WATCH: The 'smartbrush' that can clean your teeth in under three seconds

Engineers have created the first-ever "smartbrush" that can clean your teeth in less than three seconds.
The smartbrushThe smartbrush
The smartbrush

Engineers have created the first-ever "smartbrush" that can clean your teeth in less than three seconds.

The patented invention by Nicola Nichele, 28, is a motorised mouth guard that cleans a user's teeth simultaneously.

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People will spend more than 200 full days manually cleaning their gnashers by following dentists' advice that we spend three minutes after each meal.

The smartbrushThe smartbrush
The smartbrush

But the Unico is fitted with separate rotating electric toothbrush heads that are activated by tapping on a connecting power pack unit.

It comes in different sizes and even squeezes toothpaste into the centre of each brushhead from cartridges fitted in the pack.

The Unico, which costs €99 for two mouth units, connects to a smartphone which controls how fast and how long the cleaning cycle lasts.

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Its 22 separate ultra-sonic electric brushheads rotate around the three exposed sections of a person's lower and upper set of teeth simultaneously.

The smartbrushThe smartbrush
The smartbrush

The contraption cleans tongues by squirting the toothpaste-mouthwash formula through small fitted nozzles.

Mr Nichele claimed he was inspired to invent it after finding using a manual brush before going to bed is "terribly annoying" when he was a "penniless" 18-year-old in 2007.

But he was only able set up his company Unico and built his prototype in 2016 thanks to advances in 3D-printing and crowd-funding.

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"Unico is the first patented smartbrush in the world that can perform tooth brushing perfectly in just three seconds," said the Italian product engineer.

"It's evening and you are completely relaxed on the sofa watching a movie. The movie ends, you are sleepy and you just want to go bed... but before you have to wash your teeth.

"I do not know if it is so for you, but for me that feeling is terribly annoying, so I invented Unico.

"Your time is precious and should not be wasted!"

He added his invention is designed to take just 1.87 seconds to theoretically achieve the same cleaning results as three minutes of manual brushing.

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"We brought the total time up to three seconds just to give you an even more effective cleansing and to give you the time to at least quickly do your hair or spray on some perfume while you are using it," said Mr Nichele.

"The difference compared to other existing toothbrushes and smartbrushes is that Unico multiplies the effect of a single ultrasonic electric toothbrush for each single tooth portion exposed.

"The mouth unit comes with ergonomic and flared brushes that allow you to reach all the exposed surfaces of the teeth and the interstices between one tooth and the next one without damaging the enamel of the teeth and the gums."

Nearly 200 people have backed and raised more than €23,000 out of his €75,000 crowd-funding target on his Kickstarter webpage: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2077043275/unicotm

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