Dyson’s CameraJet toothbrush automates flossing with a camera and mouthwash jets

Every time I go to the dentist, I get a lecture about how important it is to floss my teeth. But after a few weeks of good behavior, this is the part of my daily routine I’m most guilty of skipping, because it’s such a laborious, unpleasant process. I’m not alone—59% of Americans don’t floss daily, and 20% don’t floss at all. But I have good news. Help is on the way for those of us who hate flossing. Dyson has created a seamless flossing system, which is incorporated into what might be the most technologically ambitious toothbrush ever made. [Photo: Dyson] The British engineering company, best known for reinventing vacuums, is entering oral care. It has developed an electric toothbrush that automatically flosses with jets of mouthwash while you brush. The device, called the Dyson CameraJet, scans your mouth 28 times per second and fires tiny bursts of liquid into tight spaces where plaque can settle. And importantly, the process is so subtle and imperceptible that it feels like regular brushing. It’s an impressive—and, at $499, an expensive—piece of engineering. But it’s also emblematic of Dyson’s increasingly expansive ambitions to apply its engineering-heavy approach to categories that haven’t seen much innovation. Starting with a problem, not a toothbrush The Dyson team began developing the device when they realized that the majority of people don’t floss, even though the American Dental Association recommends doing so every day. “The toothbrush started by trying to solve ill-compliance in flossing,” says Niamh Turney, a Dyson engineer who has spent the last several years developing the device. “We looked at whether you could floss without floss.” Turney and her colleagues realized that this wasn’t just an engineering problem, but a behavioral problem. They believed they could get more people to floss if the process was incorporated into something they were already doing. “This was really about trying to integrate flossing into the toothbrushing routine, rather than trying to optimize a part of the routine that people aren’t engaging with,” Turney says. “We set about the problem of trying to create a toothbrush that flossed for you.” [Photo: Dyson] To do this, Dyson invented an entirely new system. One of the most recent innovations in flossing is the water flossers that spray liquid wherever the user points it. The problem with this was that it is very messy, with water dripping everywhere. The team wanted to see if they could incorporate a water flosser into the toothbrush, but they ran into the problem of how they could store the fluid. A countertop water flosser usually has a milliliter-sized tank, whereas a toothbrush is a much smaller device that could reasonably hold just a fraction of that. The solution was to build a miniature camera into the toothbrush that identifies the spaces between teeth in real time, and only sprays water into these gaps. This vision system is trained on nearly half a million dental images. When it recognizes a gap, the toothbrush triggers a spray of mouthwash designed to flush away plaque. As a result, it requires far less water. The tank only holds 12.5 milliliters of mouthwash. “It happens so quickly—it immediately triggers the jet while you’re brushing,” Turney explains. [Photo: Dyson] Dyson also redesigned the brush head. The company says conventional sonic toothbrushes stop vibrating effectively when pressed against teeth, since this reduces how much the bristles actually move. Dyson instead varies the oscillation angle of the brush, keeping the bristles in motion throughout brushing. To develop this brushing system, Dyson partnered with researchers at the National University of Singapore to grow synthetic plaque that mimics the properties of real plaque. It developed prototypes that tested hundreds of brush and jet designs to effectively eliminate this synthetic plaque. “We tested hundreds of iterations of a brush head, a jet profile, and the combination of those,” says Turney. Another surprising category for Dyson The toothbrush is a surprising move for a company still best known for vacuums. But over the years, Dyson has expanded its expertise. It launched the Supersonic hair dryer a decade ago. While some questioned whether consumers would spend hundreds of dollars on a super high-tech hair dryer, the product became one of Dyson’s biggest successes. It helped spawn an entire beauty business that now includes the Airwrap styling system, straighteners, and even hair-care formulations. These new categories have helped Dyson grow. The privately held company generated $8.3 billion in revenue in 2025. It also invested more than $540 million in research and development and introduced a record number of new products. Turney argues that consumers don’t necessarily think of Dyson as a vacuum company anymore. “It’s focusing on solving problems and bringing innovative products to market that increase utility, efficacy, or simply are more enjoyable to use,” says Turney. Will people pay for it? The bigger question isn’t whether Dyson can build an extraordinarily sophisticated toothbrush. It’s whether enough consumers will pay $499 for one. Along with replaceable brush heads, users will also be encouraged to refill the device with Dyson’s own specially formulated low-foaming mouthwash, which improves the camera’s ability to detect gaps between teeth. (They can use other mouthwash brands as well, but they won’t work as well.) [Photo: Dyson] Still, consumers may be more willing to splurge than skeptics expect. Its hair dryers and styling tools have become popular despite costing several times more than conventional alternatives. Indeed, it appears to have raised the standard for the entire industry, with other brands like L’Oreal releasing similarly expensive high-tech hair dryers. If the CameraJet finds similar success, it could have ripple effects well beyond Dyson’s own business. By embedding computer vision and automated flossing into a toothbrush, Dyson increases consumers’ expectations for oral-care devices. We’ll have to see whether buyers ultimately embrace the idea of a toothbrush with its own camera. But Dyson has created a robust business by reinventing everyday household products from the ground up. With the CameraJet, it’s betting that even one of our most mundane routines is overdue for an engineering overhaul.

Dyson’s new CameraJet electric toothbrush will set you back £420 (Picture: Dyson) Dyson has turned its hand to a wide range of gadgets over the years, from vacuums and fans to haircare and hand dryers.Now, it wants to change how you brush your teeth. The Dyson CameraJet is an electric toothbrush that aims to tackle teeth cleaning and flossing in one device, and at the same time. It’s bigger than your average toothbrush, with a built-in mouthwash tank that fires tiny jets of liquid through a small opening in the brush head. However, its real party trick is a tiny camera that lets it know exactly when to fire that liquid, by tracking and predicting the interdental spaces – the small gaps between your teeth – as you brush. If that all sounds very technical for a toothbrush, you’re not wrong. Engineers at Dyson have been working on the CameraJet for six years, collecting almost half a million dental images during its development, filing 38 separate patents and building its system on 16 million lines of code. You might have guessed that all this tech and research comes with a price tag to match. The Dyson CameraJet will set you back £419.99, which is significantly more expensive than high-end options from Oral-B or Philips. Even if you throw in the cost of a separate water flosser, you’d be struggling to spend that much – so is it worth it? Better habits The CameraJet is the culmination of six years of Dyson engineering (Picture: Dyson) I’ve been brushing my teeth with it for almost a week, and I have to say, I think Dyson is on to something. That’s not to say using it doesn’t come with a bit of a learning curve, which might seem strange considering we’ve been brushing our teeth our whole lives. But there’s a definite knack to using it effectively, even if those tweaks to your technique might not be a bad thing. I’ll admit my current oral health routine probably has some room for improvement. I’m something of a fairweather flosser – I’m predictably vigilant just after and just before a dentist appointment. But if I run out of floss, forget it when I’m away from home or otherwise fall out of my routine, it can be some time before I get back on the horse. Dyson’s research found I’m not alone, with 9 in 10 people apparently not flossing as regularly as they should. The Dyson CameraJet is an electric toothbrush that aims to tackle teeth cleaning and flossing in one device, and at the same time (Picture: Dyson) My decade-old electric toothbrush certainly encourages me to brush for the full recommended two minutes, but I think it would be fair to say my technique can lack any real sense of order. Even so, my dentist is usually fairly happy, but does pass me over to the hygienist twice a year to undo some of the things my brushing has clearly failed to address. This is where the CameraJet could help me. By firing the jet of mouthwash between each tooth during brushing, Dyson’s toothbrush looks to remove, or at least reduce, the need for physical flossing. While traditional water flossers use a ‘needle-type’ jet, the CameraJet uses a conical spray, which Dyson says is not only gentler on gums, but also offers wider coverage and a more effective result. The default setting is for this to fire automatically as you brush, using the camera to detect, track and predict when it’s needed, but you can also press a button on the front to add in extra sprays if you wish. You can even turn it off entirely. Weirdly addictiveIt’s a strange sensation when you first start using it, but weirdly addictive. I’ve found I need to brush slower in small circles in order to have it fire the jet consistently between my teeth, and you feel rewarded when it does. I’ve also learnt I should absolutely not scrub, or a small beep politely tells me off. My mirror has caught a fair few stray sprays of mouthwash as I have perfected my technique, and I’ve ended up a mess a few times too, but I think I’ve just about cracked it now (and stepped back from my mirror). The compact 12.5ml anti-gravity mouthwash tank has been designed to ensure the jet keeps working consistently throughout your clean, even as the tank empties. I’ve found I use just shy of a full tank with every brush, but with each spray being so tiny, you don’t feel like you’ve suddenly got a mouth full of mouthwash while brushing. The toothbrush fires out jets of liquid and has a camera to know exactly when to use them (Picture: Dyson) That said, you do need to ensure you clear your mouth regularly, so the camera has a clean view of your teeth at all times – the light on the front will flash amber if it’s struggling. That’s a consideration you obviously don’t have with a regular toothbrush, which is why Dyson has created its own non-foaming toothpaste and mouthrinse for use with the CameraJet, each costing £8.49. There are cheaper alternatives out there but they’re still a bit pricier than the regular stuff – not to mention they aren’t as readily available at your local shop if you run out. They taste nice enough though, and leave a very fresh feeling in your mouth. Another consideration you may have with there being a camera in your bathroom is privacy, but rightfully, Dyson has been very clear on this. The camera is only ever active during cleaning and no images are ever recorded or stored, either on the product or in the cloud. You can live view what the camera can see while brushing through a local wi-fi connection to the MyDyson app should you wish, but that’s it – the pictures go no further than that, and the connection closes at the end of the clean. For belt and braces, the camera has a light that shines whenever it’s on, so it’s easy to spot. When you’ve finished brushing, you’ll need to rinse everything off and refill the mouthwash tank for next time. It comes with a dock that does this at the press of a button (and also charges the toothbrush), but annoyingly, it is powered by USB-C. That means I have it next to my bed rather than in my bathroom, which might feel a bit strange for some. A shaver socket adapter certainly wouldn’t go amiss, for UK users at least. I couldn’t even find one to buy separately. A real differenceIf you’d rather, you can fill the tank manually. It reduces the need to return it to the dock, since the battery lasts long enough to sit on the sink for days, but it just doesn’t feel as slick.   Having to change even small habits like where your toothbrush lives can feel a bit frustrating in a product costing £420, but the Dyson CameraJet is one of those products that comes into its own when you start using it. There are still quirks to its performance that take some getting used to, but in just under a week I have seen and felt a real difference in my teeth and gums that makes me keen to continue. Dyson has also created its own non-foaming toothpaste and mouth rinse costing £8.49 (Picture: Dyson) There’s no getting away from the fact it remains an incredibly expensive way to brush your teeth – and that doesn’t stop when you buy it. If you opt for all of Dyson’s consumables, including new brush heads every three months as recommended (£25 for two), you could spend over £200 a year on top of the purchase price. You do at least get your first two heads, plus a toothpaste and mouthrinse included when you buy it, so those costs don’t hit immediately. Whether your desire for better, more convenient oral hygiene is enough to justify that kind of investment is a personal decision. But based on my time with it so far, I think the Dyson CameraJet offers a fun and effective way to improve your teeth brushing routine in a single product. I’m sure Dyson’s newest competitors are watching very closely indeed. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source