers and rehabilitative experts. Masseuses have slapped and drummed against the skin hard enough to rattle bones. The jacuzzi bath for leg joints, shoulder and spinal recuperation was used long before medical science knew why it worked. Jetted warm water pulsing against the body made sense for relaxing the muscles – along with applying heat and ice for reducing inflammation and relieving pain – but did those pulsing jets accelerate the healing? We didn’t know.

So, back to AcceleDent Aura. With an application of this non-invasive device for only 20 minutes a day the teeth will move through the bone by the pressure of the braces into the desired position and then the bone “adjusts” to keep them there. Well, that’s what orthodontia has always done. But now, with AcceleDent Aura, the whole process can be sped up, reducing the “embarrassment” of wearing the “teen look” well into middle-age (or the embarrassment of being a teen in braces). This may also reduce the cost of the braces, since the orthodontist will not need so many follow-up visits, and adjusting the tension of the hardware will respond more quickly. So the patient can flash a real smile without the “non-bling” just that much sooner.

The AcceleDent Aura, was approved by the FDA in 2012 and requires a prescription from the dentist or orthodontist. The device is only available through those orthodontists that partnered and have established resale programs directly with AcceleDent and have received training on use and efficacy of the device. The AcceleDent Aura has been incorporated into the orthodontic practices of over 1000 doctors across North America to date.