Sir James Dyson has unveiled his most ambitious personal care device yet: a £420 toothbrush equipped with a tiny camera that spots the gaps between your teeth and fires a precise jet of mouthwash to blast away plaque while you brush.
Called the CameraJet, the device represents six years of development involving 661 engineers and 38 patents. It vibrates at an impressive 58,000 times per minute, but its party trick is the miniature camera system housed within the brush head that can actually see where your teeth need attention.
I sat down with Sir James during a recent heatwave to discuss the device. Despite the sweltering temperatures causing the lift in his apartment block to fail—forcing him to climb six storeys at the end of our conversation—he was in exceptionally high spirits.
“I think it’s only one out of ten people who actually floss,” Sir James explained. “And people spend far too little time brushing their teeth each session.” The idea crystallised when he asked himself a simple question: why can’t you jet between the teeth while you brush?
After a week of testing the CameraJet, the combination of brushing and interdental cleaning left my mouth feeling remarkably fresh. The technique does require some adjustment—it’s quite a splashy experience at first.
How the Technology Works
The biggest challenge was solving a real-time navigation problem: detecting tooth gaps while the brush is vibrating rapidly inside a dark mouth.
“You need light to see in the dark mouth and a camera to see where the gap is,” Sir James said. “You need to fire the correct type of jet between the teeth. It sounds simple, but it’s quite difficult because you need quite a clever camera. The brush head is vibrating at a very high speed. So, by the time you’ve sent the signal and fired the jet, you’ve gone past the gap. You have to anticipate the gap.”
This required what Sir James described as a “massive amount” of software—approximately 16 million lines of code.
He drew an analogy with pheasant shooting to illustrate the complexity. “You can’t shoot at the pheasant, you’ve got to shoot in front of the pheasant. If you shoot at the pheasant, your shot goes behind it.” The same principle applies here: the system must predict where each gap will be based on the brush’s speed and the unique shape of the user’s teeth.
The jet itself is conical rather than needle-like, which Sir James emphasised is crucial for effectiveness. Narrow jets from traditional water flossers simply puncture plaque rather than displacing it. The CameraJet’s gentler approach can be more comfortable while sweeping away more debris.
We did literally talk about it in those terms—it’s a bit like the robot in the house going around your teeth.
The camera system synchronises with the brush’s movement using light and imaging frequencies that are slightly out of sync, ensuring the system can track motion accurately. Light, camera, and jet components sit at the top of the brush stem beneath the removable head.
Engineering Around Toothpaste Foam
Conventional toothpaste foam contains sodium lauryl sulphate, which creates the familiar bubbly sensation but would completely obscure the camera’s view.
“We had to develop a camera that could see in the dark, but also with the presence of toothpaste, foam, saliva and everything else,” Sir James explained. “It’s like putting your iPhone down in your washing-up bowl and wanting it to film accurately what’s going on in the washing-up bowl. It is so difficult.”
Dyson engineers therefore developed a custom non-foaming toothpaste formulation specifically for the CameraJet. While brands like Sensodyne and Corsodyl offer non-foaming options, this proprietary blend works with the camera system rather than against it.
The system learns your mouth’s unique geography over time. “It will get better and better at finding the gaps,” Sir James promised.
The brushing rhythm itself is also different from conventional electric toothbrushes, designed to prevent the bristles from “stalling” at high frequencies.
A Premium Price for Premium Innovation
The CameraJet retails for £419.99—certainly not cheap, but not the most expensive toothbrush available either. Sir James was candid about the pricing challenge.
“When you’re first going into production with something new, inevitably it costs more than existing products,” he said. “But I want to design products that do something really well and unusual things that haven’t been done before.”
The long-term argument? “It means fewer visits to the dentist.”
Whether the gamble pays off remains to be seen. Dyson’s electric car famously never reached production. “I don’t always get it right, who knows?” Sir James admitted. “But luckily, some do work. It’s not a given.”
He’s been using the CameraJet personally for about a year. His hygienist has noticed the difference. “When I go to the hygienist now, she doesn’t get out the pickaxe. She says, ‘Oh you’ve got a bit of a stain on that tooth there.’ So, she spends the half hour dealing with things that she would never have dealt with before because she was spending her time pickaxing.”
Her verdict? “They won’t lose their jobs, they’ll move on to doing better things with our teeth.”
Dyson also announced several other products alongside the CameraJet: robot vacuums with mopping capabilities, a mains-powered vacuum cleaner (the company’s first in years), a new haircare device, and a large air purifier designed to clear smoke and pollutants rapidly.
Why it Matters
The Dyson CameraJet represents a fascinating convergence of robotics, computer vision, and personal health. Its ability to identify tooth gaps in real-time and deliver targeted cleaning while you brush could genuinely improve oral hygiene outcomes for millions who currently skip flossing. If the technology delivers on its promises of improved gum health and reduced dental interventions, the £420 price tag might actually represent good value over time. More broadly, Dyson’s entry into oral care signals a growing trend of applying sophisticated sensing and AI-driven automation to everyday health routines. The CameraJet could well be the first of many devices that transform mundane self-care tasks into intelligent, personalised health management—turning a twice-daily chore into something genuinely effective and surprisingly engaging.
