DentalSlim Diet Control: Researchers Develop World-First Weight Loss Device

DentalSlim Diet Control Device

DentalSlim Diet Control is an intra-oral device fitted by a dental professional to the upper and lower back teeth. It is a world-first weight-loss device to help fight the global obesity epidemic. Credit: University of Otago

University of Otago and UK researchers have developed a world-first weight-loss device to help fight the global obesity epidemic.

DentalSlim Diet Control is an intra-oral device fitted by a dental professional to the upper and lower back teeth. It uses magnetic devices with unique custom-manufactured locking bolts. It allows the wearer to open their mouths only about 2mm, restricting them to a liquid diet, but it allows free speech and doesn’t restrict breathing.

Participants in a Dunedin-based trial lost an average of 6.36kg (14 pounds) in two weeks and were motivated to continue with their weight loss journey.

Lead researcher, University of Otago Health Sciences Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Brunton says the device will be an effective, safe, and affordable tool for people battling obesity. It is fitted by a dentist, can be released by the user in the case of an emergency and can be repeatedly fitted and removed.

DentalSlim Diet Control

DentalSlim Diet Control is an intra-oral device fitted by a dental professional to the upper and lower back teeth. It is a world-first weight-loss device to help fight the global obesity epidemic. Credit: University of Otago

“The main barrier for people for successful weight loss is compliance and this helps them establish new habits, allowing them to comply with a low-calorie diet for a period of time. It really kick-starts the process,” Professor Brunton says.

“It is a non-invasive, reversible, economical, and attractive alternative to surgical procedures.

“The fact is, there are no adverse consequences with this device.”

Recent studies revealed 1.9 billion adults worldwide are overweight and 650 million are obese and being overweight or obese results in about 2.8 million deaths a year. It is estimated about 57 percent of the world’s adult population will be overweight or obese by 2030.

“In addition, psychological symptoms may be present, including embarrassment, depression, and loss of self-esteem and obese people may suffer eating disorders together with stigmatization and discrimination,” Professor Brunton says.

The tool could be particularly helpful for those having to lose weight before they can undergo surgery, and for diabetes patients for whom weight loss could initiate remission.

While bariatric surgery plays a major role in the management of morbid obesity, it cannot be relied upon to manage this “global epidemic.” It costs about $24,000 and patients “live with the consequences of that for life, which can be quite unpleasant.”

The practice of surgically wiring people’s jaws shut became popular in the 1980s, but it came with risks; vomiting brought with it the risk of choking, and after 9 to 12 months the patients developed gum disease. In some cases, there were continuing issues with restriction of jaw movement, and some developed acute psychiatric conditions.

“Alternative strategies are required which may obviate surgery, or which reduce weight prior to surgery and so make it easier and safer.

“The beauty of it is that once patients are fitted with the device, after two or three weeks they can have the magnets disengaged. They could then have a period with a less restricted diet and then go back into treatment,” he says.

“This would allow for a phased approach to weight loss supported by advice from a dietician allowing long term weight loss goals to be realized.”

Patients are given a tool to open the device in an emergency, but none of the study participants needed to use it. While they all described the device as tolerable, the design has since been improved, making it smaller to improve functional comfort and aesthetics.

“Overall, people felt better about themselves, they had more confidence and they were committed to their weight loss journey,” Professor Brunton says.

“It’s hard yards. Patients who really want to do this have to be committed. But for those people who are really struggling — and let’s face it, that’s millions of people across the world — this is a way of getting them back into normal lifestyle diet habits by really pump priming the process.

“This could actually help a lot of people.”

Reference: “An intraoral device for weight loss: initial clinical findings” by Paul A. Brunton, Jithendra Ratnayake, H. Jonathan Bodansky, Li Mei, Arthi Veerasamy and Richard Hall, 25 June 2021, British Dental Journal.
DOI: 10.1038/s41415-021-3081-1

The research team consisted of Professor Brunton, Dr. Jithendra Ratnayake, Dr. Peter Mei, and Dr. Arthi Veerasamy, all of the University of Otago, Dr. Jonathan Bodansky, of Leeds, and Dr. Richard Hall, of RMH Consultancy, Leeds. The paper was published in the British Dental Journal.

37 Comments on "DentalSlim Diet Control: Researchers Develop World-First Weight Loss Device"

  1. I think they’re should be a thorough psychiatric work up before this is put on any patient. Personally I’ve been overweight most of my life. I’ve dieted and failed multiple times. For me this would never be an option.

    Just a thought of me not being able to open my mouth if I choke, have an asthma attack or something else should happen is horrific!
    I truly hope this helps some but before anyone spends a penny on this I hope they do a serious evaluation of their expectations and ability to live with this device hampering the movement of their jaw.
    I do think weight loss surgery fails more than it works. At least in the people I know that have had it.
    They go through evaluation and psychiatric work up to get ready for the surgery just to have it have been a waste of time.
    I think sometimes it’s pushed by doctors as it was pushed on me many times without a full psychiatric workup are a full understanding of the patient’s ability to change they’re eating and social habits totally. It’s so sad when I see friends and people I don’t know have the surgery and then fail. That takes a toll mentally that in some cases puts them in worse shape than if they had not had the surgery. Failure is a horrible thing to live with especially when you’ve had surgery that could have taken your life in the first place and it fails are infection incures.
    Good luck I hope it does help some but it would never work for me. At least I know that before hand.

  2. Mike,

    Your Views are Interesting. owever , the people who are unable to control their urge to put “Food” in their mouths would probably dis agree.

    As they say to eah his own. After all we were gifted with Free Will. It is still available in democratice Nations,I think.

  3. I think this is a great device for improving human health and ensuring a healthy life. Far better than Stapling the Stomach.

    Dad always used to say that the Food we put into our stomachs is the Source of all Diseases. The Importance of Food in appropriate quantities to keep the Body’s Cells to provide optimum energy is very important.

    All the Fat we all may have built up by excess consumption will disappear over time. If we use this judiciously under a Doctors care and monitoring. A personal Dietician, Doctor and Dentist Team can ensure Nutritious Food Consumption without allowing Hunger Pangs to caause the problems.

    Dentists may fit the device, but the health impact on humans , especially in developed nations and the well of, in developing nations, can be tremendous. Many diseaeses are caused by excess fat and especially heart attacks, as the Circulatory system and Heart (Pumping Machine) has to work much harder to pump the Bloood to carry the energy in the food consumed to the Cells, and Heart Health can improve dramatically over time.

    This coupled with moderate exercise, may lead to a much healthier life style for 25% of the Global Population who are classified as obese/ overweoght. The strain on hospitals treating elderrly aging parents will decline and life spans will increase.

    By the way , Dentists too will get a lot more buisness as many of the obese and overweight personns will eat more chocolate and candies to compensate and we all know what Chocolate does to the teeth of little Kids.

    Views expressed are personal and not binding on anyone.

  4. A freaking pathetic joke and window on our modern society. People in wealthy countries eat so much they need drugs/medical procedure to lose weight because of lack of self discipline.
    People in poor countries dying because they dont have any food. Take the food away from the obese and send it to the starving.

  5. Laziness has hit a whole new level.

  6. This was being done in the middle east over 20 years ago. Not new do your research.

  7. This may be the dumbest idea I have ever heard of. I can not believe a University wasted time creating this.

  8. This is bad science. This is no different than when parents wire their kids jaw shut to make them lose weight. Starvation diets do not work! “Oh, they are on a liquid diet, not starving.” Bullcrap. Been there, done that for YEARS and guess what, still fat and only got sicker thanks to it.

  9. Mind Your Own Business | December 27, 2021 at 9:21 pm | Reply

    Yeah, this is horrifyingly dehumanizing. I understand that most people (including fat people themselves) believe that fat people are some kind of uncontrollable gluttonous monsters who have to have their mouths physically wired shut to avoid eating, but that’s an all out lie, and I’m sorry if you believe it. While it’s true that starving yourself (that’s a fancy word for “fasting”) and going on an all liquid diet will make you lose weight, it is not a completely safe way to do it and it does actually have negative consequences. For one thing, after you’ve deprived yourself of any nutrition and your body slowly starts shutting down, going back to eating normally is going to make you gain back the weight you lost, plus more. And it makes sense. Your body, terrified of being starved again, is going to pack on the weight just in case in order to keep you alive. I know saying I’m a fat person will make you want to completely disregard everything I say because you think I just want to stay fat forever and just keep eating and you can’t say anything about it, but when I tell you that the reason I’ve gained so much weight is because I fasted, I mean literally. I lost weight by starving myself, and I was not okay at all, and I had people tell me I looked good when I looked like I was dying. When I started eating again, I gained it all back, plus more, and I’m larger than I’ve ever been. And it’s because of crap like this that that happened.
    Don’t you dare come on here and try to act like you want to help anyone. This “concern” you have for our mental health is laughable. If you actually cared about our self-esteem, you wouldn’t treat us like we aren’t human, you wouldn’t create a device like this in the first place. Is it so inconceivable to you that perhaps we should just treat people with respect instead of trying to force them into a box that you created? And why is this only aimed at fat people? Why not smokers? Or alcoholics? Or drug addicts? Can’t open your mouth, can’t take the drugs, right? But you wouldn’t do that because you see them as people, don’t you?
    Fat people exist. Fat people are going to exist forever. And just because you believe the lie that it’s because we eat cake all day and never move, that doesn’t make it true. This whole “oh, life is oh so hard for fat people, if only there was a way” garbage is just that. Absolute garbage. Life for fat people is hard because of people like you. Your obsession with fat people is, frankly, concerning, and you should probably dedicate your life to something else, because you aren’t doing any good here. I can almost guarantee this article alone will hurt more people than it will help. So. Way to help with that “global epidemic” you’re so concerned about.

    • Heart disease and type 2 diabetes will bankrupt the West. Especially the US. Obesity is the biggest health risk to humanity and its also the one thing we can actually control. It’s a choice. Stop being fat and you’ll stop being a burden on everyone and everything around you. It’s not easy, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

  10. I’d say it is not a global obesity epidemic… until we solve world hunger.. but hey these people that gotta slim it down can donate food to a starving person. Rite? Anyone?

  11. I’ve been on both sides of the obesity “wall”. I’ve used fasting, Atkins, and normal calorie restriction diets, always incorporating exercise in my weight loss plan. Ive been unhappy, and have felt huge when I only was only 15 lbs overweight. After my pregnancy in my thirties, I yo yo dieted until I just gave up ever keeping it off, and at my highest weight I was about 210 lbs overweight at five feet 5 inches tall. I know the depression and desperation someone would have to have to use this barbaric device, and I feel the same about most weight loss surgeries. As a supposedly enlightened and “woke” society, it’s not just sad, it’s really horrifying that the mass media portrays a body image to people, especially to young women, that really can’t be obtained or maintained without unhealthy consequences. That should NOT result in scientists and ‘experts’ spending grant money on this sadistic device. In this day and age they should be able to do better. Possibly use their funds to find a biological remedy. If this isn’t stopped, in ten years we’re going to have 14 year old girls begging their parents to let them use this torture device just so they can look like some model or influencer that hides behind cosmetic filters on Instagram. When I was in high school, one of the girls in my grade (11th) came back from our two month summer break around 50 lbs lighter. She went from looking like I did. 150 lbs, large busted -at that time, a normal bust size was a 32 A or C – and came back looking like she had exchanged bodies with someone. Stick thin and almost no curves in any of the right places. -In 2 MONTHS. I remember being envious, but then I found out that her parents had sent her to a “fat camp” to lose the weight. This was in the 80s when these places weren’t checked into to make sure no one was putting a padlock on the fridge and forcing kids into sporting games and grueling track meets. I remember thinking, even though I didn’t know that this went on at the time, that she must have really mean, image conscious parents to end up at a “fat camp”. And a weight of 150 lbs is not reason enough to let a girl, or any kid, starve themselves into drastic weight loss fads. I only recently found out how extensively stars and influences can use filters to look 30 at 65, or to look like their measurements are 36 26 36. An almost impossible set of measurements to obtain without using some sort of unhealthy weight loss gimmick or drastic plastic surgery. I hope that this thing gets yanked from any approved uses. I am now in my early 50s and learning to have a healthy relationship with food. I’ve lost 100 lbs by walking, consuming organic foods, and giving myself permission to have an occasional decadent treat once in a while. I’ve also had setbacks, as any normal person would, and sometimes my weight fluctuates for no apparent reason. I’d like to lose another 20 lbs, but even though I’ve been lucky in that my metabolism still thinks I’m 30, it is also quite sure that I’m starving it cruelly when I try to get below 140 lbs. But I’m still going to maintain and try to lose those extra pounds in a healthy way.

  12. Thisis a terrible idea. It doesnt address the root of the persons food addiction problem, and after the jaw magnet is disengaged most people will go right back into their old habits.

  13. It’s amazing how far “science” will go to fat shame and abuse fat people. Absolutely disgraceful. However thought of this is sick and everyone involved should lose their jobs. This is not care, it’s torture.

  14. Due to a flare up of TMJ jaw pain, I have just come off 2 months of liquid diet. The first week or so I lost a few pounds as I figured out how to puree foods and what to eat. But after that, I gained it right back and had to be careful not to gain even more weight. Drinking my meals deprived me of the satisfaction of chewing, and the “meal” was over so fast, I didn’t feel satisfied and wanted to consume more. There’s nothing inherently low calorie about liquids only. You can still consume ice cream smoothies, rich soups, alcoholic drinks, sodas. If you’re watching your weight you wouldn’t choose these foods, but that has nothing to do with whether your jaw is held shut or not. It’s a gimmick and will lead to rebound eating when it’s finally removed.

  15. I hope these “scientists” eat s*** and then have their jaws wired shut. What a horrible thing to create. Just write a dissertation about how much you hate fat people and go.

  16. Deborah J. Price | December 29, 2021 at 12:54 am | Reply

    For those who feel contrary to this method of weightloss, so be it for them.

    I personally look forward to getting this applied to asisst me with my weightloss journey, but my local Dentist doesn’t do it.

    Where do I go and how much does it cost.

    Sign me up!

    P.S. I wear dentures!

  17. And all liquid diet is one of the most dangerous diets It’s a human being can go on. Can’t wait to see the lawsuits this company gets in the coming years.

  18. An all liquid diet is one of the most dangerous diets a human being can go on. Can’t wait to see the lawsuits this company gets in the coming years.

  19. This is just ridiculous. You can very easily get fat by drinking calories, depending on the liquid. Solid food doesn’t have exclusive rights to containing high calories. A patient’s mouth may only open wide enough to consume liquids, but what’s going to stop them from choosing high calorie liquids and what regulates the amounts? As someone who does dieting every spring to get lean for summer, I can tell you that too much restriction just leads to overreating when the brakes come off.

  20. Tamra had her mouth wired shut in the 90s on The Real World for weight lose This may be a “new” device not a “new” concept.

  21. I will tell you how to lose weight. Exchange food for beer. About a 12 pack a day should meet most peoples caloric needs. More can be implemented if necessary

  22. We should probably test this product out on Biden’s Press Secretary, Jen Psaki. There’s gotta be SOME way we can shut her lying, incompetent mouth for a little while and this just might do the trick.

  23. Stop eating deserts all day, people! Soft drinks, sweet teas, ho hos, chocolate, candy, ice cream. It’s all pure sugar, and the whole world is addicted to it. All these morons binge on this stuff every day, then go to the doctor complaining that their knees/hips are needing replaced, or they strain something just walking to the grocery store. Well yeah, your body is 3 times the size it should be! Of course you’re falling apart! I can’t even look at these people. They’re just cows walking around a pasture eating whatever satisfies. You’re all just big disgusting, mindless livestock.

  24. Mind your own Business, fasting is not a “fancy” word for starving yourself dumbass. Read a dictionary

  25. Ummm…is anyone alive at the wheel? Do you really think a muzzle is going to do anything? What happens when you take the muzzle off? Exactly. Maybe try to help people get to the root of why and treat that instead. Use some common sense…oh yeah, there’s not too much of that around anymore

  26. What a primityve way it to solve such a complex human problem …shame

  27. This is about the most stupid thing i have seen. It will not work for 99% of the people who use it. If it was this easy people would control their food intake and not need it. Foid can be worse than drugs.

  28. It’s sad and very disheartening, not only does this not help. It’s flawed, it’s nothing short of Isagenix. You starve yourself lose a tone of weight, then when you drink the shakes again you gain all the weight back. It’s miserable! Also all the jerks who make it harder with their “advise” and ignorance. Yall need a hug and a heart.

  29. All these “fixes” that don’t work. The problem is gluttony. It is a sin. Your belly is your God. Repent and ask the Lord to forgive you. He can cleanse you of gluttony and restore you to wholeness.

  30. This isn’t even remotely “new” or “the first” these types of devices have been used for many years.
    Do your research.

  31. Is there a dentist in or near Sioux Falls SD thst performs this procedure

  32. It’s astonishing the number of comments that seem to think this is a device that would be forced upon people. It’s for those who elect try it of their own free will. The nice thing is that by using magnets it is easily bypassed enough to avoid the pitfalls of having ones mouth wired shut, and from the sounds of it, it’s really only recommended to assist getting through those first 2-3 weeks as the wearer overcomes that first impulse to shove stuff in their mouths. It’s no surprise that the majority of criticisms come from those who’ve failed at every other means to loose weight. Clearly their challenge is one they’re not ready to beat and are simply offended that they should loose weight. If nothing will help them, that’s not a demerit for this device.

  33. Eyes need to be opened. Low carb folks! This device is nuts.

  34. Ignacio Ramirez | April 21, 2022 at 2:31 pm | Reply

    My mother, an orthodontists, has been receiving occasional requests from obese patients to get their jaws wired shut for the last twenty years. Yes: people walk in and ask to get their traps shut. This device is less nuts than that, because it is at least less unsightly.

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