We probably all feel comfortable with the way we brush our teeth; after meals just like we were always told.  But how long do you brush for?  Do you brush with the right amount of pressure?  Are you sure you’re giving each part of your mouth its fair share of brushing time?

A recent development in electric toothbrushes the Oral B Denta-Pride 5000 allows us to answer these impossible questions, but then hits us with another puzzle – why 5000?

The Denta-Pride 5000 looks like many other electric toothbrushes with a circular spinning brush and charger base.  What sets this brush apart, however, is the Smart Guide living in a hand-held unit.  This acts as your personal tooth brushing coach in the form of a little LCD happy face, and can monitor your brushing via a Bluetooth link-up.

When you turn on your brush you’ll see your trainer’s smiling face giving you encouragement as you commence your brushing.  However, if you begin to apply too much pressure it expresses its displeasure with a mildly pissed off look until you lay off a bit.

And if you’re the rebellious type who insists on brushing your teeth too hard while flipping your virtual trainer the bird, it’ll just step in and hijack your toothbrush, automatically lowering its settings to “soft clean” until you get your act together and prove you’re responsible enough to brush your own teeth.

Once your toothbrush has you firmly in line, it’ll also tell you how much time you should be spending on each part of your mouth with a simple circular chart.  The circle is divided into quadrants corresponding to the four corners of your mouth.  While one quadrant is lit up you should only be hitting that spot in your mouth and then change accordingly thus ensuring an even brush in a timely fashion.

Braun, the brush’s maker, claims it removes 99.7% of plaque from teeth, but more important is what such a brush can teach us about ourselves.  Even if you get no complaints from your dentist, who knows? Maybe putting a little less pressure on your lower molars now can save your teeth longer into old age.

Source: Braun Oral B Japan via web R25 (Japanese)