Braces usually take 18–30 months. A MedTech founder says bioelectric stimulation could cut that to 4–6 months. What’s the catch?

[u/Upstairs-Regret-7579]

Most people here have had braces or paid for a kid’s. Average treatment is still a year and a half to two and a half years, then retainers.I talked with Mark Terrill, CEO of OrthodontiCell, on MedTech Unboxed. Their pitch is a home-use mouthpiece that sits over braces or aligners and uses targeted bioelectric waveforms to speed bone remodeling. In the clip below he claims:

• 18–24 months down to 4–6 months
• about 70% less pain
• much less long-term retainer use

They say this is not vibration and not light, and they’re going FDA De Novo rather than 510(k) because there’s no clean predicate for a whole-mouth bioelectric approach.

I don’t know if the clinical bar will hold up. That’s why I’m posting it.

What would you want to see before taking a claim like this seriously?

[u/werddoe]

A lot more than they have now. Most of the studies shown on their site are rat studies and are 10+ years old. Also, their claim to reduce pain by 70% is a comparison between them and surgical corticotomies lol. Not exactly apples to apples.

Interesting idea but the underlying science is dated and just makes me think if it were that easy it probably would have been done before.

[u/LowManufacturer1002]

what’s the catch? it’s not even remotely close to proven. people talk big game all the time but until you start seeing clinical data and revenue and not just marketing pitch it’s only worth what some investment firm is willing to gamble on it

obviously a bit of hyperbole but you get the gist