Dental News - Oral-B unveils its new AI toothbrush at MWC Barcelona

Dental Tribune International

Tue. 5. March 2019

save

Since 2011, Barcelona has been home to the largest mobile event in the world. MWC Barcelona, which takes place annually, usually in February and this year on 25–28 February, welcomes over 100,000 attendees from 200 countries to share with them the latest in mobile technologies. In 2016, the Oral-B GENIUS smart toothbrush was launched at MWC Barcelona. This year, the latest innovation from the company is the GENIUS X, its breakthrough new AI toothbrush, which “knows more about brushing styles than anyone on the planet”, according to the company, based on studying thousands of brushing styles to help users perfect theirs. Dental Tribune International's Nathalie Schüller spoke with Egle Kiiver of Procter & Gamble, who works with the Oral-B R & D team, to learn all about the GENIUS X.

Ms Kiiver, would you tell me what your responsibilities are?

I work in the global oral care R & D department as a product researcher, so I was part of the development team of the GENIUS X. I focus my work on translating consumers’ needs into the technical specifications of the product, in collaboration with the whole development team, to make sure that the product addresses consumers’ needs.

During your presentation yesterday, you stated that Oral-B “tries to understand consumers’ behaviours and needs, and to be the best”. Is your market research on consumers’ needs, habits and expectations the main factor in your R & D in developing a new toothbrush?

I would say it is the second most important factor; the first one is that whatever we develop is with the goal of improving oral health. We first look at the problems dentists have, what should be done from a scientific point of view, what product is needed to really improve oral health. We gain insight from dentists, key opinion leaders and scientists, but of course we need to understand why these problems exist and how we can solve them.

From our research, we know everybody has their own brushing style and it is difficult to change because changing brushing patterns means changing habits. To be able to do so, it is easier if the user has a personal coach who will continuously help him or her to improve over time. Furthermore, we are rarely aware of whether we brush our teeth the way they should be brushed and once we are made aware of what we do and should be doing, a personal oral care coach could follow us on a regular basis to improve our behaviour for the long term.

What was the development process for the GENIUS X?

We needed to understand how to achieve what we wanted, what technologies were available, what the newest trends were and what we could really implement to make it intelligent to improve consumers’ lives. AI is all around us today. Inspired by a desire to incorporate AI in oral care, we implemented two sensors in the GENIUS X. We have an AI algorithm in the app so that when the brush is connected to the app, it can use the sensor data during brushing to determine where the user is brushing and how.

The previous-generation GENIUS brushes have one sensor. Why does the GENIUS X have two?

One sensor was enough, but a smartphone camera was needed, which is the reason it was necessary for the user to hold a smartphone in front of his or her face. With the facial recognition and sensor, it worked well.

With a second sensor in the GENIUS X, the app no longer needs facial recognition. The brush needs to have more information about its position in the mouth because, before, the position in the mouth could only be known because of the facial recognition. Now, the accelerometer tracks the location of the brush in the room (similarly to sensors in smartphones, detecting rotation and landscape view) and the gyroscope tracks the rotation of the brush. The AI algorithm in the app works with this information to detect the brush location in the mouth.

You launched your first smartphone app in 2014. I am wondering about your target group. Who are you trying to reach? Smartphone integration seems to characterise us all, but I think the younger generation more so. Is that then a major factor to take into account?

Before the smartphone app, we had the SmartGuide, which could only be purchased with the toothbrush. Then everybody started to get smartphones and that was the reason we developed the app, to enable everybody to have this feedback, so even if they did not have Bluetooth back then, the app detected the sound and the user could set the timer manually without needing the SmartGuide. Today, we find that everybody uses the app, so there is not a specific age group. The app is quite seamless: you just open it and start brushing without having to do anything else; the only thing you need to do is bring your smartphone with you when you brush your teeth. For consumers, seeing how they are brushing is the most important feedback.

We can’t see plaque and this app has so many advantages in that regard. It’s a personal trainer coaching the user daily, and it motivates the person to brush because it is interesting to see what is happening. The GENIUS X is the only brush with AI that gives real-time feedback, showing the user where he or she is brushing, tracking what the user is doing rather than telling the user what to do. The user will get results based on that. That is the advantage of this system: the user can brush like he or she usually does and then can brush the areas that still need more attention (shown in blue). That is why the user does not need to focus on what is showing on the screen. With a system that tells the user what to do, the user needs to focus constantly on the screen, otherwise he or she doesn’t know if he or she should change the segment in which he or she is brushing.

The different modes of brushing are still available with the GENIUS X (sensitive mode, pro-clean mode for those who need more power, etc.). It has good ergonomics and is very light. The AI is the most interesting feature because, even if the consumer has the best toothbrush, the most important thing is brushing all areas well, and the feedback the user receives helps him or her do just that.

Oral-B’s future vision is that humans will live longer and healthier lives through dental care at home. At the core of the vision is the Biometric Health Tracker. Would you tell me more about it?

This is our vision of the future, the possibility of telling consumers if they have problems in the mouth that might affect their overall health. Over 50 per cent of the population have gingival problems and most people think that gingival bleeding is normal. Therefore, this might be a possible way to integrate it into a daily routine, a way to educate people about their health, a way to track and see whether the person should go to see a doctor. Gingival bleeding may be okay after a dental cleaning or dental procedure, but persistent gingival bleeding is a sign of other problems. Our vision is being able to check, keep track, remind and advise people about possible issues related to their personal health. A change in pH level, for example, would indicate to the user that an imbalance between good and bad bacteria has developed, and the user would be advised to try to eat less sugar and more yogurt. The app would give the user daily tips and observe whether there has been an improvement or not, especially regarding the gingivae, where many problems can present and lead to other diseases.

Does the toothbrush already have the ability to make people aware of certain health problems?

This is just a vision, not yet on the market, but there are data and scientific papers that tell us that there is a relation between oral health and general health. At the moment, we are in the first stages towards our vision: the app gives tips and tells the user how he or she can improve his or her oral health.

Going back to Oral-B’s strategy—understanding the problems customers face and their needs, and creating products that are innovative—do you think this is your greatest strength and what positions you as the market leader?

I think that really learning with and developing a product with consumers, having them in our hearts is definitely key, but in oral care particularly, another key to being an innovation leader is our close collaboration with dentists, key opinion leaders and researchers. We meet regularly to check with them what problems they are seeing. We also work closely with them because we really want to educate consumers and not just sell products. We want them to really improve their oral health. We have so many ideas that we are constantly working on innovations.

How do you educate your consumers?

Dr Robert W. Hutson, who started Oral-B in 1949, developed nylon bristles. It was the first gingiva-friendly toothbrush. We educate people about why it is important to have a gingiva-friendly toothbrush, why they should try to use an electric toothbrush—because it really improves their oral health. We began implementing a timer to make sure people spend enough time brushing, different modes to adapt to their needs and a pressure sensor to educate them about why too much pressure damages the gingivae. Even our most basic products have a timer with sound to help users spend enough time on each quadrant of the mouth.

Education is effected via our various media channels and partner dental offices, where test brushes are available for the dentist to show patients how to use the brush and why it is better for them to use an electric toothbrush.

What do you think the future holds for oral care?

I see the future as making it easier for everyone to achieve good oral health so that dentists have less restorative work and can focus on preventative care and people have the tools for expert home care for healthy smiles and gingivae for life.

And consequently reduce other health problems?

Exactly!

In conclusion, MWC Barcelona’s theme this year is “Intelligent connectivity”. With the GENIUS X, no wonder the Procter & Gamble team is so excited—justly so!

Tags:

To post a reply please login or register

Oral-B launches its latest, iO Series 10, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

At a time when artificial intelligence was making its way into almost every facet of life, Oral-B returned to the Mobile World Congress (MWC). At this ...

Fotona unveils future of dentistry at IDS

At the 37th International Dental Show, dental laser specialiest Fotona officially announced its new Adaptive Structured Pulse (ASP) technology, a key ...

Oral-B iO: The latest Oral-B toothbrush is coming out this summer

Dr Phillip Hundeshagen studied molecular cell biology and has a PhD in systems biology and bioinformatics. He joined Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 2011 ...

dental bauer presents its new design world at IDS 2019

COLOGNE, Germany: Each year, annual design awards have recognised dental bauer’s outstanding creative contributions to innovative practice design. This ...

At last: A fully robotic toothbrush for disabled patients

KRIENS, Switzerland: According to World Health Organization data, almost 45% of the global population has some form of oral disease. For people with a ...

New WHO report unveils alarming state of global oral health

GENEVA, Switzerland: The World Health Organization (WHO) published the latest Global Oral Health Status Report on 18 November, almost 20 years after its ...

Dentsply Sirona unveils new high-precision intra-oral scanner Primescan

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany: From today, Dentsply Sirona will be marketing its new intra-oral scanner, Primescan. Just days before the international product ...

Innovation never sleeps: A-dec to share its next new development at IDS

Can you do this? That phrase from dentists today prompts the same spark to creatively solve dental equipment challenges as it did nearly 60 years ago when ...

What does Europe’s new AI act mean for healthcare?

STRASBOURG, France: The passing of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI act) on 13 March marks a pivotal moment in the regulation of AI technologies, ...