What Makes A Toothbrush Smart?
It seems like all of our tools and appliances are getting smarter these days. By adding tiny sensors and cameras to an object and connecting to your phone with Bluetooth, just about everything in your home can gather and analyze more information than ever before. And as it turns out, your electric toothbrush is no exception.
With a standard electric toothbrush, the smartest thing about it is a two-minute timer that lets you know you’ve probably brushed your teeth for long enough. But a smart brush can use sensors to detect which teeth you’ve brushed, whether you covered both the outside and the inside, and whether you were thorough enough to scrape off all the plaque. It can then send this information to an app on your phone that will show you how well you’re brushing. The app will also keep track of whether you’re brushing often enough and coach you on good brushing techniques.
Something else a smart toothbrush can do is offer different brushing modes for the different parts of your mouth. So one setting can scrub out the pieces of food stuck in your molars while another mode will gently scrub your gums. And since a smart brush has 3D sensors that let it know where it is in your mouth, it can switch between brushing modes automatically and take the guesswork out of the equation.
Some smart toothbrushes use games and augmented reality to help get kids interested in brushing regularly and teach them how to use an electric toothbrush the right way. Good habits can last a lifetime, which is why it’s so important that kids learn how to brush well as soon as they’re old enough to do it themselves.
Of course, the main problem with smart toothbrushes is that all the extra equipment and technology makes them cost quite a bit more than their regular cousins, and those already cost more than the normal toothbrushes that don’t have any batteries or moving parts. It’s very possible to keep your teeth in good condition using nothing but a regular toothbrush and dental floss, but for that to work you need to know how to brush and floss your teeth the right way.
Smart toothbrushes help you learn how to brush right and they keep track of how well you’re doing with your frequency and technique. So if you’re a fan of gadgets or you want to learn the perfect brushing technique, a smart toothbrush may be just what you need.