Brushing Away Decay

Samba Robotic Toothbrush

BY JESSICA KLEIN

In more than 20 years working in the oral-care industry, Steffen Mueller has noticed one group that’s consistently underserved: people with disabilities, nearly 88% of whom experience tooth decay. Some vibrating toothbrushes for people with mobility difficulties leave them unable to clean hard-to-reach spaces, says Mueller, managing director of Swiss oral-health company Curaprox: “There’s no movement in the mouth.”
The company’s brand-new Samba Robotic Toothbrush corrects this. Shaped like a U and featuring 12,900 soft bristles, it moves around the gumline and oscillates at both high and low frequencies to cover every tooth and groove, with no motion required of the user.