Biting down on your ipod may sound like a recipe for broken electronics and pricey dental reconstruction, but soon you may be able to control your listening preferences by champing your choppers.

Scientists in Japan, always plunging ahead to answer questions you never even thought about asking, have developed a headgear that uses infrared sensors and a microcomputer to allow the wearer to control a portable music player with their teeth. Reportedly, when the user clenches his or her teeth for one second, the headgear responds by skipping forward to the next track if the left side of the mouth is clenched, while if the user grinds their right-side teeth the device will switch between “play” and “pause.”

Several questions remain to be answered before the new device comes to market, such as whether the interface will feature a warning not to play songs such as the Nine Inch Nails track “With Teeth,” “Teethgrinder” by Therapy, or Megadeth’s “Skin O’ My Teeth” during use. And will the facial expressions you make flipping around your favorite tunes creep out the cute girl at your subway stop you’ve been trying to work up the confidence to ask out?