Dyson CameraJet Is a $700 Toothbrush That Can Actually See Between Your Teeth

Dyson is taking another swing at reinventing something most of us have been doing the same way for decades: brushing our teeth. The company has officially unveiled the Dyson CameraJet, a $699.99 CAD toothbrush that combines a camera, artificial intelligence, precision water jet and electric brushing technology to target the spaces between your teeth.

I got an early, behind-closed-doors look at the CameraJet earlier this year, and it immediately stood out as one of those Dyson products that sounds slightly ridiculous until you see how much engineering went into making the idea work. In many ways, CameraJet reminds me of Dyson’s OnTrac headphones. It’s a device that seems totally out of left field until I learned about what went into making it and how Dyson is the perfect company to tackle the engineering.

The basic concept is surprisingly straightforward. The CameraJet has a 100,000-pixel macro camera that looks inside your mouth while you brush. Dyson’s Gap Optical Targeting system analyzes 28 images per second to identify gaps between teeth, then automatically fires a precision burst of mouth rinse at them. The whole process is designed to happen in real time. Dyson says the system can detect a gap and trigger the jet within 100 milliseconds.

To be clear, the toothbrush doesn’t feature a camera for novelty’s sake. The camera effectively serves as the eyes of the cleaning system. The CameraJet’s conical jet is designed to remove plaque from between teeth without relying on the sharper, needle-like jets used by conventional water flossers. Dyson says its broader spray profile allows it to cover more area while operating at lower pressure.

Taking a quick pause here, I’m well aware of how bizarre it sounds that the company that specializes in vacuums and air purification is now broaching teeth cleaning. Though rest assured, Dyson is taking its position very seriously. The company spent five years developing its own proxy plaque with the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Dentistry to test the jet’s effectiveness.

Plenty of other Dyson engineering is at play as well. CameraJet uses variable sonic oscillation to keep its bristles moving across the uneven surfaces of your teeth, while its dual-bristle head combines firmer inner bristles with softer outer bristles for the gumline. Dyson claims the CameraJet removes up to 69 percent more plaque than leading premium electric toothbrushes in hard-to-reach areas, based on external testing.

The device also incorporates a 12.5ml anti-gravity mouth-rinse tank. Rather than using a conventional straw that can struggle when the toothbrush is tilted, Dyson uses a diaphragm pump and pressure chamber to deliver fluid consistently. That matters when you’re trying to clean the back of your teeth, where the CameraJet can be held horizontally.

The camera also feeds into the MyDyson app, providing live viewing, guided cleaning, coverage mapping and personalized feedback. Importantly, Dyson says the camera doesn’t record or store images on the toothbrush or in the cloud. So, for those who might be a little self-conscious about a camera being in their mouth, they can rest assured that only they will ever see what CameraJet renders.

Under the hood, the CameraJet reportedly runs on 16 million lines of code and uses a machine-learning system trained on 470,000 dental images collected during development.

The Dyson CameraJet will launch in Canada later this year for $699.99. It will be available in Ceramic Ultra Blue and Ceramic Pink, and comes with a refill dock, two regular brush heads and a charging cable. Dyson is also developing its own mouthwash and toothpaste formulations for the CameraJet, which are recommended for the best results.

CameraJet is in classic Dyson fashion, an absurd piece of technology aimed at solving a very mundane problem. However, it’s one that I haven’t stopped thinking about since seeing it in person. I’ve been eager to tell my friends about it because it’s such a radically new and unique piece of tech. At $700, this is obviously not an impulse toothbrush purchase. Dyson is trying to make the toothbrush aware of where you’re actually brushing and then do something about the places you’re missing.