By Kymberly Martin
Oral-B launches its high-tech toothbrush.
Oral-B introduced its intelligent brushing system, the Genius, to selected media at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum on Wednesday. The Genius is positioned as a professional ground-breaking solution developed to address brushing behaviours such as not brushing long enough, brushing too hard and missing areas. Equipped with position detection technology and combined with the Oral-B smartphone app it uses motion sensors to monitor brushing routines and ensure users brush each area of the mouth evenly and thoroughly.
The company works very closely with the dental profession and the science behind the product that is strongly recommended by dentists, clinical associate professor, Matthew Hopcraft said. “Oral-B has a long history of innovation and it stretches from 1949 when the first Oral-B toothbrush was invented.”
Hopcraft signalled significant problems with oral health in the Australian community with one in five people now having infected gums. “If plaque is not removed it becomes progressive and leads to other health problems such as health disease and diabetes. Sensitivity is another and is said to affect 50% of the population.”
However his biggest concern is tooth decay which he described as a “growing problem”. By the age of six, one in two children has tooth decay in their baby teeth. By the age of 12 one in two has tooth decay and three in 10 from aged 25-44 untreated tooth decay. Also, 63,000 people are hospitalised each year with dental problems and thousands of children are having dental work done or teeth extracted because of tooth decay and the rates are going up. “So 90% of our population is suffering from some form of dental problem,” Hopcraft said.
What underlies all of this is plaque.” Because if teeth are not brushed properly bacteria grow and cause all these problems and we know manual tooth brushing is not effective. Oscillation is the most effective way to remove plaque from teeth. We need to help people brush better, remove more plaque and prevent these problems from occurring.”
Hopcraft said the new Oral-B Genius and app allows users to actively monitor their brushing routine by providing real-time guidance to improve every brushing session. “It reduces the guesswork, encourages brushing for the dentist-recommended two minutes – with the right amount of pressure and with position detection technology never misses commonly missed zones and the round brush head reaches areas that are often difficult to reach.”
As well as having a new and improved design, the Genius comes with a number of accessories including a smart travel case, a lithium-ion battery for enhanced battery life, smartphone holder and a personalised lighting system.
The Oral-B Genius 9000 Black (RRP: $369) will be available from The Shaver Shop in November and distributed to leading electrical retailers and department stores in March 2017. The Oral-B App 4.1 is free to download now on iTunes and Google Play.
The Genius was introduced at the Mobile World Congress in Spain in February.