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OpenWide — conception ADR

Date: 2026-06-02 Status: ACCEPTED Project: OpenWide (slug: openwide) Scope at conception: PRIVATE USE ONLY (Devin's son) Confidentiality: pre-IP — no public remote, no third-party uploads, no external mentions

Context

Devin's 3-year-old son has TMJ-related trismus with ~½" maximum mouth opening at the front teeth. Standard toothbrush heads cannot reach his posterior teeth through that opening. Conventional caries treatment (drill-and-fill) is also restricted by the same constraint. Existing commercial options (Collis Curve Baby, end-tuft brushes) are partial solutions but not purpose-built for sub-½" opening.

This ADR establishes today (2026-06-02) as the conception date for an original toothbrush design targeting this constraint. The purpose is to:

  1. Anchor the priority date for future provisional-patent filing if scope ever expands beyond private use.
  2. Record the locked design choices so future-Devin and future-Claude can resume without re-debating settled questions.
  3. Define what is in scope (build for the son) and what is explicitly out of scope (commercial sale, FDA registration, marketing).

Decisions

1. Scope: PRIVATE USE ONLY

Build for Devin's son. Not a commercial product at this time. No sales, no distribution, no third-party use, no marketing. Re-scoping to commercial requires a new ADR.

Implication: FDA Class I medical-device requirements (establishment registration, device listing, labeling, biocompatible materials sourcing) do not apply at this scope. They would apply only on re-scope.

2. Head geometry: E. Wedge paddle

  • 2D taper.
  • Thick at incisor side (handle attachment), thin at molar tip.
  • Bristles on top and bottom broad faces — cleans upper and lower molars in a single pass.
  • Geometry exploits the natural wedge of an open jaw (widest at incisors, narrowest at TMJ) rather than fighting it. No angling required by the caregiver.

Rejected alternatives: F (360° cone / baby bottle nipple cleaner style), parallel E+F development, original concepts C (malleable neck) and D (snap-in commercial tuft).

3. Bristle medium: silicone / rubber

  • Bite-safe, soft, moulded in one shot with the head (no tufting step).
  • Weaker plaque removal than nylon; acceptable trade-off for a kid/special-needs caregiver tool.
  • Matches Devin's original framing ("rubber safe end").

Rejected alternatives: harvested nylon tufts, hybrid silicone-body + snap-in nylon tuft.

4. Operation: manual, caregiver-driven

  • Caregiver pushes / wiggles / twists by hand.
  • No electronics, no detachable small parts, no choking risk.
  • Right for Tier-1 (bent store-brush mod) and Tier-2 (printed prototype). Powered rotation deferred indefinitely (Tier-3 only).

Rejected alternatives: powered electric base, dual-mode design with electric-brush mount.

5. IP timing: AFTER Tier-1 in-mouth validation

  • File self-prepared provisional (~$70–300) within 1–2 weeks of a positive Tier-1 result IF Devin decides at that time to expand scope beyond private use.
  • Until then, the dated invention log (deliverables/LEGAL-openwide_invention_log_v1.0_2026-06-02.md) preserves the priority date.
  • This ADR's date (2026-06-02) is the formal conception anchor.

Rejected alternatives: file immediately before any prototyping; wait until after Tier-2 print iteration.

Consequences

Good: - Today's date is locked as conception. Future provisional has a clean priority story. - Design space is small enough to actually print and test on a short timeline. - No commercial-product overhead (FDA, GTM, ops) blocks the personal-use build.

Bad / accepted trade-offs: - Silicone bristles will under-clean compared to nylon. Acceptable for kid use; not acceptable if scope ever flips to adult/general-use commercial. - Manual operation gives no powered cleaning aid. Acceptable for caregiver-operated kid use. - Wedge geometry is patent-search-light — possible Collis Curve or other prior art collides on dependent claims; verify via formal search if scope flips.

Cross-refs

  • active/openwide.md — current operating brief
  • projects/openwide.yaml — config + locked design block
  • deliverables/LEGAL-openwide_invention_log_v1.0_2026-06-02.md — entry #1 (this ADR is entry #0)
  • deliverables/TECH-openwide_market_scan_v1.0_2026-06-02.md — prior-art reference
  • deliverables/TECH-openwide_cad_spec_v1.0_2026-06-02.md — parametric build target
  • deliverables/OPS-openwide_tier1_test_protocol_v1.0_2026-06-02.md — bent-brush validation gate

This file is internal R&D documentation, not legal counsel. Any decision to file a provisional or commercialize the design requires a licensed patent attorney and (if commercializing) a regulatory consultant.