Oral-Bs new $220 toothbrush uses AI to help you brush better

Today, Oral-B launched its $220 Oral-B Genius X electric toothbrush, which Oral-B says uses AI to help you brush better. I never thought AI would come for my teeth.

The toothbrush connects to an app on your phone over Bluetooth. When you start brushing, the app will show a timer of how long you’ve been brushing and guide you to where should brush next. That seems handy.

At least you get a phone charger with your $220 toothbrush. Image: Oral-B

Oral-B says the toothbrush uses sensors to know when you’re applying too much pressure or not brushing long enough in a certain spot, and then sends data from the sensors to the app. The app takes this sensor data and uses the “Genius X AI algorithm” to tell you where you need to brush better and give you a rating on how well you brushed. I don’t know if I’d like that feature. It sounds like the toothbrush can brush-shame me.

This isn’t Oral-B’s first connected toothbrush. The company released a Bluetooth-enabled toothbrush in 2014, which could be “programmed with the help of a dentist.” It launched its Genius line of toothbrushes in 2016, but earlier models needed to use your smartphone’s camera to follow your brushing. That meant you had to plop your phone into a smartphone mount on your bathroom mirror every time you brushed, which I would imagine would get annoying after a while.

Some people have already gotten their hands on the Genius X, and reviews seem... positive? One reviewer at Forbes praised how well the app tracked the toothbrush’s position in his mouth. If you really want to go deep, the YouTube channel Electric Teeth has a 25-minute review of the toothbrush — and the reviewer really liked it.

But I still think I’m going to use the toothbrush I get from the dentist every six months.

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