Never doubt the power of technology to make simple things complicated. As we examine trends likely to define the year 2020 in tech, a few commonalities stand out to us. One such indicator points to an upcoming boom in “AI-powered toothbrushes.” Out with your regular old electric toothbrush and in with its “machine learning” successor. Why anyone needs such a thing remains to be seen.
Multiple brands are attempting to either create or co-opt this advancement in oral hygiene technology. At CES in Las Vegas earlier this month, Oral-B made the biggest splash. Turns out Oral-B already makes an AI-powered toothbrush, called the Genius X, which hit the market in late 2019. In Vegas, Oral-B unveiled a new model, the iO, which claims to improve the mapping of the interior your mouth, so it can give you a numerical answer to the question of what areas you are skimping on. Like the Genius X before it, Oral-B’s iO has received fawning coverage by tech bloggers. Still, we can’t imagine spending upward of $200 for a toothbrush, since you can get a toothbrush at CVS for all of $4 (and even an electric one on Amazon for about $50).
Oral hygiene is important, and it is almost certainly true that most of us do not do a good enough job taking care of our teeth and gums. But if I had to venture a guess, I’d say the people most likely to pay $200 for a toothbrush are the ones who do already care about their oral health, making them the least likely to need such a product. This in turn makes the iO and other AI advancements in the industry naught more than a gimmick. You don’t need an AI toothbrush any more than you need Charmin’s new toilet paper robot.
Whether you get Oral-B’s new iO toothbrush when it is released later this year depends on if you have $200 burning a hole in your pocket. If you do, then go for it; it’s not as if it is going to make your brushing experience any worse. Just do not expect some sort of savior in toothbrush form. Like a dollar store toothbrush, an AI-powered toothbrush requires you to use it and use it right. At the end of the day, that is up to you and you alone.
