A Winning Floss-ophy for Dental Care.

• Position: ORAL HYGIENE

Even a dollar-store toothbrush can be a smart toothbrush with an invention from University of Pittsburgh student Sohail Rana, who noticed a trend in patients while studying at the School of Dental Medicine. He saw that they often selected the cheapest treatment options instead of the best-quality ones.

I wanted to develop a way where we could catch problems much earlier and make people aware of the dangers of tooth decay. The issue isn't the toothbrush itself; it's people not using their brush and floss on a regular basis. Only one out of three people floss regularly. That adds up to a lot of people who don't floss.

ZeroDK, the group's startup company, is beta testing a new smart toothbrush holder that connects to a smartphone app. The app tracks users' brushing and flossing behavior and...