Posted March 17, 2005
I've had incredibly conflicted feelings about brushing my teeth ever since I read an article a while back about how toothbrushes are basically Petri dishes for breeding bacteria. And the bitter irony is that the more often you brush your teeth, the more likely your brush will remain a moist, cozy home for all manner of nasty little bugs. Luckily, the VIOlight Toothbrush Sanitizer has come to the rescue. This smart new toothbrush holder can simultaneously disinfect four brushes. Just stick your brush in one of the slots on top, push the button, and a germicidal UV bulb—the exact same kind that hospitals use—cycles on for 10 minutes, murdering 99.9 percent of the bacteria harbored in the moist little valleys between the bristles. There's a removable cup inside the unit that catches drips—you need to rinse it out every once in a while (the run-off thankfully gets disinfected along with your brush)—but other than that the only maintenance involves changing the UV bulb every 2,000 hours. (The unit plugs into a wall socket, so there are no batteries to change.) It's got a sturdy, surprisingly understated look—surprising because Philippe Starck designed it—and it's entirely eradicated the self-defeatist feelings I used to have when brushing my teeth.

$49.95 at violight.com.

• Buy it online

• More:
• Best Bets Daily
• Articles by S. Dumenco
• From the Mar 17, 2005 issue of New York