Electronic toothbrush system
Alton- Still almost a year away from obtaining his doctorate in dentistry, Kianor Shahmohammadi just might have a way to pay off those student loans.
Kianor Shahmohammadi, 24, will graduate from the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine next summer. By that time he hopes to have a patent as well as a manufacturing contract for an electronic toothbrush system that not only brushes but also flosses, cleans the gums, cleans the tongue and whitens the teeth.
“It’s a very complex oral complete care system,” Shahmohammadi said. “Cleaning the tongue and flossing are two things that are very important in dental care that a lot of people don’t do. But we feel that this is a product that will do all five things as good or better than the leading products currently on the market.”
Shahmohammadi stressed that his work on the invention has been done independent of the SIU School of Dental Medicine. He took a year off from school just to concentrate on something other than dentistry for a while, but remains on track to earn his degree in June.
“The school has been great,” he said. “The instructors and the other students are all terrific. I knew about the SIU School of Dental Medicine even before I came over here.”
Shahmohammadi was born in Iran but grew up with his family in Germany. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology, graduating summa cum laude from Western Illinois University in 2000. While a graduate teaching assistant at WIU in 2001, he was named to the USA Today All-Academic Team. He was the valedictorian of his high school in Frankfort, Germany at the age of 16 in 1996.
He then enrolled at the Alton campus in the fall of 2001 and began working seriously on his invention about six months ago.
“Dentists always talk about flossing, but there never really has been a connection made with the public (for an instrument) to get between the teeth,” Shahmohammadi said. “I’ve combined dentistry with physics for this product.”
Since there is a patent pending, Shahmohammadi didn’t want to go into many details on the product. But it will look much like one of the popular Sonicare systems, with removable cartridges.
“You’ll replace those about as often as you would a regular toothbrush,” he said. “Those will be relatively inexpensive. The product itself should cost less than $100.”
Shahmohammadi said that his product would be on display at several trade shows in the coming weeks and months. Then it will be time to choose a manufacturer and get production rolling.
“If we go the whole nine yards with this, it will provide a lot of preventative maintenance,” Shahmohammadi said. “People might never have to go to the dentist unless it’s for regular checkups. And we would always still recommend that.”
As a resident of Germany, Shahmohammadi could have continued his college and medical education in that country tuition-free, “but the medical profession is the best and mist advanced in the United States, so that’s where I want to study and practice.”
The youngest of three sons of Ali and Fatemeh Shahmohammadi who left Iran and raised their family in Germany, Shahmohammadi sees education as “the most beautifully and reinforcing thing in life.”
His two brothers also have degrees from WIU.
“When you have educational opportunities, you shouldn’t take them for granted,” he said, reflecting on his personal experiences within three cultures- Middle Eastern, European, and American. “Gaining an education is not about becoming a person of success, but a person of value.”
This original idea is now being made available for licensing to manufacturers interested in new product development, especially in the dental care and hygiene industry. Shahmohammadi is hoping to have the Oral Complete Care System in full production and available to the public within the very near future.
Additional information about the Oral Complete Care System can be obtained by contacting the Publicity/Press Department of Invention Technologies, Inc. (800) 940-9020 Ext 2285 or at product@invent-tech.com. Invention Technologies, Inc. is a Coral Gables, Florida based company that is handling the publicity and public relations for the Oral Complete Care System.