You know how you can go to the dentist to have tartar removed? In the future, we could have routine appointments to have kidney stones pulverized and removed.

You can already get kidney stones pulverized. They basically put you in a special bathtub then use ultrasonic waves to blast the stones into pieces. The waves pass harmlessly through the water and your soft tissue, but the stones basically shake themselves apart because they’re too hard to flex with the waves.

Given, you’re still pissing jagged sand afterwards. But that’s better than pissing a jagged pebble. Most of the pain from kidney stones comes from the ureter stretching around the stone, so pulverizing it helps mitigate a LOT of the pain.

Main difference is most people don't have kidney stones. But also in most countries it is already super routine to take care of them if you do have them.

You’re young aren’t you?

you know the dentist just sell the creme right back to restaurants.

The cheap advice the doctor gave my cousin when he had kidney stones was to: chug a 6 pack of cheap beer and ride some rollercoasters.

The rollercoaster was supposed to break things up, then the added water from the beer flushed things out. Plus the beer helped a little with the pain.