Not only did it leave behind specks of food, it also required using a special kind of toothpaste made by AutoBrush. Nearly all electric toothbrushes that pair to apps collect varying amounts of personal information. In most cases, the only way to opt out of your data—anonymized or not—being disclosed with affiliates and third parties, for a variety of purposes, is to not download or use the app at all. If there’s one hygiene product you use every single day, it’s your toothbrush. Unfortunately, many people are clueless when it comes to picking the right one. If you are curious about which Oral-B toothbrush head to get, visit the CVS Pharmacy® in your area.
Oral-B declined to disclose the number of oscillations, vibrations, brushstrokes, or bristle movements for any of its toothbrushes, but we noticed that the Oral-B Vitality felt noticeably weaker than the Oral-B Pro 1000 and Pro 500. It has a two-minute timer but does not have an interval timer that buzzes every 30 seconds. It comes with a FlossAction brush head, which can be swapped out for other Oral-B heads. Unlike the Pro 1000, it does not have a blinking light to indicate if the toothbrush is charging. “While manual toothbrushes are more traditional, electric toothbrushes are battery powered,” explains Dr. Horowitz.
This is because the movement of the brush head provides good brushing technique everywhere that it reaches, while manual brushing can be suboptimal in hard-to-reach areas, or difficult for some people. Rather than a standard brush head on a handle, these devices include trays that look like mouthguards lined with bristles. In promotional materials (such as the Amabrush video that accompanied the company’s 2017 crowdfunding campaign), the companies claim their devices can simultaneously clean all of a person’s teeth in mere seconds. (Amabrush filed for bankruptcy in 2019.) Questions of efficacy aside, a single user could expect to pay hundreds of dollars for the starter kit for one of these devices. And all of the replacement mouthguards cost more than $10 apiece, making these types of toothbrushes far more expensive than any of our other picks.
All Oral-B replacement brush heads can deliver oscillating-rotating power, which makes Oral-B one of the most recommended products by dentists. This worthwhile investment will help you get a professional clean without spending oral b toothbrush heads too much. Because all brush heads can fit in different toothbrush handles, it’s easy to find the best one for you. Save 42 per cent on pearly whites this Prime Day with Ocean Flow’s sonic speed electric toothbrush.
It’s just a shame that there isn’t a pressure sensor to keep us from brushing too rigorously. Testers agreed it left their teeth feeling squeaky-clean, removing plaque without causing any discomfort, while 93% found the vibrations weren’t too overpowering. It also offers real-time brushing feedback and advice via a free Bluetooth phone app. If you don’t always use the app, it stores the data and syncs it when you next open it, meaning you don’t miss out on this innovative feature.
These heads also feature a blue color that fades away when its time to switch heads. After seeing it splashed around on social media—and even on Time’s 2020 best invention list—we also tested the Willo. Marketed at the time as a $250 family-friendly toothbrush for use by up to five people, it has since pivoted to be a $150 kid-centric toothbrush (it still comes with multiple mouthguard-like brush heads for family use, however). It is an expensive, inconvenient, and ineffective toothbrush that our kid testers found uncomfortable to use. The silicone mouthguard on our test unit had a strange aftertaste, even after multiple washings, and did not adequately remove food specks from teeth.
Thanks to its five cleaning modes and a guided brushing timer, testers felt this brush provided a customised clean, which everyone agreed visibly removed plaque. Using this background information, we tested the entire line of Oral-B’s electric toothbrush models. Key considerations included ease of setup and use, design, oral b toothbrush heads ergonomics, functionality, quality of clean, and value for money. During physical testing, we adhered to the ADA’s recommended two-minute brush. The Bluetooth connectivity and customizable features on the Oral-B app make this toothbrush a strong choice for people with receding gums or who are prone to over-brushing.
For at least one of those brushes, we will use plaque-disclosing tablets to check that all areas of the teeth are getting a proper clean (allowing for a little user error). To check battery life, we also leave the toothbrush running while standing up and time how long it takes for the battery oral b genius toothbrush to run down. We then divide this figure by the four minutes per day recommended by dentists to get an accurate idea of how many weeks and days a single charge should last. Doniger recommended using Quip if you’re looking for the convenience of an electric toothbrush subscription service.