What do you all think of the new Dyson toothbrush? Apparently it comes with a camera, and the price tag is $400. Thoughts?
Personally I don’t feel like inviting an AI enabled camera into my bathroom, nor would I pay $400 for what looks like a sophomore ID student project in my opinion. I’m sure there were technical constraints but having a giant knob at the base of the brush head is just a no from a form factor POV.
Suck the plaque out of my teeth. If you could see through a clear vessel how much plaque was being collected, that would be a game-changer.
LOL, that would align nicely to the OG Dyson vacuums where you could see all that junk enter the chamber… like the old Bissell commercials.
I want to try it before buying. If it shows results, potentially saving just 1 dentist visit for tartar removal, it’s already payed off. I really would not care about the form factor. The bulb looks weird, but I can also see how it helps in holding the brush providing a mechanical locking grip instead of just pinching force.
I saw a guy on linkedin posting that he started working on this 10 years ago, with the brief ”reinvent the toothbrush”. He wasnt at Dyson now and was himself surprised too see it launched. This ties into the other thread of fictional student projects. I find it rather inspiring that Dyson do this stuff, makes you wonder what else they have in the pipeline.
Complete BS. This $400 brush will not clean your teeth better than a $4 brush. I’m going to tell you why below. It is long and boring, opt out here if you are smart.
Here is their full pitch - https://www.dyson.com/discover/news/latest/introducing-camerajet
So my qualifications are I have been in the toothbrush business and I have a couplethree utility toothbrush patents. Maybe a design patent or two also, but those are irrelevant. The most important section is at the bottom of that link, what they call “Caveats and sources”, which is insulting. Its references. Also, it is important to know, a standard toothbrush is a class 1 medical device. It can be a class 2, but that is not the case here. I don’t think I have ever seen one as a class 3. The bigger the number, the more the review.
With a medical device, you must prove your claims. Please note nowhere does Dyson claim their brush “Prevents cavities better …”, “Prevents heart disease better…”, “Prevents pneumonia better …”. Nope, not at all. Their 2 claims are “Its antibacterial formulation is designed to help reduce malodour-causing bacteria” and “External testing has shown that Dyson’s variable sonic oscillation removes up to 69% more plaque than market-leading premium electric toothbrushes in hard-to-reach areas.”
Are you going to have less cavities? Nope. Are you going to have less heart disease? Nope. Less incidences of pneumonia? Nope.
Let’s do their first claim about malodor. Every antibacterial ever made can make that claim. Any toothpaste with an antibacterial makes the same claim. Its been around for well over 100 years. A whole lot of nothing sauce.
The second claim is that it cleans better. It is reference #8. They provide no link to the study. I don’t know what “hard to reach areas” means. Is it relevant? What’s the methodology? The only type of brush proven through a meta-analysis to actually clean better is rotating oscillating. But they still don’t prevent cavities better.
So save your money. This is stupid, for amoral people who should use that money for those who need it.
Thanks for that info @iab ! I shared this with my students who for some reason think that Dyson is more than marketing hype. I’m trying to encourage them to be more skeptical.
Falsehood will fly from Maine to Georgia, while truth is pulling her boots on.
Ehhh. A camera. In a toothbrush. We did it, everybody. woo-hoo!
In fairness, the targeting is clever. Waterpik has been shooting water at teeth since the 70s, so the jet isn’t the trick, the aiming is. Genuinely good engineering, which Dyson is pretty good at.
But Dyson’s own pitch is that nine out of ten people don’t floss regularly enough. Those people are not dropping $500 and a refill habit on a toothbrush. The person who buys this already flosses, most likely already brushes twice a day, and already sees a hygienist two or three times a year who gets in there with real instruments and real line of sight. Its like selling the cure to the people who don’t have the disease.
And my dentist doesn’t charge me more or less based on tartar buildup. They just scrape it off and ask if I’ve been flossing. I lie, they know I’m lying, and it costs me nothing. Tough to beat that with a camera.
This is indeed a revolution in oral care. The presentation of the innovations are quite poor however.
We’ve been brushing in the dark for millennia, given nudges by our dentists to do better with methods and outcomes that could never be observed directly or documented. Now we can know and compare.
Imagine a child growing up with the visual knowledge (and history) of what their teeth look like, how decay grows, plaque builds up, and gums get irritated. The oral-care awareness factor via. captured images is worth it’s weight in cleaning visits alone.
No more brushing in the dark.
Dyson does it again.
advert video is cool though - that last scene, wow https://youtu.be/tF2piG0N5gg
Wallpaper magazine has a very detailed article about this Dyson product, complete with an amusing typo at the end about visiting the hygienist:
Dyson CameraJet is a tech-driven toothbrush with an onboard optical system
They mention the mouthwash and toothpaste at the same time. We did that 15 years ago. Nice Russian lady did the formulation. When we did the first 3 years of stability, I was the official spearmint taste tester. Went bad at 30 months. I dreaded the 36-month pull. It was even worse. 24-month stability is just fine.
Thanks for that.
not only are the RFID-equipped toothbrush heads bespoke and not compatible with other leading brands, but Dyson would also rather you used its own specially developed toothpaste and mouthrinse
Also curious if this appliance will let people persist with their “45 seconds and no flossing” habits or if a totally new method of brushing is needed, along with the walled-garden refill substances. I started using a Sonicare on my dentists reco and it does “teach” appropriate time and pressure. “Just stick something between your teeth every day” is their floss recommendation now - low bar but it’s easy to remember.
I’ve been using one of these for a few years and both my dentist and I have been happy with it 
