A Truly Ultrasonic Toothbrush How do you build the ultimate toothbrush? Ultrasound. What began as a business lunch between Principal Physicist Pierre D. Mourad and Seattle-area entrepreneur Jack Gallagher, where Mourad was seeking investors for a medical ultrasound company, led to the genesis of the Ultreo toothbrush. The path to technology commercialization is often the culmination of university-based research that matures and finds application in the public arena. But in this case, Mourad identified a clinical need, had an idea to meet the need, and then set out to do the science required to demonstrate that it would work. The Ultreo synergizes the action of powered bristles (which generate bubbles) with an ultrasound waveguide (whose emitted ultrasound activates the bubbles). Mourad and APL-UW colleagues, including Fran Olson, Ryan Ollos, Lee Thompson, and Jason Seawall, are experts in the physics of ultrasound, its therapeutic effects, and the engineering required to generate and control ultrasound energy. Mourad knew that the interaction of ultrasonic waves and bubbles was powerful. Small bubbles are sensitive to ultrasound; it causes them to oscillate, expand and contract, or burst — all creating shear forces. These forces can be put to use to clean surfaces. Dr. Mourad fleshed out the idea for the toothbrush and a critical pathway for its success. He then proposed the science that was necessary to start along that critical pathway and helped to secure the needed protections for the invention. Crucial initial funding to begin laboratory studies came from the Washington Technology Center. His laboratory in the UW Department of Neurosurgery was already well outfitted for ultrasound research. He has conducted studies using ultrasound to disrupt the blood–brain barrier to enhance drug delivery, and to measure intracranial pressure. Here, early tests were conducted on the toothbrush's efficacy. Mourad and APL-UW researchers built the prototype transducers for the toothbrush, and refined the waveguide—the soft silicon structure set amid the bristles that focuses the ultrasonic energy produced by the transducer. Sound science and creative engineering proved that bubbles, activated by ultrasound, are a powerful cleaning mechanism for teeth. Pierre Mourad (left) invented the Ultreo toothbrush (center), and with Frank Roberts (right), an Associate Professor of Periodontics in the UW's School of Dentistry, showed that it was safe and effective. Inventor Pierre D. Mourad presented a public lecture about the funding, research, and product development for the Ultreo. Watch the presentation at the video archive of the seminar series From Invention to Startup. Inventor + Entrepreneur = Founding Team. Product See simulations of the toothbrush in action—Ultreo. In the News Redmond's Ultreo prepares launch of ultrasound toothbrush by Kirsten Orsini-Meinhard, The Seattle Times Northwest company rolls out toothbrush invented at UW by Hannah Hickey, UW News and Information