Cars have been cleaned for years using high-pressure hoses that rely on water droplets moving at high speed to displace dirt. A number of people have thought of trying the same idea with teeth to remove food, bacteria and plaque from the teeth.
But treading the line between damaging the mouth and having no effect at all relies on the distance between the spray head and the teeth, says consumer electronics company Philips.
The company has designed a spray head with a couple of probes that project out in front of it. The user simply places these against their teeth to ensure that the sprayer head is the optimum distance away.
The company seems to be planning toothbrushes with the sprays built in. A separate Philips patent describes a sensor for a spray toothbrush that reflects a light beam off tooth enamel to measure how clean, allowing the user to be told exactly when to stop.
Another patent describes a version of the spray that can have its temperature controlled by the user.
Read the full
high-pressure spray toothbrush,
clean tooth detector and
temperature-controlled tooth spray patent applications.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
