teeth – Techdirt (original) (raw)

SmileDirectClub Is Trying To Silence Criticism By Tying Refunds To Non-Disparagement Agreements

from the I-see-you're-unhappy-with-our-product.-Let-me-make-you-unhappy-about-our-ser dept

The New York Times has noticed a company with the word “smile” in its name really isn’t all that friendly. Nearly 2 years ago, SmileDirectClub sent legal threats to Gizmodo after a post discussing the potential drawbacks of getting your teeth fixed over the internet was published under the title “You Could Fuck Up Your Mouth With SmileDirectClub.”

Nothing about the article was false. Not even the title. SmileDirectClub sells teeth-straightening devices over the internet. Most teeth-straightening devices are provided by orthodontists after x-rays and in-person examinations. SmileDirect is, well, more direct, claiming it can provide the right dental appliance without all the in-person stuff by having customers send in a mold of their teeth or by visiting a “Smile Shop” to have their mouth and teeth scanned.

The potential to have things go wrong — especially when your only consultation during the teeth-straightening process is online chats with SmileDirect’s dental staff — is far from nonexistent. Appliances like these can cause more problems rather than fixing the one they were purchased for.

All of this was covered in the article and everything said about SmileDirect’s business model was truthful. This didn’t stop SmileDirect’s legal reps from filing a defamation lawsuit in defamation lawsuit-friendly (pre-anti-SLAPP law) Tennessee. SmileDirect said all sorts of ridiculous things about clickbait and Peter Thiel’s takedown of Gawker, but really didn’t make any actionable libel allegations. That SmileDirect voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit less than a week after it filed it as good an endorsement as any for the stupid arguments in its complaint.

Anyway, the NYT is on the case now that more people are unhappy with their dental appliances and SmileDirect is more forceful in preventing unhappy people from complaining about its products and services. Here’s how SmileDirect conducts business with its end users.

No x-ray or dental examination is performed but customers are required to sign a consent form saying that they did have one performed before purchasing SmileDirectClub’s dental device. This removes some of the company’s liability. If the customer didn’t actually get this done, it can’t hold SmileDirect responsible for problems that might have been caught with a real exam. Since the company appears to target people who want to avoid dental exams and save money on dental appliances, plenty of customers aren’t being honest when they check that first consent box.

Then the form gets a whole lot darker.

The form also states that they cannot sue the company for any reason.

Arbitration: the best friend of every questionable company. And there’s more. The company offers a very limited warranty that’s tied to a very big gag order.

SmileDirectClub offers refunds within 30 days after the aligners arrive. Anything after that is considered outside the company’s official refund policy and comes with the nondisclosure provision, which it said it began using in 2016.

If your mouth does get fucked up by a SmileDirect product, you can’t tell anyone about it. Refunds past the 30-day mark are handed out with restrictions that help the company keep its online reputation as squeaky-clean as possible.

When some… customers requested refunds, SmileDirectClub asked them to sign the confidentiality provision. The agreement prohibited the customers from telling anyone about the refund and required them to delete negative social-media comments and reviews, according to a copy viewed by The New York Times.

If this is a nondisparagement clause, it’s illegal. The Consumer Review Fairness Act that went into effect in 2017 outlaws exactly what’s happening here.

[T]he Act makes it illegal for a company to use a contract provision that:

1. bars or restricts the ability of a person who is a party to that contract to review a company’s products, services, or conduct;

2. imposes a penalty or fee against someone who gives a review; or

3. requires people to give up their intellectual property rights in the content of their reviews.

Hmm. Here’s a customer complaint filed with the FDA:

I requested a refund and i was told that i have to sign a release form to be refunded. The terms of that release form include that i cannot even mention the existence of the form, seek any additional compensation for damages and (this is most concerning) i could not share any information about my negative experience publicly. And if i had already posted anything in social media about my experience, i had to remove it before they would refund me.

Looks pretty illegal to me. SmileDirectClub’s critics may only be a small percentage of its customers, but they cannot legally be silenced this way. Tying refunds to gag orders is the worst form of customer service. It’s pretty much just fine print extortion. SmileDirect wants unsatisfied customers to keep their fucked-up mouths shut. And now, with some nationwide coverage, it’s going to realize turning refund payments into hush money does nothing to keep your reputation intact.

Filed Under: anti-slapp, consumer reviews, defamation, dental work, gag order, slapp, teeth, threats
Companies: smiledirectclub

DailyDirt: No Meatless Mondays For Cavemen…

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Modern humans have all sorts of wacky diets that are probably slowly killing us in ways we don’t fully recognize, but that doesn’t mean we should all start eating the way people did thousands or millions of years ago, either. Drinking a “soylent green” all liquid or all processed diet doesn’t sound like an optimal solution, but if grown adults want to eat fancy baby food, let them try that experiment (and I’ll volunteer to be in the control group). If you want to know more about pre-historic meals, though, check out a few of these links.

• Early human ancestors ate meat which likely improved brain development, and there’s evidence of million-year-old butchery on bone fragments with cuts marks. Eating meat, even today, appears to have cognitive benefits for children — based on a controlled study of hundreds of school-aged kids in Kenya. A healthy diet doesn’t necessarily mean more meat is better, but there is evidence that no meat at all correlates with certain problems. [url]
• Using tools to cut raw meat probably allowed our early ancestors to spend less time chewing — and more time doing other things. Before anyone cooked anything, we needed larger jaw muscles and bigger teeth to eat a real paleo diet. [url]
• If you ever wondered why prehistoric people didn’t need to brush their teeth, the answer is that they ate different foods. Early humans ate more meat and not much in the way of grains and sugars, and the bacteria in our ancestors’ mouths were more friendly and less harmful than the mouth microbiomes of today. [url]

After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: ancestors, butchery, diet, early humans, food, health, meals, meat, microbiome, paleo diet, teeth

DailyDirt: I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing…

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The Cola Wars have been over for a long time. As usual in war, there are no real winners — just a lot of wasted spending. Now that we’re giving peace a chance, here are just a few lingering concerns over these dark-colored soft drinks.

• Coca-Cola and Pepsi are going to modify their recipes a little bit to reduce the amount of caramel coloring and 4-methylimidazole in their colas. Otherwise, a California law would require a cancer warning label since the 4-methylimidazole in the coloring is a known carcinogen. [url]
• There was a fairly complex conspiracy theory behind the introduction of New Coke which suggested that Coca-Cola knew how badly the new formulation would taste to consumers, but that the company made it in order to replace sugar with HFCS. Bonus points for definitively debunking this conspiracy theory… [url]
• If you’ve ever seen a demonstration of a can of cola dissolving teeth, you might be a bit freaked out by the phosphoric acid listed in the ingredients of many sodas. But the dose makes the poison, and the concentration of phosphoric acid in soft drinks shouldn’t worry anyone. [url]
• To discover more food-related links, check out what’s floating around in StumbleUpon. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: cancer, caramel, coke, cola wars, formulation, phosphoric acid, poison, soda, teeth
Companies: coca cola, pepsi

DailyDirt: Modern Toys, Not Just For Boys

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

There are a lot of new toys out for this holiday season. There’s still some time to shop for some cool toys, and here are just a few examples of toys that are expanding their markets into other uses and demographics.

• Lego topped $1 billion in sales in the US in 2010, but it’s only now starting to seriously target girls who are 5yo and up. It won’t just be pink plastic this time. [url]
• Toy helicopters are becoming pretty advanced, so it’s not too surprising to see added hacks to make them more useful. Spending $15,000 to modify an RC helicopter for professional videography goes way beyond most toy budgets, though. [url]
• Normally, Nerf toys are pretty safe and squishy, but apparently, they can be used to extract teeth, too. Will it hurt? Not if used on already-loose primary teeth. [url]
• To discover more interesting business-related content, check out what the deal is on StumbleUpon. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: girls, helicopters, teeth, toys
Companies: lego, nerf

DailyDirt: X-Men Among Us?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Every so often, you might hear about some weird genetic mutation that sounds cool. Not telepathy or the ability to bend metal (there is no spoon, after all…), but there are some medical curiosities that are a bit more mundane and practical. Here are just a few examples.

• Supernumerary teeth is what they call it when someone has more than the standard set of “baby teeth” and “adult teeth” in their mouth. Presumably, folks with three sets of teeth really like the tooth fairy… [url]
• A super strong German boy was born with well-defined muscles. Will this budding superhero be able to keep his identity secret as an adult? [url]
• In the 1970s, it was discovered that it wasn’t uncommon for children to re-grow fingertips that had been accidentally cut off. But this ability to re-grow fingertips doesn’t seem to extend to other body parts — or to anyone beyond puberty. [url]
• To find more interesting stuff on health-related topics, check out what’s currently in the StumbleUpon archives. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: genetic mutation, regeneration, teeth, x-men

DailyDirt: Novel Materials… And We're Not Talking About Books

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

History used to be defined by materials: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc. We don’t really do that anymore… now that there are so many novel composite materials with properties that far surpass simple alloys or ceramics. Still, the development of new materials is important to creating items/gadgets that are thinner, lighter and/or safer. For your reading pleasure, here are just a few more examples of materials that could help improve our lives.

• Blast-resistant glass that is thinner and tougher is making its way into buildings to protect people from the possibility of flying glass shards. Now I’m just waiting for bullet-proof iPhones. [url]
• Metal foams could be used in ship hulls, reducing freight vessel weight by about 30%. The real trick is, as always, making this material as cheap or cheaper than the good ol’ steel plates to be replaced. [url]
• Nanocomposite magnets that use far fewer rare-earth metals might save us from China’s monopoly on neodymium. Designing materials with desirable electro-magnetic properties is not easy… so by the time these new magnets are ready, we’ll probably have rare earth metal mines running all over the globe. [url]
• Studying ancient tooth enamel could help people design better nanocomposites. Hopefully, though, new nanocomposites won’t need to be brushed and flossed every day. [url]

Filed Under: aluminum, glass, nanocomposite, neodymium, rare earth metal, teeth

DailyDirt: Modern Dentistry

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Not too many people enjoy going to the dentist — which probably feeds into the urban legend that dentists have the highest suicide rates. But there may be a few dental developments that’ll make going to the dentist a bit less scary. Being fastidious about flossing is a virtue, but for the rest of us who aren’t so diligent, technology might help us out. Here are a few stories that might lead to better dental health.

• Disrupting the enzyme responsible for plaque sticking to teeth could help eliminate cavities. So far, though, various inhibitors for glucansucrase have also blocked amylase in saliva — which helps to digest starch. But maybe some folks might like not being able to digest starch? [url]
• Stem cells from wisdom teeth could be useful to grow replacement teeth. So maybe kids in the future will be preserving their teeth instead of dealing with the tooth fairy. [url]
• With some nifty freezing equipment, you could preserve your wisdom teeth for a couple decades. It’s sorta like Futurama — but only one organ at a time. [url]

Filed Under: cavities, dentist, glucansucrase, stem cells, teeth