It’s not CES without at least one AI-powered toothbrush that promises to revolutionise how you clean your mouth. It’s usually some form of Bluetooth connectivity with an app that lets you view which teeth you’ve brushed, and which ones you may have missed. At this year’s show, however, Philips’ Sonicare 9900 Prestige with SenseIQ takes it a step further — the brush uses AI to detect how much pressure you’re exerting, and then will adjust the intensity automatically.
Pressure-sensing isn’t a super new concept with connected toothbrushes. We saw it in the Oral-B Genius X and the Oral-B iO Series 9, which both display a red light when you’re brushing too hard. However, the Oral-B brushes rely on you, the brusher, to recognise your mistake and ease up. The Sonicare 9900 Prestige is meant to let you be lazy and brush however you like, with the toothbrush itself making up for your heavy-handedness.
This takes some of the guesswork out of using a smart toothbrush. Many premium electronic toothbrushes sport several different modes and brush heads, depending on whether you want to whiten, clean, or say, focus on your gums. Philips says that’s unnecessary with the Sonicare 9900 Prestige, as it comes with a premium all-in-one brush head that is designed to do all these things at once. Supposedly, the triangular tip removes 100% more stains while longer, angled bristles remove 20x more plaque, clean deeper into your gums, and still provide “flex” in case you brush too hard.
The Sonicare 9900 Prestige does still offer the typical features you’d expect from a connected toothbrush. Namely, it works with the Philips Sonicare app to give you real-time guidance on “pressure, motion, position, duration, and frequency.” You can also get daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly progress reports and personalised recommendations on how to brush better.
That said, toothbrush apps are still kind of jank, considering how much these fancy toothbrushes cost. Speaking of cost, Philips is keeping mum on how much the Sonicare 9900 Prestige costs. Though, with words like “Prestige” in the title, it’s probably safe to assume this will cost a pretty penny.