Philips Sonicare SenseIQ Explained

What is SenseIQ

SenseIQ is a combination of smart features, built into particular Philips Sonicare electric toothbrushes.  

It is designed to sense, adapt and care.

It senses by monitoring your brushing frequency, duration, coverage, motion and pressure.

It adapts by adjusting the intensity (power) of the bristle movements when it senses you brush with too much force.

It cares by helping you improve your brushing over time.

Data from sensors in the brush handle are monitored up to 100 times per second and analysed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide real-time feedback.  

The guidance is personalised and intended to help improve your toothbrushing habits.

If you follow the guidance, in the long term, you should achieve a healthier smile.

SenseIQ technology was first implemented into the Philips Sonicare 9900 Prestige electric toothbrush, launched in 2021.

In many respects, it is an enhancement of the technology already implemented in smart electric toothbrushes.

Data obtained from the Sonicare DiamondClean Smart has led the Philips team to rethink how best they can help users, and SenseIQ is the answer.

The principle is that it will alert you to areas within your brushing routine that could be adapted. For example, if you apply too much force when brushing and too much movement, it will let you know this.

Hard and fast brushing can be very damaging to the teeth and gums.  You might not even realise that this was an issue or that you even brushed in this way. 

By the very nature of the technology, it does require the toothbrush to be Bluetooth enabled.  This means the brush will need to connect to a Philips smartphone application for you to get the full benefit from SenseIQ.

But, even without your smartphone or the app to hand, you can still get real-time feedback.

SenseIQ is the name for the overarching technology. But, it is actually made up of a number of smart features. These features include:

• Light ring 
  • Found at the bottom of the toothbrush handle it provides both scrubbing and pressure feedback.
    • Scrubbing feedback
      • The light ring is lit an amber colour
      • The brush handle will vibrate
    • Pressure feedback
      • The light ring is lit a purple colour
      • The brush handle will vibrate
• Adaptive Intensity
  • The toothbrush automatically adjusts the intensity (power) of the motor to protect your gums when you brush too hard.
  • When you are applying too much pressure, the motor will slow until such time as the pressure is relieved.  
  • The visible pressure sensor will be activated at the same time.

• Personalised recommendations
  • These come via the Artificial Intelligence-powered Sonicare app, which can be installed for free on compatible Android or iOS devices.
  • The recommendations are based on the real-time data the brush has obtained and analysed from your toothbrushing.
• Brushing behaviour feedback (in the app)
  • This takes multiple data points to give you a good overview of what a typical brushing session looks like.  These data points include:
    • Frequency
    • Duration
    • Coverage
    • Motion 
    • Pressure 

What Sonicare have built is a technology that makes SenseIQ enabled brushes more intelligent and capable than most.  

Whilst we will be the first to tell you that you do not need a smart toothbrush, there can be advantages in the long term, if you are really serious about your oral health.

The Prestige and other SenseIQ enabled handles should work with you to try and promote the best standards of oral health care and teeth brushing that is possible at home.  

It does so by providing personalised, rather than generalised advice as it interprets the very data it receives from the toothbrush as it is used.

Progress reports by day, week, month and year. All are available with a few taps of your phone screen.  

Smart features are active whenever the SenseIQ icon is lit up on the toothbrush. It will also light up to confirm when features are turned on or off.

If you would rather certain elements of SenseIQ, can be turned off.  This includes the pressure sensor, scrubbing sensor and adaptive intensity. Some can be turned off from the app, whilst others you will need to follow a specific sequence detailed in the user manual.