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Locking ourselves into the past: the DentalSlim Diet Control device and an incomplete understanding of obesity

International Journal of Obesity volume 45, pages 2513–2514 (2021)Cite this article

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“Medieval torture device,” “molar muzzle,” “gastrointestinal gulag.” [1, 2]

These and other phrases have been used to describe the DentalSlim Diet Control, a weight-loss device first reported by Brunton et al. in a recent paper published in the British Dental Journal [3]. The device utilizes intraoral magnets to force patients onto a liquid diet and prevent them from opening their mouths beyond 2-mm wide. Although lauded as a “world-first” tool to fight the obesity epidemic, the device has significant limitations unaddressed in the original manuscript and may also have unintended effects in perpetuating weight stigma. As the DentalSlim device garners significant attention from the popular press and the lay public, it is imperative to address the device’s shortcomings and clarify standards of obesity treatment.

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References

  1. Marsh S. New weight-loss tool prevents mouth from opening more than 2mm. The Guardian. 2021. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jun/28/new-weight-loss-tool-dentalslim-diet-control

  2. Cost B. ‘Torture’ device that locks jaw shut to tackle obesity sparks outrage. New York Post. 2021. https://nypost.com/2021/06/28/device-that-locks-jaw-shut-to-tackle-obesity-sparks-outrage/

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Funding

National Institutes of Health and Massachusetts General Hospital Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) (FCS), National Institutes of Health NIDDK P30 DK040561 (FCS) and L30 DK118710 (FCS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Harvard College, Cambridge, MA, UK

    Lucy Tu

  2. Department of the History of Science, Harvard College, Cambridge, MA, UK

    Simar Singh Bajaj

  3. Massachusetts General Hospital, MGH Weight Center, Department of Medicine-Division of Endocrinology-Neuroendocrine, Department of Pediatrics-Division of Endocrinology, Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard (NORCH), Boston, MA, USA

    Fatima Cody Stanford

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  1. Lucy Tu
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  2. Simar Singh Bajaj
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  3. Fatima Cody Stanford
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Contributions

The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows. Comment conception: LT. Manuscript draft: LT and SSB wrote the manuscript. FCS edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fatima Cody Stanford.

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Tu, L., Bajaj, S.S. & Stanford, F.C. Locking ourselves into the past: the DentalSlim Diet Control device and an incomplete understanding of obesity. Int J Obes 45, 2513–2514 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-00956-6

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