Dyson CameraJet revealed: 8 things to know about the auto-flossing electric toothbrush
Like a vacuum cleaner for plaque. Sorta...
Dyson has made vacuum cleaners that tell you how much dust you've sucked up, hairdryers that don't fry your barnet and fans that can help you survive the heat death of the universe. Now it's coming for your teeth.
The Dyson CameraJet is the company's first electric toothbrush, and it isn't content with simply brushing your teeth. Equipped with a camera, AI smarts and a built-in mouthwash reservoir, it can spot the gaps between your teeth and blast them with cleaning fluid while you brush.
In other words: it flosses for you. That most laborious of dental hygiene jobs might just have got way easier.
We've been hands-on with the new gadget here to save your pearly whites. Here's 8 things about it you need to know.
1. Yes, there's actually a camera in the toothbrush
This is the bit that sounds like an April Fool's joke but is very much real. The CameraJet has a tiny 100,000-pixel macro camera built into the brush head, which captures 28 images every second as you brush. Dyson's machine-learning system then analyses those images to identify the gaps between your teeth — which will help with that auto-flossing feature we'll get to in a moment.
There's even a stroboscopic light and specially designed lens to help the camera see what's going on in the rather cramped environment inside your mouth.
And if you really want to inspect your dental handiwork, the MyDyson app can show you a live view of what the camera is seeing — who knew the missing ingredient in brushing your teeth was CCTV! All recordings stay local, so if you're worried about the cloud-based privacy of your molars, that's no concern here.
2. It flosses while you brush
This is the clever bit that makes those cameras useful. When the CameraJet spots an interdental gap, it fires a small, conical burst of mouthwash directly between your teeth.
Rather than using the kind of high-pressure jet associated with standalone water flossers, Dyson says its system is designed to be gentler on your gums and enamel. The conical spray is intended to sweep plaque away across a wider area, rather than simply punching a hole through it.
The jet can deliver up to 0.15ml of liquid in a burst, with the whole process happening quickly enough that you can simply carry on brushing.
So, theoretically, the CameraJet takes the bit of dental hygiene most of us are spectacularly bad at remembering – flossing – and makes it automatic. During our hands-on demo with a pre-production model the CameraJet didn't always accurately find the teeth gaps, so it'll be interesting to see if it's more reliable in its final form.
3. It took Dyson six years to make
This isn't a toothbrush Dyson knocked together over a long weekend. The company says it spent six years developing the CameraJet, including working out how to make a camera function reliably inside a moving mouth while simultaneously dealing with toothpaste, saliva and very low lighting conditions.
In a truly gross leap forward for dental hygiene innovation, Dyson even developed its own synthetic plaque in collaboration with researchers at the National University of Singapore so it could test how effectively the new conical jet removes it.
In classic Dyson fashion, there is an enormous amount of engineering hiding inside what's usually a plastic stick you wouldn't think twice about.
4. You'll probably need special toothpaste
There's a catch to putting a camera in your toothbrush: toothpaste foam isn't particularly helpful when you're trying to see through it.
The CameraJet is therefore designed to work with non-foaming toothpaste (which Dyson, naturally, will be selling an own-brand tube of alongside the CameraJet), which allows the camera to maintain a clear view of your teeth. Dyson also makes a low-foaming mouth rinse for the device.
You can use other toothpaste, but Dyson recommends an SLS-free, gel-style, non-foaming formula if you want the camera and automatic flossing system to work properly.
So yes, Dyson has entered the toothpaste business too. Your bathroom cabinet is about to become considerably more Dyson-branded.
5. The toothbrush is properly smart
The CameraJet isn't just using the camera as a glorified gimmick. The MyDyson app can provide guided brushing, coverage mapping and feedback on your technique, while keeping track of your brushing habits over time. Haptic feedback in the handle can also alert you if you're pressing too hard or using the wrong technique.
As mentioned, the camera images are processed on the device or in the MyDyson app and, according to Dyson, aren't stored or shared.
6. It still has to be a good toothbrush
Underneath all the cameras and mouthwash jets, the CameraJet is still an electric toothbrush. Its dual-bristle head is designed to clean along the gumline, while variable sonic oscillation is intended to keep the bristles moving rather than stalling against your teeth.
There are three cleaning modes – including brush-only and auto-jet-and-brush – plus different intensity settings. The brush head also contains RFID technology to monitor wear and tell you when it's time for a replacement.
A handy reminder — if your toothbrush can monitor your brushing technique, why shouldn't it also side-eye you that you've been using the same brush head since the day you bought it?
7. The charging dock is doing a lot of work
The CameraJet's dock isn't just somewhere to dump the toothbrush after you've finished. It charges the device and automatically refills its built-in mouthwash reservoir.
That reservoir holds 12.5ml – enough for a brushing session – and Dyson has designed it with an 'anti-gravity' system so the liquid can reach the jet regardless of how you're holding the brush. The dock can refill it at the touch of a button.
It's a very Dyson solution (one pioneered on a larger scale in the company's wet-clean floor care gadgets) to the problem of making a toothbrush that somehow contains a tiny plumbing system.
8. It costs £419.99 – and is available now
And here we arrive at the part that might make even your dentist wince.
The Dyson CameraJet costs £419.99 in the UK, putting it firmly into luxury toothbrush territory. It's available in Ceramic Ultra Blue and Ceramic Pink, with the package including the brush, charging/refill dock and other accessories.
That's a lot of money for something whose primary job remains cleaning your teeth. But the CameraJet isn't really competing with a £30 supermarket electric toothbrush. Dyson is positioning it as a complete oral-care system – part toothbrush, part flosser, part dental camera and part personal-health gadget.
It's also another sign of how oral care is becoming increasingly wrapped up in money-spinning the world of beauty and wellness. It's as much about the clout of having a device that looks cool and reassuringly-space age by your bathroom cabinet as it is about cavity prevention.
Do you need a £420 toothbrush? In this case, that's pretty much entirely down to your patience with flossing — if you have ever been told by your dentist that you really should floss more, Dyson has now built a machine that does it for you. No excuses then, provided you've got the cash to spare.
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