Our latest video roundup of new toothbrush technology
In the video below, Jon summarises the new toothbrush and oral care technology that has been launched or announced in recent months.
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New toothbrush technology categorized
Each company or brand developing new products and services for the dental health market tend to have their own way of referring to their technological innovations.
As I see it, most advances can be grouped into several categories.
- Sustainability – Toothbrushes and dental products that are more environmentally considerate. This includes recyclable brushes and products made from biodegradable materials.
- Efficiency – Brushes that clean your teeth in a shorter space of time or achieve a higher standard of clean.
- Connectivity – Smart dental products that communicate with each other or other devices such as a smartphone to assist with improving oral hygiene routines.
So let’s jump straight in and take a look at some of the new products.
New toothbrush products arriving in 2023
2023 is set to see the arrival of a couple of products that were due over the last couple of years. The global pandemic in addition to over enthusiastic shipping dates meant that they did not arrive when expected.
Whilst no doubt new products will come through, we are not expecting a huge surge of new models or styles of brushes. Inflation locally and internationally alongside global supply issues are affecting manufacturers and consumers alike.
The biggest innovation and enhancement is expected to be in the sector or sustainable and environmentally considerate products.
Heisr
Category: Efficiency
This is a toothbrush with 3 sides to the brush head, designed to clean all 3 tooth surfaces at the same time.
It has a similar approach to Triple Bristle and 30 second smile, the difference being how the head hinges to swing and move along the teeth.
The idea is that all teeth can be cleaned in just 40 seconds.
A crowdfunded product, this is due to ship in March 2023.
Instafloss
Category: Efficiency
This is a water flosser that allows you to clean in between the teeth and along the gumline of both your top and bottom teeth at the same time.
Instafloss has a mouthpiece that fires 7 jets of water per arch, at the same time. This makes sure the water reaches along the gumline at the front and back of the teeth.
The whole flossing process is designed to take just 10 seconds.
A crowdfunded product, this is due to ship in December 2020 Q2 2023.
Talo Brush
Category: Efficiency
The second J shaped toothbrush I have come across, Talo Brush is capable of cleaning the teeth in just 30 seconds.
The nylon bristled brush heads cleans both rows of teeth on one side of the mouth at a time.
Therefore in 15 seconds you clean the right side, and another 15 seconds and you clean the left side.
Like similar products, the bristles are angled perfectly at 45 degrees.
It was originally due to begin shipping in July 2021, but has been delayed, with no new shipping date offered.
Encompass
Category: Efficiency
An interesting product, Encompass is a J shaped toothbrush is a play on the mouthpiece toothbrushes we have seen previously.
The toothbrush is designed by a team that includes a former director of engineering at Sonicare.
It should provide the optimal pressure and angle to the teeth and gums to clean every tooth evenly, in just 20 seconds.
The shape means you essentially clean 1 half of the mouth (including upper and lower teeth) at the same time.
It actually achieved funding in 2019, but it won’t be shipping to those who backed it via Indiegogo until December 2020 2024, all being well.
Naturally, this is quite some time from backing to shipping, but the company is doing a lot of revisions and clinical testing and supposably working with some of the best product manufacturers with tooling alone taking up to 18 months.
Toothbrush technology & products from 2022
2022 continued on the trends of 2020 and 21, with only a few new products hitting the market.
The top products to arrive in 2022 were…
Oral-B iO Series 4, 5 & 10
Category: Connectivity
Oral-B has evolved the range of iO brushes further.
The sleek, stylish and quieter brushes are equipped with lots of tech, including a pressure sensor that not only tells you when you are applying too much force, but when you are applying the correct amount.
The iO 10, is an enhancement on the Series 9, and comes with a charging stand that has LED’s on it to help encourage even brushing of the different sections of the mouth, without the need to refer to the app.
The iO 5 has real-time tracking but only tracks 6 zones compared to the 16 of the 10. You don’t get a display in this handle either.
Aimed at affordability, the iO 4 is a detuned iO 5. It doesn’t offer real-time tracking, but will still connect to a phone to log your brushing time and show you an on-screen timer.
SURI
Category: Sustainability
The UK company are looking to make the electric toothbrush a little more sustainable.
Climate neutral form the outset, SURI, which is short for Sustainable Rituals, are a B-Corp pending company.
Their sonic toothbrush is made from aluminium, so it lasts longer and is more durable.
The bristles are made from castor oil, and can be sent back to SURI for recycling for free.
It is too the first brush we know of that has been designed intentionally to be easily repairable. It still needs to be sent back to the company for repairs such as battery replacement to be completed, but they can be done so economically.
We have reviewed SURI here.
Willo
Category: Efficiency
Willo is a mouthpiece style toothbrush that aims to clean the teeth by applying the perfect pressure and angling the bristles at 45 degrees to the gumline.
It is a different setup to most other products of this type we have seen. It looks more like a water flosser.
The brush head attaches to the main unit via a hose where a liquid rinse is passed through to aid with cleaning of the teeth.
Willo is now accepting orders from anyone, but the intended user is a child (6+), and not an adult.
Willo believes children and those with disabilities can gain the biggest benefits.
Although not explicitly stated in their communication, we suspect this is in part to form part of a more comprehensive testing program and to improve the product ready for general release.
CleanTeeth (previously CleanFreak)
Category: Efficiency
A mouthpiece style toothbrush that aims to clean the teeth by applying the perfect pressure and angling the bristles at 45 degrees to the gumline.
The brush head cleans one arch of teeth at a time, with the whole brushing routine being complete in just 30 seconds.
Plaque disclosing tests have been provided by CleanFreak ahead of shipping, which took place in November 2022.
We share our options in our hands-on review of CleanTeeth.
Toothbrush technology & products from 2021 & earlier
SymplBrush
Category: Efficiency
A mouthpiece style toothbrush that cleans all the teeth in one arch at a time.
You spend 15 seconds brushing each arch, so a total of 30 seconds.
Privately funded, rather than crowdfunded, the product and its development have been headed up by a practicing dental professional.
Development has been kept under wraps for the most part until it launched in August 2021.
It is the first product to launch from the American company and the results are very impressive.
It is currently exclusive to the USA, we have reviewed it here.
Sonicare Prestige 9900
Category: Connectivity
An evolution of the DiamondClean Smart, the Prestige 9900 looks to simplify things for the user.
Simplicity is achieved by offering 1 cleaning mode out of the box. Less important, but potentially useful extra features, such as additional cleaning modes will have to be enabled via an app.
Philips will too be promoting just 1 style of brush head, that has been designed to give a good all round clean, whiten teeth and improve gum health.
Users still benefit from a timer, brush head replacement reminder system and a visible pressure sensor.
A smart toothbrush it is. But it shouldn’t force you to use the app. It will record and store key real-time data to allow for education and learning at a later point.
It began shipping in May 2021. We have reviewed it here.
Colgate Plaqless Pro – Cancelled
Category: Connectivity
This didn’t quite arrive. It quietly got cancelled, which is a shame as we would have loved for it to have become a reality.
Optical sensors built into the brush head of the Plaqless Pro proactively detects areas of the teeth which are covered in the potentially harmful substance.
A light on the handle changes between a blue and white color to alert you where plaque resides and when you have brushed it away.
It does this whilst feeding important brushing data back to your smartphone.
Mouthpiece toothbrushes
Category: Efficiency
One of the biggest innovations in tooth brushing technology was the introduction of what I like to call ‘mouthpiece toothbrushes’.
Mouthpiece toothbrushes we actually first introduced as a concept in 2017, but it was in 2018 that the first working models began to ship and arrive in users hands.
My article mouthpiece toothbrushes explained tells you all you need or would want to know about them.
But, here is a quick summary.
You pop them into your mouth like you would a mouthguard and they clean your teeth in as little as three seconds.
They clean all of the teeth at the same time. By doing so, it significantly reduces the amount of time taken by the current approach of cleaning one tooth at a time, one side at a time.
Believe it or not, this approach not only reduces the amount of time you spend brushing but actually delivers more brushing time to each tooth surface.
The innovators within this sector are:
- Amabrush – It cleans your teeth in 10 seconds. Amabrush was the first of these mouthpiece toothbrushes to be announced and begin shipping. I reviewed it here. Although it showed promise, the actual cleaning performance was poor. The company subsequently went into administration in 2019.
- Ufunbrush – Engineered to clean your teeth in 10 seconds, it is most similar to Amabrush. It is geared more towards children, with different sized mouthpieces available. It suffered delays in production but finally shipped in late summer 2019.
- Unico Smartbrush – Said to clean your teeth in 3 seconds this product launched as a crowdfunding campaign like Amabrush and Ufunbrush. It has come under quite a lot of scrutiny from backers, with delays, irregular updates, and many false promises. Sadly, the final product fell a long way short of backers expectations.
- Y-Brush – Designed to clean the teeth in 10 seconds, this mouthpiece style toothbrush relies on nylon bristles. It was plagued by delays and did finally ship in early 2020.
On the back of the interest and demand for such products, many replica products have been released by enterprising far eastern companies. Sadly all of these perform terribly and are a waste of money.
A battery-free, powered toothbrush
Category: Sustainability
Be (standing for Beyond Electric) from Goodwell Co is a 100% biodegradable and compostable toothbrush. It’s powered by kinetic energy, meaning no batteries are required.
To use Be, you give a dial on the bottom of the brush two short twists and then press a button to power it on and off. These two twists are enough to last for a 2-minute brushing of your teeth.
Naturally, it’s not going to clean your teeth as quickly as the above mouthpiece toothbrushes, but its footprint on the planet is much lower, and should you be away from a power point for an extended period, you’ll still be able to use a powered toothbrush.
Although funded in late 2017, it was due to begin shipping in 2018. As of early 2023, the company has now gone bankrupt and ceased trading.
Tooth.eco
Category: Sustainability
This is a manual toothbrush. A very stylish, and environmentally considerate toothbrush.
Tooth.eco uses recycled aluminum to form the handle and the magnetic stand that it comes with.
Unlike most manual toothbrushes, you do not throw away the whole toothbrush. Instead, you can pull off just the brush head and replace that.
The interchangeable head is the part you dispose of, reducing the amount of waste each time. However, rather than having to be thrown into regular landfill waste, this brush head is fully biodegradable, made from bioplastic.
Having successfully achieved crowdfunding in 2019, the first units will be shipped in Summer 2021.
Bristl
Category: Efficiency
Making use of light therapy technology to kill bacteria on the teeth and gums, Bristl has 3 modes of light (blue, red and purple) to help achieve better oral health.
Blue light helps kill oral bacteria that would otherwise lead to gum disease and also help whiten teeth.
Red light enables collagen secretion for the regeneration of gum tissue.
Purple light is made up of blue and red light combined to kill germs and strengthen gum tissue at the same time.
Bacteria is the key reason we brush our teeth, failing to remove it will lead to oral health problems, the inclusion of light technology helps reduce the risk by ensuring that bacteria is killed off.
The product shipped in 2018.
ToothShower
Category: Sustainability
ToothShower is a toothbrush cum water flosser that you install in your shower. It uses the water pressure from your shower as a power source – no electricity is needed.
Toothshower is looking to address two of the things that can be off-putting when it comes to flossing – using string floss can be fiddly, and using a countertop water flosser can be messy.
This isn’t a product that works ‘out of the box’ because you need to connect it to your shower’s water supply, but once installed there’s no need for electricity, and you don’t need to worry about water going everywhere as you floss.
Toothshower comes with three different attachments; an irrigating dual-headed toothbrush, an irrigating tip, and an irrigating gum massager.
A few delays did occur, but it did ship in early 2019.
Oral-B iO
Category: Connectivity
The iO from Oral-B brings a refined look and change to internal components, to make for a quieter, yet still very capable electric toothbrush.
Somewhat of an evolution from the Genius X real-time tracking is built-into this toothbrush, but there is to a small display on the brush handle to offer data and visualizations not previously seen on Oral-B toothbrushes.
It is a smarter and essentially more complete product offering to help you and I brush better.
Boie toothbrush
Category: Sustainability
Boie toothbrush was a Kickstarter project that shipped in 2015 and is now available to purchase on boieusa.com with worldwide shipping available.
This is another 100% recyclable toothbrush. It also has silver, which has antimicrobial properties, embedded into the toothbrush head.
New & emerging trends for 2023 and beyond
2023 has not yet introduced any completely new, never seen before tech, but continues to enhance what is already available.
The following points are a bit of a rehashing of the above here, but for the skim readers among you, here’s a quick look at the tech that’s making its way into the toothbrush market.
Biodegradable brushes and replacement heads
Substantial growth and interest from consumers in sustainable products. 2020 became a bit of a pivotal year. We have already seen an increasing number of recyclable / biodegradable dental products hit the market, notably bamboo brushes. But we expect many more.
Biodegradable toothbrushes aren’t completely new – this bamboo toothbrush from Save Some Green has been around for a while – but new designs are starting to emerge.
The Boie brush is one such product, which has a slick design and is also embedded with silver. Until now having a biodegradable brush has meant having a manual brush, but the Be brush will be 100% biodegradable and compostable and is powered by kinetic energy.
Quicker Brushing
The ‘mouthguard toothbrushes’ I have mentioned above brush your teeth within 10 seconds or less; Amabrush and uFunbrush promise to clean your teeth within 10 seconds, while the Unico Smart brush claims to do it in just 3 seconds.
Sadly, what has shipped to date has been disappointing.
Devices powered without electricity
ToothShower is a toothbrush and flosser that is powered only by water, and the Be brush is powered by kinetic energy.
Improved battery life
Newly released brushes are using Lithium-ion batteries (the kind included with a smartphone), which last longer than the Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMh) batteries that have previously been used. This means that on the average electric toothbrush you’ll be looking at anything from 2 weeks right through to several months, rather than a few days typical of a NiMH battery.
The Foreo ISSA 2 takes things even further and has a whopping 12 months of battery life.
USB charging
If you own an electric toothbrush, chances are it’s connected to that annoying 2-pin shaver socket in your bathroom. This won’t be the case for much longer – it’s time for the 2 pin connector to move over and make way for USB.
Whether the cable is connected to the charging stand, to the brush directly or to the travel case, several brushes can now be charged via the much more convenient USB connector.
Plug the charging cable into a computer’s USB port, to a USB mains socket if you have one or to a USB mains adapter (like the one that came with your smartphone).
Philips Sonicare have followed in the footsteps of Fairywill and Xiaomi, introducing USB charging on the 1100, 2100, 3100 and 4100 Series.
Particularly useful are those brushes that allow the toothbrush to be charged in the case via USB, the Sonicare DiamondClean Smart and Prestige 9900 being the best examples of this.
Smart toothbrushes
An increasing number of brushes are coming with a companion app that records data about how well you are brushing.
Those apps are becoming more capable thanks to artificial intelligence and the increased amount of data that is being recorded by these toothbrushes.
The Oral-B iO, hum By Colgate and the 9900 Prestige offer real-time feedback on how well you are brushing.
Crowdfunded dental health products
As intimated in the introduction to this article, social funding, also known as crowdfunding, is a means by which individuals, organizations or companies can raise funds and awareness for their product, service or endeavors.
There are many crowdfunding platforms, some of the better known ones being Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
These websites enable fundraisers to collect money from a large number of people. It is most often startup companies that make use of this funding approach, but anyone can set up their own campaign.
Every campaign is different. Some offer a product or service in exchange for supporting, whilst others are simply donations.
The main types of crowdfunding are, peer to peer lending, equity crowdfunding, rewards based crowdfunding, donation based, profit sharing, debt securities and hybrid models.
What is being offered, the amount you pledge and the rules and conditions associated with that are outlined by each project or campaign listed on the various social funding platforms.
The use of crowdfunded platforms has become increasingly popular for new dental health products because often the innovations are coming from much smaller, less financially rich individuals and organizations, compared to those bigger entities that tend to dominate this market.
One of the most popular is the rewards based social funding, whereby ‘backers’ (the people who help fund the campaign) get something in return. It is often a discount on a product or service, or the ability to be one of the first to own X, Y or Z.
For the sake of a simple example, a company may be offering a new electric toothbrush.
They have 4 different offers as part of their campaign.
- A backer can offer $10 as a token of their support and get nothing in return other than the satisfaction for helping.
- A backer can offer $30 as a token of their support and a t-shirt or some other low value item in exchange.
- A backer can offer $60 as a token of their support and will get 1 of the new toothbrushes as soon as they are available.
- A backer can offer $250 as a token of their support and will get 2 of the new toothbrushes, customized in a color of their choice, a special presentation box and a t-shirt.
In almost all cases a funding campaign runs for a predetermined amount of time with a desired budget/goal to be achieved.
If the funding is achieved, the backer’s money is passed onto the creator to make the project a reality.
In many cases, if the funding goal is not hit, then what money is raised never reaches the creator and the backers usually get their money returned.
Creators usually pay a commission to the funding platforms from the amount they raise.
Where projects are successful it is then up to the creator to as best as possible to stay true to their campaign offering.
In almost all instances there is risk and rewards are not always guaranteed, subject to the terms of the platform.
It is at this stage where things can go wrong, but that is part of the risk with crowdfunding.
Creators may find it is not actually possible to deliver their product or service on time or within budget. There may be manufacturing or technical challenges which delay things or put a halt to things entirely. Creators can even misuse funds in rare instances.
Every project is different.
Creators should keep their backers up to date on what is going on and when they can expect their product, even if there are delays.
Supporters of the campaigns will generally get what they expected, but it might not be what they had expected, not quite what was originally planned. It may be better or worse than expected.
Risk and rewards
The risk and rewards are different depending on whether you are the creator looking for funding or whether you are the backer/supporter looking to help that creator out in exchange for a product or service.
The following are what I consider to be the main pros and cons to crowdfunding from the point of view of a supporter.
Pros
- Early access – By backing a project you can be amongst the first in the world to get hands-on with what might be a new or innovative product.
- Discounts – By backing a project you often get a lower price than those who might only buy the product if and when it is available for general sale online or in the shops.
- Support – You are helping a creator realize a dream that might not have been possible without your support.
- Innovation – It is often a great place to see and experience the future before it becomes mainstream.
- Culture and community – You can become a part of a small group that have a particular interest in a product or service and make new connections and gain a sense of personal satisfaction and well-being.
Cons
- Risk – You are taking a risk, normally financially. You might not ever receive what you expected. Only ever support what you can afford to lose.
- Delays – Not all projects run to plan. What might be due in 12 months may arrive in 24.
- No equity – In reward based social funding you usually get something for the investment you have made, but it isn’t likely to be financial like a cash return or stocks or shares in a company.
If you are not familiar with social funding and want to learn more, then I encourage you to do your own research online to fully understand how things work.
A couple of useful links are:
Which features are you looking forward to?
Which of the above advancements excites you the most?
Are there any other features you would like to see in a brush?
Leave a comment below to let me know.
Or if you’re planning to launch your own dental product, get in touch with us here.
Have two Chinese contractors keen to proceed with the manufacturing of our product but understanding China has become a politically incorrect location for electric toothbrush manufacturing where would be the next best effective, economic and efficient place: Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Korea, etc.?? Any thoughts you can provide most appreciated.
Hi Ian. This is a great question, but not one we can provide assistance on really. Outside our sphere of knowledge. Feel free to let us know about your toothbrush though 😉