AntiQ

A QLF-equipped smart toothbrush designed for an effective, personalised oral care experience

Aiming to fill the void between dentist and patient, AntiQ seeks to create an ecosystem to make health data more transparent and accessible.

Group Project with Ivan Tsou, Jacob Chen, Megan Lo and Violet Kuo
Contributions: Lead ID, Research & Definition, Ideation, CAD, Rendering & Animation, UX, Prototyping
Software: Solidworks, Keyshot, Vectary, Figma

Over 80% of Taiwanese adults suffer from periodontal disease, costing more than NT$1 billion annually in dental treatment

Background

Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory infection caused by advanced bacterial plaque buildup on the teeth.

It often starts with mild, painless symptoms like bleeding or swollen gums, but can escalate to periodontitis, which destroys the soft tissue and bone supporting the teeth if left untreated.

Image Source: Australian Institute of Health & Welfare (AIHW)

While poor oral health carries significant financial consequences, studies have shown that periodontal disease is linked to an increased risk of systemic health conditions, including Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Around 12% of people aged 5 and above report that dental visits impose a large financial burden

Why do Patients Suffer From Bad Oral Health?

Even though Taiwan is renowned for a universal healthcare system that grants patients routine checkups every six months?

The Objective

Develop an intuitive, accessible and friction-free ecosystem that guides proper oral hygiene techniques, cultivates consistent brushing habits and implement early intervention strategies.

Research & Development

Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence (QLF) Technology

Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence (QLF) is an established oral imaging technology widely utilised for advanced plaque detection. While traditional QLF equipment is bulky, delicate and expensive, restricting its use only to professional settings, recent advancements in hardware miniaturisation have made it possible to embed the clinically validated technology directly into consumer products

Image Source: Yoshitani, Ogata, & Yatani (2016)

By emitting a specific wavelength of near-ultraviolet light, QLF highlights plaque formation, which can be analysed by specialised diagnostic software to quantify density and distribution precisely.

Although the technology has seen some spotlights with pioneering products like Miharu-kun and Colgate's Plaqless Pro unveiled at CES 2020, both solutions exhibit usability constraints as Miharu-kun is merely a diagnostic tool lacking cleaning capability, while the Plaqless Pro suffers from accuracy issues when paired with standard toothpaste.

AntiQ aims to seamlessly integrate the industry-proven QLF technology into our concept for easy monitoring and effortless real-time feedback, offering a frictionless solution to foster long-term hygienic habits and sustain good oral health.

Image Source: Engadget

Group A - with gamification / Group B - without gamification
Image Source: Iurchenko (2017)

Gamified Experience

Driven by engaging and playful mechanics to captivate and attract user attention, gamification theory has emerged as a powerful tool, widely adopted across software design. Even though it is often criticised for contributing to digital addiction, academic research indicates that gamified experiences has a significantly positive influence on both education (Dicheva et al., 2015) and behavioural formation (Iurchenko, 2017).

Based on our analysis of Taiwanese oral care habits, creating strong behavioral incentives is critical to increasing daily plaque-removing compliance. Therefore, we incorporated gamified design elements into the concept to sustain long-term engagement and reinforce proper hygiene habits.

Data Potentials

In addition, the recent oral care market has seen innovative hardware-software integration from brands like Oral-B, Oclean, and Brush Monster, each utilising distinct metrics alongside unique gamification elements, such as brushing pressure, rotation angles and hand position.

Image Source: Hum by Colgate

However, one particular emerging competitor, Quip, captured our attention—not only for its design-oriented philosophy and startup mindset, but also for its subscription business model and the use of data.

In 2018, Quip acquired Afora Care, consolidating online dental care and network resources, and subsequently launched modern alternatives to traditional dental insurance—the Quipcare and Quipcare+.

The Idea

The vision behind AntiQ is to create a cohesive ecosystem that bridges the information gap, making critical health data both transparent and accessible to everyone.

The Design

With the smart monitoring technology and accompanied app, users can manage and maintain their oral health effectively

Anti-plaque Toothbrush

Designed to help prevent periodontal disease, the technology-equipped smart toothbrush and its companion app provide an ultimate personalised oral cleaning experience.

Smart Monitoring

AntiQ toothbrush monitors oral health with QLF sensing technology, with integrated on-device illumination that signals live plaque distribution.

Once connected to Bluetooth, users can access comprehensive visualised diagnostic reports based on their recent activities.

Alerts & Reminders

Based on gathered decentralised information, the app flags any abnormalities and alert the occurrence of potential diseases, prompting users to seek medical treatment.

Additionally, users can configure reminders to maintain routine dental checkup schedules.

Cultivating Habits

Utilising gamification principles, the app integrates a reward system driven by persistence, individualised achievements and immersive interactive elements.

Coupled with the distribution of reliable oral health knowledge provided by professional dental practitioners, the design maximises engagement to increase user adhesion and ensure prolonged habit formation.

Uncompromised Sustainability

The device also features a material-optimised bristle head that can be redeemed by reward points or through customisable subscription program that dispatches replacements based on personal usage or standard clinical recommendations.

Healthcare Database

The anonymised user data is securely transferred to a cloud server, developing a periodontitis database dedicated to predictive modeling, clinical research, and product development.

Depending on localized market frameworks, the aggregated data can be integrated with medical institutions and insurance providers to deliver precise healthcare solutions.

To explore the application ecosystem and user interface design, visit Velvet Kuo’s complete project on Behance.

Behind the Scenes