REVIEW: The Oral-B iO Series 9 – A Smart But Slightly Judgemental Dental Investment

Oral-B knows what it is doing when it comes to dental care.

Smart products are not just limited to smartphones and TVs anymore; now your electric toothbrush can be an intelligent piece of tech too.

Oral-B’s iO Series 9 Electric Toothbrush – with an eyewatering RRP of $749 – is engineered to ensure your daily and nightly teeth cleaning is as thorough as possible.

Powered by AI Recognition and 3D tracking, the iO Series 9 toothbrush uses the latest tech to revolutionise your teeth cleaning experience.

ChannelNews took the brand-new iO Series 9 for a test-run and while it was certainly the most judgemental toothbrush I’ve ever had in my bathroom, I found it to be an incredible dental investment.

Design

The iO Series 9 is a sleek, futuristic toothbrush with a gorgeous matte black finish.

There is an interactive colour display on the front of the brush which talks to you as you clean your teeth, guiding you along the experience.

If you brush your teeth for a quick 20 seconds, the display will show a sad face, judging you for your careless dental hygiene.

After two minutes it will either display a neutral face or a smile if it thinks you have done a good enough job.

The brush head is a unique, dentist-inspired design – big enough that it thoroughly cleans each of your pearly whites but small enough that it gets into all the necessary cracks and crevices.

As you toggle through the screen before the first brush, you can choose one of seven modes or ‘teeth goals’, such as teeth whitening or sensitive.

You can also customise the colour of the light ring which lets you know if you are brushing too hard. I chose blue/green/red.

The micro-vibrations on the iO Series 9 are powerful enough that you don’t really need to apply much of your own pressure. It truly does all the work for you!

If you are hacking at your teeth too severely with the iO, the ring will turn an angry red colour to let you know you need to be gentler. It’s like having an AI dentist right there in your bathroom.

The iO Series 9 also comes with a stylish charging pad, four brush head replacements and a travel charging case.

Performance

I am an avid user of electric toothbrushes, but the iO Series 9 is in a league of its own.

A traditional, manual toothbrush user might be scared away from the confronting tech built into this powerful toothbrush.

Oral-B’s frictionless magnetic drive helps the head distribute energy around the tips of the bristles for a smooth, quiet cleaning experience.

It combines both oscillating and rotating motions so all you need to do is slowly move it around your mouth and let the brush do all the hard work.

The pressure-sensor is also a godsend. It knows if you are damaging your teeth by brushing too vigorously and its super easy to follow along through the lights.

But it doesn’t stop there. The iO Series 9 becomes very familiar with your mouth through the integrated Oral-B iO App, which provides real-time individual tracking and coaching.

Just connect your toothbrush to your smartphone via Bluetooth, download the app and voila, you have a virtual dentist in your pocket.

The handy app uses AI to map out your mouth and it knows automatically if you have cleaned your mouth well enough.

Just a 2-minute brushing session with the 3D teeth tracking app will allow the brush to look at 16 zones in your mouth.

It’s impossible to use the iO Series 9 and NOT come out of it with a satisfied, clean feeling in your mouth. It’s like having a professional teeth clean every morning and night.

I’ve been using the toothbrush for two weeks on the ‘whitening’ mode, and as well as cleaning my teeth as thoroughly as a day in a dentist’s chair, I also noticed they were brighter and whiter too.

Not only that, but my gums also feel healthier as the gentle micro-vibrations are safe to use on your gums and tongue without bleeding ensuing.

Verdict

Oral-B’s iO Series 9 is a powerful piece of tech which will be the smartest product in your bathroom.

The combination of professional cleaning technology, AI Recognition and an integrated app, your teeth cleaning habits will be changed forever.

9.5/10

PROS

Sleek design

Integrated app

3D teeth tracking

High-quality components

Charging case

CONS

Expensive