Smile! You're on Dyson's $500 toothbrush camera

Are you ready to stick a $500 camera toothbrush in your mouth?

Dyson just launched an electric toothbrush and "precision flosser" that blasts water into the gaps between your teeth. How does it find those gaps? Great question — it uses a tiny camera to spot them and power wash away plaque or bits of broccoli stuck in there.

Behold:

Honestly, it looks very cool. Dyson has a good track record of creating personal care devices with big price tags that totally revolutionize the category. People are nuts for their ultra-expensive hair dryers and styling tools. So if they can pull this off for oral hygiene? Hey, sounds good.

Dyson is aiming to market this to people who aren't good at keeping up with flossing ("Few of us do it even though we know we should," the company says) since it makes it all a one-step thing.

I'm all for gum health (who isn't?), but does it seem a little, uh, strange to have a camera on your toothbrush?

The Great Camera-fication of Household Items

We're already inviting cameras into our homes in more and more normalized ways.

Video doorbells are more and more common. Robot vacuums have cameras and sensors that can map out your home. High-end fridges can peer into your shelves. There's even a fancy new AI toilet with a camera that tracks your health via your, uh, output.

Dyson addresses the elephant in the room of bringing a camera-enabled device into the sanctity of your bathroom on its website, in an only-in-2026 Q&A section titled: "Are there privacy risks with an in-mouth camera?"

The company says that the camera is "optimized for short-range vision and detection only" — basically, only when right up against your teeth, and not, say, taking video while getting out of the shower. It also says images are deleted from the app immediately after viewing, and not stored or shared. (I asked Dyson for more details on the privacy aspects of the camera and didn't immediately hear back).

To be fair, monitoring your gum line isn't exactly the surveillance state; it's a very limited use item with potential for huge upside (oral health is serious stuff!).

But our potential willingness to stick a camera in our mouth twice a day falls somewhere on The Great Camera-fication spectrum that leads to Meta glasses and Flock cameras. After all, remember when someone managed to remotely access a fleet of camera-equipped DJI robot vacuums?

Dyson is testing our acceptance of cameras in everyday items. They might be onto something. Or, you know, you could save $500 and just remember to floss.