Barcelona: Artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into a number of your home appliances and smartphones. You can now expect it to find its way into your mouth.
According to Thomas Serval, Kolibree founder and CEO, the oral health care market could be the next area to see growth opportunities with AI.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Kolibree launched Ara, a toothbrush with AI-embedded directly in the handle. Users can use the brush in “offline” mode and still capture valuable data about how well they are brushing.
Serval said that improving your brushing helps to remove more bacteria, reduce plaque and prevent gingivitis.
“Brushing is recorded and serves to measure your personal progress. View your personal check-up diagram to see your progress, or use the step-by-step coaching guidelines, whenever you want. Just open the app every week or two and the personalised data in the brush automatically synches to your app,” he said.
The toothbrush includes a micro-processor inside which captures, store and sync data irrespective of if you use the Ara’s app or not.
Healthy habits
He said that machine learning algorithms embedded in the toothbrush learn your brushing pattern each time you brush; recommendations for improvement are adapted just for you.
The National Institutes of Health cites dental caries (tooth decay) as the most prevalent chronic disease in both children and adults, even though it is largely preventable.
“Ara shows how well you are brushing commonly missed areas such as the posterior areas of the molars,” Serval said.
He said that parents will have fewer headaches to constantly follow up on kids to make sure they brush regularly and, at the same time, children learn healthy habits and have fun while doing it.
Dental hygienist Elizabeth Farrell at Kolibree said that Ara shows how well you are brushing commonly missed areas such as the posterior areas of the molars.
Serval said that more than 50,000 Ara toothbrushes have been pre-ordered. The pre-order price is $49 (Dh180) until March 15, and it will be $129 at spring launch.
