Dyson puts AI in your mouth with a $499 toothbrush that promises to tackle flossing

After reinventing the vacuum cleaner and turning the hair dryer into a luxury appliance, Dyson is moving into the bathroom once again. Its new $499 CameraJet uses a miniature camera, machine learning and precisely aimed jets of mouthwash to clean between teeth while users brush.

Dyson has spent decades persuading consumers that ordinary household objects can be improved with enough engineering. Its latest target is one of the more stubborn parts of the morning routine: dental floss.

Unveiled this week, the $499 CameraJet marks the British company’s first move into oral care. The electric toothbrush combines conventional brushing with a small camera and an automated jet designed to clean the spaces between teeth.

The technology is unusually elaborate for an object normally kept beside the bathroom sink. A 100,000-pixel macro camera examines the mouth while the user brushes, analysing 28 images every second. Machine-learning software identifies gaps between teeth and, within milliseconds, activates a cone-shaped burst of mouthwash aimed at the space.

Dyson says the system was trained using 470,000 dental images and is intended to bring brushing, interdental cleaning and rinsing into a single routine. A 12.5ml reservoir built into the handle supplies the liquid, while an “anti-gravity” pumping system allows it to operate regardless of how the brush is held.

Users can also connect the CameraJet to the MyDyson app to see a live view from inside their mouths and receive feedback on their brushing. Dyson says images are not recorded or stored.

Can it really replace floss?

That remains the $499 question. Dyson presents the device as a way of cleaning areas routinely missed during brushing, but independent experts have called for more evidence of its benefits and pointed to both its price and size.

The CameraJet nevertheless fits a familiar Dyson formula: take an unglamorous everyday task, surround it with formidable engineering, and ask consumers to pay a premium to do it differently.