They say that once you’re thirsty you’re already dehydrated. They say you can fix bad breath with good hydration. They say you should be drinking 64 ounces of water a day. All seemingly sound advice, but everyone’s body is different- you should be drinking water based on your own health.
The engineers at Breathometer, who gave us the easy to use (and sanitary) portable breathalyzer, have set the bar again for individual health gadgets. Using their well-received technology, the team have branched out from their breathalyzer to a portable breath and hydration monitor called Mint.
Mint works by measuring compounds in your mouth- just like dentists do with expensive equipment- to test your breath and determine hydration levels. Specifically, Mint checks out the volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) as well as the amount of water in your mouth. It goes a step further by bringing this technology to a portable gadget and an efficient app to keep your health in check. And, unlike traditional breathalyzers, the user doesn’t even need to blow. The device is equipped with a fan to pull air from the mouth.
Mint can go wherever you go, as well. Its USB- rechargeable lithium battery goes for ten to 14 days (great for those romantic getaways) and easily updates the app with your oral health details via Bluetooth. The app is available with the App Store (iOS 8 or higher) and Google Play with Adroid versions 4.3 and higher (notably, Galaxy S4, S5, and Nexus 4). Data can be exported from the app and downloaded for easy access for your medical professionals.
Incredibly, Mint not only informs you of your current mouth health, it tracks it over time to let you know what steps you can take to improve (like making sure you take water with you anywhere you go). The team explain the importance of maintaining your mouth’s health rather than masking symptoms, like Altoids for bad breath. You can see if there are patterns to your oral health such as after you work out or first thing in the morning.
Karissa Bell of Mashable claims that an early prototype had her breath results in only 12 seconds with a projected 10 seconds on the final product. Ryan Lawler of TechCrunch stopped by the Breathometer booth at CES and gave Mint a whirl. He says it was no surprise with his on-the-road eating that his instant results were less than perfect.
Mint is still in its production; the team are gathering funds on their Indiegogo page. They expect to begin official production in June with shipping planned for August. If you’re not part of the lucky 200 to beta test, Mint will retail for $99 but early backers can get it for just $89.