Oral-B’s Smart Toothbrush Is Disappointed in Your Brushing and Can Teach You to Do It Better

You’re not brushing enough. You know it, your dentist knows it and your toothbrush knows it better than anyone. Until now, one party has been silent on the matter.

Thanks to Oral-B, however, your brush will finally have its say.

The dental product manufacturer is showing off a new toothbrush that can “talk” to your phone and rate your dental hygiene. The SmartSeries electric toothbrush communicates with your smartphone — and, eventually, your dentist — keeping track of how well you’re brushing.

Fire up the app and, as you brush, you get real-time feedback on the job you’re doing. It’ll tell you if you’re hitting all the areas of your mouth — and, if you press too hard (a common issue, apparently), it’ll tell you to lay off, while reducing its speed.

By default, the app is set to two minutes, the recommended length for a brushing session. You can add time to that if you need to pay special attention to problem areas.

Once you’re done, the app will rate you, based upon time, distribution and whether you flossed and rinsed — the latter two are on the honor system. And then it’ll score you, giving you either a frowny face (closed mouth due to a lack of teeth, I’d assume) or a trophy.

You can track your brushing over time and, on your next visit, show your results to your dentist, so she knows whether or not you’ve saved all the quality brushing for the day before your appointment.

Oral-B called this the “first” smart toothbrush, but we’ve seen similar products shown off. Most notably, the Kolibree, a similar product funded on Kickstarter, was on display at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

At $365, the SmartSeries will run $100 to $200 more than the Kolibree’s multiple models, though there may be something to be said for putting your mouth in the hands of one of the best-known names in dental health. The toothbrush will launch sometime later this year.