Maybe folks had two minutes to brush their teeth back in your grandparents’ day, but here in the hectic world of 2017 we like things to be a little bit more instantaneous than that. Having covered a 10-second motorized toothbrush back in July, now a new Kickstarter campaign promises to more than halve that number — with a so-called Unico “smartbrush mouthpiece” its creators claim will clean your gnashers in just three seconds flat.
The science fiction-like device is a mouthpiece boasting a large number of tiny brushes, alongside a micropump system which distributes toothpaste. Put it into your mouth and the idea is that it cleans every tooth simultaneously, saving you the indignity of having to move a toothbrush around your mouth to polish your pearly whites one at a time. You can even control the brush speed from your smartphone, via a connected app.
“In our opinion, in the toothbrush industry there has been no real innovation for decades,” inventor Nicola Nichele told Digital Trends. “If you think of electric toothbrushes, for example, you can easily realize that these are only slightly changed from time to time with different types of bristles or slightly different shapes, but there has never been real innovation in terms of time and advantages. We believe that in many areas there are big improvements we can make to make people’s lives easier. We hope this will be only the first of many innovative projects that will help all people to change their habits for the better.”
Once you’ve brushed your teeth with the Unico smartbrush, simply put it back into its dock and it will be automatically rid of bacteria using the cleaning powers of ultraviolet light. Fully recharged and restored, it will be ready for your next three-second clean. Or so it claims.
The concept looks all kinds of intriguing, but it may be worth waiting to see whether this one lives up to the hype before parting with your hard-earned cash. It is currently hoovering up funds on Kickstarter, however, where it has raised close to $960,000 with just days remaining on the campaign. If you would like to pledge money for a pre-order, you can do so for a starting price of 99 euros ($117). Its creators say that shipping will take place in February 2018.
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- Oral-B’s iO4 and iO5, the latest in the smart toothbrush lineup, are finally available
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