Brushing your teeth is important, but are we all doing it right? The latest Sonicare toothbrush aims to use artificial intelligence to help.
The humble toothbrush is thousands of years old, but the idea has largely been the same: bristles on a brush that when you rub against your teeth do the cleaning. We’ve seen gradual changes on it over the years, but now that so much is being endowed with artificial intelligence, we’re seeing it thrown into the toothbrush, as well.
To do that, Philips is connecting the toothbrush to your phone, something that isn’t new, depending on which toothbrush you might have had. Already, there has been a 3D tracked phone connected toothbrush from Oral-B, not to mention a toothbrush to talk to tablets and phones to teach kids how to brush their teeth better.
Philips, however, seems to be blending the two ideas, launching a new Sonicare electric toothbrush in the 9900 Prestige, a toothbrush that brings together a pressure sensor tracking technology to work out if you’re brushing too hard, adapting the motion and pressure of the brush and then talking to a phone app with AI thrown in.
The app will provide information about how you brush, including motion, coverage, frequency, and offer guidance, connecting how you brush by using a position sensor, how you scrub your teeth with a sensor for that, and create a 3D map of your mouth based on the movements you make.
The result is theoretically a better brushing experience that leaves your teeth cleaner, with Philips noting its new brush includes a new head that can reduce stains and plaque more significantly than before, and arrives in a carry case that can charge the Philips toothbrush via a Type C charge port.
It’s not the only gadgety approach to cleaning teeth coming form Philips, with a Power Flosser launching, though this one doesn’t come with AI. Rather, it uses air and water to clean teeth, but lacks the AI-driven approach to understanding your mouth and cleaning your teeth.
That AI approach to cleaning your mouth won’t necessarily come cheap, however, with the Sonicare 9900 Prestige priced at a little under $500 in Australia, while the Power Flosser starts from $229 locally.
