#HTE

A Dental Industry Tool for Getting the Last Drop of Product Out of a Squeeze Tube

Nothing drives me nuts like wasted product. When I finish a bag of potato chips, I up-end the bag and pour the powder at the bottom into my mouth. I “marry” my shampoo bottles. Back when I was cooking for myself, if I fried up a steak, the pan and the leftover juices were set aside to fry up the next morning’s eggs.

But I can’t get the last drop of toothpaste out of a tube.

Mechanical engineer Stephen Galante invented the following tool, which you’ve undoubtedly seen some earlier variant of, for the dental industry. Not for toothpaste, but for the tubes that tooth-bonding composites come in. It’s as precious to the dentists as expensive paint is to poor artists. And what makes Galante’s invention different from others is the gear-like wringers:

The Big Squeeze, as it’s called, is now available to consumers and runs $40 a pop. If that sounds like a lot, I can almost guarantee I’ve thrown away at least that much toothpaste by not being able to extract it. For artists, chefs and mechanics working with more expensive tube-dispensed products, this thing is a no-brainer.