New Weight-Loss Tool Clamps Mouths From Opening, Gets Likened To ‘Chastity Belt’
Image via University of Otago
For most, the weight-loss journey can be a steep uphill battle, but this apparently isn’t enough. In true Survivor fashion where the arid, remote island is your mouth, a new tool developed by scientists to combat obesity only allows mouths to open up to two millimeters (0.079 inches) so as to limit eating.
The ‘DentalSlim Diet Control’, designed by medical professionals in New Zealand’s University of Otago and scientists from Leeds in the UK, is described as a “world-first weight-loss device to help fight the global obesity epidemic.”
Otago and UK researchers have developed a world-first weight-loss device to help fight the global obesity epidemic: an intra-oral device that restricts a person to a liquid diet. Read more: https://t.co/eLhXwipiqs pic.twitter.com/Of6v3uvVbX
— University of Otago (@otago) June 28, 2021
With the help of dentists, magnets with locking bolts are fixed to users’ upper and lower back teeth, leaving just enough room for liquids to enter the mouth.
The intraoral device was tested on seven obese but otherwise healthy women over two weeks, alongside a low-calorie liquid diet. Results published in the British Dental Journal noted that the women shed an average of 6.36kg (14.02lbs) after the study, about 5.1% of their body weight.
However, the paper also detailed that the participants felt uncomfortable with the device “occasionally” and “felt that life in general was less satisfying.”
One woman resorted to “cheating,” and melted chocolate down to be included in her liquid diet with fizzy drinks.
Professor Paul Brunton, the project’s lead researcher and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at University of Otago Health Sciences, said the tool is an effective, affordable, and safe solution for people fighting obesity as users can learn to grow accustomed to low-calorie diets over time.
“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,” said Professor Brunton. “It really kick-starts the process.”
Empathizing with the participants, social media users have expressed their outrage over what has been described as a “torture device” and a “chastity belt for your mouth.”
The general consensus on Twitter is that the device is a “fatphobic” contraption designed to “put [people] on a forced juice cleanse” instead of encouraging a holistic relationship with food and wellbeing.
In light of the criticism, the university has justified that the device is meant for patients waiting to undergo surgery or cannot get a procedure done until they have lost weight.
“To clarify, the intention of the device is not intended as a quick or long-term weight-loss tool. Rather, it is aimed to assist people who need to undergo surgery and who cannot have the surgery until they have lost weight.”
It adds that the tool is “non-invasive,” and that the magnets can be removed after two or three weeks to allow a period with “a less restrictive diet… [before going] back into treatment. This would allow for a phased approach to weight loss supported by advice from a dietician.”
Still, the invention leaves a window wide open—certainly wider than two millimeters—for discussion about more positive ways to manage your diet. The fact that someone melted chocolate down out of desperation during the trial suggests that liquid diets may not be the most viable recommendation for healthy eating.
Just comically evil https://t.co/FjXLqjbV1I
— 👁️𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚘𝚛 𝙷𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗👁️ (@slimyswampghost) June 28, 2021
You don’t need this torture device to go on a liquid diet. I did slimfast in the 90s and lost a tonne of weight quickly. I also started vomiting, taking laxatives and exercising obsessively. I put all the weight back on when I gave that up, but the damage it did is still with me.
— Platinum Pixie (@platinumpixienz) June 28, 2021
What the shit is this? a chastity belt for your mouth?? https://t.co/cMMomJwNZy
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) June 28, 2021
After two or three weeks they can have the magnets disengaged and device removed. They could then have a period with a less restricted diet and then go back into treatment. This would allow for a phased approach to weight loss supported by advice from a dietician.
— University of Otago (@otago) June 28, 2021
[via The Guardian, cover image via University of Otago]
