Thinking of buying Dyson's new £419 'toothbrush'? I talked to dentists and put it through its paces - here's everything you need to know

Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn moreHorrified is not the word. I’ve just seen the inside of my mouth and I feel an urgent need to make a dentist appointment and book a course of teeth whitening.Thanks to Dyson’s latest invention – a toothbrush with a built-in camera – I’ve had a close-up of each and every tooth in glorious technicolour. And it was not pretty.You might think your hands or your neck are giving the game away when it comes to your age but nothing says long in the tooth like, well, your teeth, which get yellower, duller, squarer and, thanks to gradual gum erosion, longer with age.So can Dyson’s latest toothbrush take years off me? At £419.99 you’d really hope so. But Dyson would argue theirs is not just a toothbrush, which might be why they called it a CameraJet instead.To my mind, it’s a cross between an electric toothbrush, a Waterpik (you know, one of those liquid flosser things) and a mouthwash dispenser.The built-in camera isn’t just a gimmick. It’s so it can ‘see’ the gaps between your teeth and then blast a jet of mouthwash into them, getting rid of the plaque before it hardens.‘Flossing is an awkward and time-consuming chore,’ says James Dyson. ‘Few of us do it even though we know we should. We wanted to solve three fundamental problems: how to see those gaps, remove plaque, and how to improve cleaning performance while brushing.’ The built-in camera isn’t just a gimmick. It’s so the toothbrush can ‘see’ the gaps between your teeth and then blast a jet of mouthwash into them, getting rid of the plaque before it hardens Combining brushing, flossing and mouth rinsing in one is a seductive prospect. Unless, it seems, you’re actually a dentist. One dental professional who posted on Reddit flagged the issue, saying: ‘I’m a strong proponent of advising no rinsing, eating [or] drinking for 15 minutes after brushing,’ they wrote. ‘My initial thoughts are [that] this is just blasting toothpaste off surfaces just as they’re cleaned and coated in a nice little hydrogel of fluoride.’Their point is that the concentrated fluoride in toothpaste protects your teeth. It’s why we’re told not to rinse as this either rinses it away entirely, or dilutes it, reducing its protective effects.Undeterred, I decided to give the CameraJet a go. But it’s not exactly easy to use out of the box. I thought I knew how to use an electric toothbrush but this one demands I download an app on my phone and sync the brush to it.I have to watch countless videos on technique – the brush needs to be held at a certain angle for the jet flossing to work – and even then I can’t seem to get it right. After my first attempt, I’m spattered with mouthwash, as are the mirror and bathroom. (It’s not just me either, I’ve spoken to a number of people who have bought the brush and had the same experience.)I’ve also had to stop repeatedly to rinse the brush because, despite the fact that the mouthwash and toothpaste are Dyson’s own ‘low foam’ versions, the lens keeps getting covered with bubbles, which means it can’t see the gaps so stops firing the mouthwash. (Refills cost £8.49 for the mouthwash and £9.99 for the toothpaste, although you can use other ‘low foam’ versions.)While I thought my technique would improve, subsequent attempts aren’t any less messy. Still, at least the brush gives my teeth a good clean. At least I think it does. The surfaces feel shiny but when I use my regular interdental brushes, I find detritus that the brush and jets seem to have missed.Dr Daniel Sutcliffe, founder of The Bespoke Dentist, in London, isn’t surprised. ‘This isn’t a flossing gadget. It’s a toothbrush with a camera in it. So it replaces your Oral-B, not your floss.‘I’d still be telling my patients to floss or use interdental brushes as well. Liquid disrupts, bristles scrape. If plaque is properly stuck on, something has to physically touch it. That’s true of every water flosser on the market, not just this one, and the studies have been saying it for years.’He’s unconvinced by Dyson’s claim its brush is 13 times more effective at improving gum health. ‘That sounds enormous until you spot that they measured it against a manual toothbrush. And nobody spending £420 is moving from a manual brush.‘Test it against a good electric brush and some interdental brushes for six months and then I’m interested.’ It’s a cross between an electric toothbrush, a Waterpik (you know, one of those liquid flosser things) and a mouthwash dispenserThe one aspect that does impress him is the camera. ‘I can tell a patient their gums are inflamed and they’ll nod politely. Show someone their own gum bleeding on a screen and something shifts.’Mess and efficacy aside, the other issue I have is that the CameraJet is not practical at all. It’s huge. The cable for its charging dock is a USB-C one so I’d need to get an adapter to use it with a shaving plug in a bathroom.And if you want to use the mouthwash, you have to put the brush on the dock and plug it in because the reservoir for mouthwash on the brush is filled from a larger reservoir on the dock. I would never travel with it, as it would take up a lot of space in my usual washbag.I really wanted to love this to make teeth cleaning and flossing easier. And although it costs £420, it’s not off-the-scale pricey because the list prices for the top-of-the-range Oral B and Philips Sonicare alternatives are £800 and £599.99 respectively (although you can find both for about £300).Yet the Dyson brush feels like it was made without talking to either dentists or the people who would actually use it. So save your money, book to see your hygienist regularly and you’ll still have enough change for the interdental brushes your dentist would probably rather you used anyway.