The only time you'll enjoy visiting the dentist

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1033-937253.html">http://news.com.com/2100-1033-937253.html</a><br /><br />Some people complain about how small cell phones are getting - wait until they see this one!<br /><br />"British engineers say they have invented a revolutionary tooth implant that works like a mobile phone and would not be out of place in a James Bond spy movie. The "tooth phone" consists of a tiny vibrator and a radio wave receiver implanted into a tooth during routine dental surgery. The phone was designed by James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau. The implant does not yet have its own microchip installed, but Auger says the technology is tried and tested, and a fully functional phone could be put together in no time at all...sound, which comes into the tooth as a digital radio signal, is transferred to the inner ear by bone resonance, meaning information can be received anywhere and at any time--and nobody else can listen in." Source: Todd Ogasawara

[seeker]

Deployment of this product would give a whole new meaning to the expression "talking to yourself".
:D

[Jeff Kirvin]

So the big question is how they're going to pack Smartphone 2002 into a molar...

[klinux]

So the homeless guy I saw was actually talking to his agent instead of just talking to himself.. that explains a lot of things.

[Brad Adrian]

[Insert easy jokes about BlueTOOTH here...]

[jim s]

Do you have to bite your tongue to hang up?

[brntcrsp]

and if you forget to pay your bill the phone company just continuously calls you...

[Sslixtis]

Anybody mention how this thing is powered? If they have some nice biometric power source or kinetic power source (chewing charges the battery,etc...) I'd give it a go. :lol:

[Ed Hansberry]

[Insert easy jokes about BlueTOOTH here...]
The word "easy" is sort of redundant here. :lol:

[T-Will]

Just imagine what would happen if telemarketers got a hold of your number....that would suck.

[Ed Hansberry]

I wonder if you can turn this thing off when sleeping?

[wiredguy]

Talk about commitment to your phone plan :).

[IpaqMan2]

So how would you explain to your boss that you weren't home when he call for you to work on your day off?


Also, how would they do caller ID? Maybe they would also implent some little cap on your teeth if different flavors. They can call it Taste Their ID. Maybe one would be the taste of cinamin you can use when your girlfriend or wife calls. Another of vanila or chocolate for other important people, and than one with the flavor of poo for those people you hate and want to aviod :-)

[st63z]

It might make more sense if the digital radio wave receiver they put in is just Bluetooth instead of cellular. So it's like an invisible headset then that you can use with any device -- phone or PDA or whatever (assuming they can implement a mic that can pick up your voice -- I don't know if your voice sounds normal or not INSIDE your mouth cavity).

Then as mentioned, just figure out the biometric/kinetic power source, a way to upgrade the BT flash firmware (without going back to the dentist for drilling), one or two easy to use "buttons" for turning on/off and such (which don't get accidentally pressed everytime you chew food)... might be good :) Implant one such tooth on each side of the jaw for stereo headphone capability for music listening and you have even more versatility.

EDIT: As long as it doesn't require a power source like sugar -- then you have to keep eating as you talk

[JonnoB]

Can we say 'mouth cancer' ??

[bjornkeizers]

This would be the ultimate phone.. nice.

Party inside your head all the time! But like the others said.. I don't know how practical this is as a phone "itself" I'd still like to have the option of say.. programmable numbers, speeddialling [wouldn't that be fun to try and ring a number with your tongue? ["No honey i'm not on drugs, i'm dialling on the phone!"] , or how on earth would I type an SMS?

Let's face it, as a phone.. I'd have to say no. But as a sort of implanted headset as someone suggested, I'd definately go for that. Perhaps even have a .. bluetooth MP3 player so I can beam the songs directly into my head.

[hshortt]

Actually, while I am sure this is a real thing, there has been an old joke floating around for years and years about the similiar things, it goes like this.

Paddy Irishman, paddy Englishman and Paddy Scotsman are all sitting around a conference table. They are discussing the latest inventions, when Paddy IrishMan clicks his teeth a couple of times and says "hello," then continues to have a conversation with himself. Paddy Englishman and Paddy Scotsman look on in wonder until Paddy Irishman tells them, "I have this new impant in my teeth that is a phone, I know a call is coming in when my teeth start to click". Smiling, Paddy Scotsman replies, "Oh that's nothing, I have one in my ear and I get an itch when a call is coming in, and wiggle my ear to get a better reception." At this point, Paddy Englishman let's a huge ripper of a fart, and says "Sorry lads, I'm getting a fax!"

Cheerio

[DavidHorn]

Painful, I'd have thought. And expensive if it falls out and you swallow it....

[Willa]

The frivolous thought first... has anyone here seen "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" on DVD? If so, maybe you saw the out-takes of Andrea Martin (playing Hedwig's manager) showing off her new dental phone implant. Very funny, watching her controlling the phone with her tongue, talking to herself, and attempting to get others to join in a conversation by speaking into her mouth (doesn't seem as though that would be possible with the real-world version's dependence on bone resonance to transfer sound to the inner ear).

The second, serious thought is this newly published two year study, conducted by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Finland about the effects of mobile phone radiation on the human brain. Here's one article on the study: http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=617520&in_review_text_id=586879. Dependence on mobile phones seems less and less advisable - at least when it concerns having them anywhere near your head...

[Jonathan1]

Never been a big fan of mobile phones. I have one but it never leaves the car when I'm out and about. If someone needs to get a hold of me it can wait anywhere for 30 minutes to two hours to reach me. I don't like collars and cell phones are starting to have a distinct collarish feel to them.
This thing, while cool, is somewhat permanently integrated into you. There is also the potential of someone spying on you. There are a number of companies that WILL NOT allow any type of mobile communications device in a conference room for fear of eavesdropping. This thing would be 10 times worse. What would happen if someone plunked themselves down in front of a bank and hacked the toothers that are in the bank listening to their transactions?!?! :roll:

Thanks but I'll skip the tooth phone and wait for one that is small enough to fit around your ear with a small boom mike. At least that way I don't look like a complete idiot when I'm talking.