New Oral B Genius X uses AI to personalize daily brushing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has found its way into our daily lives. Oral B has recently introduce the Oral B Genius X, giving us a reason to smile especially when we visit the dentist and oral hygienist. 

According to Irene Iancu, Dental Hygienist and spokesperson for Oral B, the average person brushes their teeth for 47 seconds. A surprise since we all know the recommended brushing is minimum 2 minutes each time. 

While many power toothbrushes already include a timer, which is helpful, the latest innovation with Oral B Genius X takes it to the next level offering real-time guidance not only on time spent brushing but with AI you can see if each tooth is properly cleaned making daily brushing a more personalized experience. 

“With a conventional powered toothbrush, they give you a time generally speaking. In previous models it would give you a quarter of the mouth that you would brush at a time but it didn’t understand if you were brushing all of the teeth in that quarter. So, that’s where AI comes in and this specific Genius X brand. It is able to sense which tooth and which area of the mouth you are working on,” said Iancu. 

How it works?

Begin by downloading the Oral B app (iOS and Android) and sync the toothbrush via Bluetooth. All of the AI technology is built into the handle. Your mouth is shown on your device with teeth in a blue colour. As the toothbrush moves its way around the teeth, the colour on the screen will turn white once you’ve a good job at brushing.

The AI technology will also learn your habits and recommend adjustments to help improve your brushing style. “It’s taken about a thousand individual toothbrushing styles and has created the AI algorithm in the app so the image sensing will tell you where you’ve brushed.” say Iancu. 

I was brushing too fast and the toothbrush sent out a couple of gentle pulsating nudges to let me know. From what I've experienced the app also appears to set back the time a few seconds for a redo if I'm rushing. Ugh. I learned very quickly to slow down. Now it seems like the AI has added on an extra 30 seconds to the 2-minute brushing overall based on my now two-week history thanks to my tendency to move around too fast -- I'll keep track of that to see if anything changes. You can also manually change the timer in the settings.

Brushing too hard? The handle will send out a red glow to let you know and will slow down to make it more safe for the mouth. It will also note the aggressive brushing on the app in your brushing summary at the end of each session. By the way, you can see how your brushing and overall oral hygiene is progressing through the results page within the app. This gives you an overview of the day, week, and month summarizing daily cleaning and any goals you wanted to achieve—flossing, anyone?

If you’re someone who walk around when you brush or even take it into the the shower, the Genius X toothbrush accommodates that as well. You’re not tethered to the app on the device so you can move freely. When you’re within range of your phone the toothbrush will sync your brushing session. Or if you don’t have your phone handy, say if it’s charging elsewhere, the information will sync next time you open the app. 

Aside from your daily cleaning the Genius X can also be easily switched to gum massage, tongue cleaning mode for example. The app helps you keep track of all your dental hygiene needs with motivating “trophies” and “achievements” for above and beyond the average brusher. Lunch time brushing, flossing and even being consistent earns you bragging rights, if you personally want to improve. 

The Oral B Genius X comes with 3 heads in the kit, a charging station, and a travel case which also serves as a charger (charger or USB port option). Battery life seems to last one week. An indicator light on the handle will tell you the battery life left. Additional Oral B brush heads, can be purchased separately according to your style and needs. Heads come with a different coloured ring so if you share the unit with other family members it can easily be swapped out. How the AI would work in this case is based on the App on each user's device according to Iancu. I haven't tried. We all have our own power toothbrushes. 

“As a hygienist, I really like this built in technology. Now, people can bring their brushing information via their app to me and we can take a look at their brushing history together and find where they need improvements on as well,” said Iancu. “I can also tell the app to add on extra time if I feel like my patient needs it.”

The Oral B Genius X will be sold for $299+ and will be available this month. More info at www.oralb.ca.