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French company Y-Brush showed off a concept for its next-generation toothbrush at CES 2022.
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This story is part of CES , where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon.
The wonderful thing about CES is witnessing a hitherto unknown company with a great idea deliver an actual product that is successful, and then seeing that company return years later with a concept for a new product. That's the case with Y-Brush, made by the French company of the same name. The strange-looking toothbrush that cleans your teeth in 10 seconds debuted at CES in 2017. Since then the Y-Brush has gone into production and is currently on sale in more than 50 countries. This week, the dental upstart returned to CES with a concept design for a follow-up toothbrush. And from what I can tell, the new design appears to improve on the original.
Unlike "big dental" brands like Colgate and Oral-B, the Y-Brush was made to improve the experience of brushing your teeth while saving you time. The original Y-Brush gets its name from the Y-shape of the brush head and handle. The brush head resembles a sports mouthguard packed with nylon bristles. A motor inside the handle vibrates the brush head to clean your teeth on the top or bottom, one jaw at a time. Instead of moving the petite head of a regular toothbrush from tooth-to-tooth over the course of two minutes, the Y-Brush cleans each half of your mouth in five seconds.
And it works. I've been using a Y-Brush as my main toothbrush for nearly a year. But that doesn't mean it's not without some shortcomings, which the new design seems to address. For example, the handle of the original Y-Brush has a distinct trapezoid-shape with squared-off sides, which is a little awkward to hold onto. The new handle is round and tapered. The base of the handle is also wider, which, since you store the brush upright, should help reduce the likelihood of it being knocked over easily.
The new design features a new handle shape with a wider base.
But the biggest improvement comes in the way you use the new design. With the original Y-Brush you'd place it on the top or bottom half of your mouth and chew as the bristles vibrated. Slowly twisting the brush helps it clean closer to your gum line. With the new design, you'll only need to move the Y-Brush right and left.
The new design also includes six vibration modes that let you dial in your preferred sensitivity:
The new Y-Brush design also incorporates an RFID chip and Bluetooth, which allows it to connect to a mobile app to track things like brushing habits and make recommendations to improve your brushing routine.
Beyond sharing the concept, Y-Brush didn't announce when the new design would go on sale. But as the new design goes through iterations and changes, you can still buy the original Y-Brush.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.