Electric toothbrush

Think it’s about time I got a new electric toothbrush. My old oral-b’s battery doesn’t last long between charges now and I’ve had it for at least a decade.

Would like to stock with oral-b or oral b charger compatible, as that’s the household charger, but wondered if it’s just a case of the cheapest is good, or are they a bit crap and I’m better with upping the price a bit.

I just need it to clean my teeth, so don’t need timers or anything particularly fancy, but I’d like something that actually cleans them rather than just rotating about in my mouth a bit and distributing toothpaste on my gums.

Under £100, Christ, under £50 really..

Anything worth a shufty?

Can’t advise on a device but if you are handy you might find you can change the battery.  On our oralb I think the toothbrush can be unscrewed so you can dispose of the battery. That probably also means you can change it if you can work out the type

e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgGlV_XbfYY

but you will need a soldering iron

I’ve just bought a pair of these for me and the missus. They are sixty quid for a pair (might still be that price on amazon if you prefer):

https://shop.oralb.co.uk/pro-3900-duo-pack-of-two-electric-toothbrushes-black-and-pink/13525815.html?variation=15607128&irclickid=wXdxcNzDzxyKR7zUPb3vE3Q-UkC3k3wsb0G3ww0&irgwc=1&utm_source=digidip%20GmbH&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Oral%20B%20Logo

Use the code WELCOME10

or if you just want one and like the idea of a travel case:

https://shop.oralb.co.uk/pro-3500-cross-action-black-electric-toothbrush-with-travel-case/13368203.html

(Dunno if the code works on that)

or Amazon

https://amzn.eu/d/hZJglM5

The lithium battery feels surprisingly lighter fwiw but it does last ages on a charge and is compatible with the old chargers.

I’ve just changed mine for a sonic toothbrush and it’s great. Always deals to be had too.

The only advice that I can offer is that we had OralBs for a while. We then bought a less expensive thing which was total rubbish. Didn’t clean, crucially. Reverted to an OralB with a load of features that we never use. The kids have cheaper OralB ones that work fine but take 24hrs to charge, which is a pain.

Changed to an on sale  oral b recently. -40 reduced from 80. Basic 3 speed thing

You’d never have convinced me I’d notice the difference.

I noticed the difference.

Not only that . Without being prompted –my dentist asked if I’d changed my routine at a recent check up – my teeth were markedly cleaner apparently.

I’m currently using a cheap Oral-b body that takes 2xAA batteries.

Takes all standard heads & knock-off heads…

Works for me as I have its batteries on rotation with my other re-chargeables for game pads, etc.

The batteries last MONTHS between charges.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oral-B-Toothbrush-Replaceable-Batteries-Precision/dp/B004EFXO28?th=1

Had Oral Bs for years. Had the latest one around 1.5 years. Supposedly has 14 days battery life. It probably did on occasion, but is now about a week/10 days.

Noticed that it can only be charged from “low battery” state. If you try a top up charge at any other time, it goes flat in a day or two. Which is a bit annoying as you can’t charge it up for a few days away and leave the charger at home….. I’m not sure if this is just a feature of my particular brush though.

Recommend a waterpik to add to oral  gadgets. Using one is akin to being waterboarded I’d imagine.

Changed to an on sale  oral b recently. -40 reduced from 80. Basic 3 speed thing

From what?

A 4 quid Oral b pulsar pro. One of them traditional looking toothbrushes with the elongated heads that occilates back n forth at high speed rather than rotates.

sonic toothbrush

Love that.  “Toothbrush! Brush my teeth!”  Does it come from the next room, or do you have to be stood at the sink already?

My advice, keep away from the cheaper/basic oral b series1/vitality and get what ever 3000 upwards is on offer (Boots have them less than £45 just now). The 3000 (used to be the 2000 but I think they are now discounted) has the more powerful motor. I agree that there is no need to pay for the extra bells and whistles when you can get the same head/motor for a fraction of the price and I am not a fan of the dearer iO range myself but I know people who do like them.
https://www.boots.com/oral-b/oral-b-electric-brushes

Whatever Oral B is on offer.  They’re all the same bar gimmicks you’ll never need and whatever head they’re bundled with which are all interchangeable anyway.

has the more powerful motor

I’ve read that a more powerfull motor can actually be bad if you are too ‘enthusiasic’ with it, and use it too long per-session though?

Apart from ‘smart features’ what’s the difference?

As @cougar says

the basic small round oscillating oral b head is the thing that is clinically proven to be better ( in the average persons hands ) than a manual toothbrush. All the expensive models have is extra bells and whistles that make little difference.

Waterpiks are ok. They do clean in between the teeth but not as well as flossing or interdental brushes.

Trust me, if you have used the basic ones and liked them then fine as they are better than manual brushing, but if you have used the more powerful ones then the basic ones feel weak, as if the battery is going flat, if I remember correctly the 3000 upwards rotates/pulses at twice the rate of the series 1/vitality, something like 40,000 vs 20,000 a minute. The more powerful ones are not so powerful they will harm your teeth, plus they have varying speeds if you feel they may, and they have a pressure sensor that lights up if you do press to hard, and a timer, so difficult to cause any harm really.

Go sonic. Complete game changer. Amazon do them for not much money, £20-£30. Had mine for 3 years at least.

+1 on a sonic one. Moved from Oral B cross action to Oral B IO series and its night and day different. Also the IO have serviceable battery change using the charger base to remove the bottom cap. Battery is a changeable.

The battery life seems lower and higher models just have a fancy screen. IO 6 seems the sweet spot from £115 https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/oral-b-io-series-6-black-lava-rechargeable-toothbrush/p/0556676?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlvW2BhDyARIsADnIe-K-z9gdtEQDp4mWU0Uu48znG3ZB4TMycAZIg5mWSsv2pHujVcBCokoaAnBwEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I’ve just gone from Oral B to Suri. Suri is so much better at cleaning and battery lasts for weeks.

Here’s some science…

Sonic V’s regular electric brushes:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/idh.12597

My daughter wanted a Suri toothbrush for her Christmas.

She’s happy with it, just received two new heads as it’s a subscription service. They even sent a freehold returns bag for the used heads to be recycled.

cheers.

looks like I can get an oral B 3500 for £40, though I’m wondering about sonic ones and whether the cheap amazon ones are actually any good, or is Suri the way..

Which ever one you choose, make sure you can get replacement heads easily and (relatively) cheaply.

I’ve looked at a few other leccy toothbrushes but always come back to OralB because the heads are a nightmare to get hold of easily.

I’m currently using an OralB Pro1 which comes with it’s own travel case (great if you move about a bit) from B&M for £24.99.

Philips Sonicare user and occasional Oral B user. I would recommend Booheads on the Sonicare. They seem better than the Philips OEM heads which are way better than cheap eBay ones. My dentist told me to go and buy the oral B toothbrush with the pressure indicator but she didn’t notice any difference and I prefer the Sonicare. I’ll probably try Suri when the Sonicare battery dies as I’m sucked in by the marketing and decent battery life sounds good. I had a more expensive Sonicare before the cheap one and battery life is the only noticeable difference for me. I’d pay more for one that could be plugged into a USB rather needing to set it on a base plugged into a USB

Oral B with bluetooth connection. Which I don’t use. BUT… the two features I do use are the 30 second pulse timer (for each quadrant) and the red LED for too much pressure. So a mid range Oral B that may or may not tell your phone your brushing habits, will have you standing at the mirror longer than you think, and will not cause too much applied pressure. Mine has been excellent. Of course the charger gets scummy but that is a feature not a bug.

I’ve just bought a pair of these for me and the missus.

… as have I. Thanks for that.

Oral B is on TopCashBack also, for an extra couple of quid off.

I am not a fan of the dearer iO range

I looked at this, it seems to be a stab at the Gillette pricing model. I’m not paying between 6 and 15 quid a throw for replacement heads, bollocks to that. And three figures for a toothbrush is abject madness, I’d rather have dentures.

Defo get a sonic jobbie from Amazon. Dead cheap, battery lasts for something crazy like 2 months.

Oral B pro range – bucket loads of research behind them. Mid range with quad timer and pressure sensors is all you need.

Sonicare – also lots of evidence behind them. The actual brush movement is the same across all models so no need to spend big…

Oral B iO – oral B say this is the way and they will slowly stop the Pro range. Seem to work well but costly at RRP. Oral B have a lot to lose if they produce a dodgy brush…

Suri and other heavily marketed/social media advertised electric brushes – is there any independent research evident on these? I’ve seen some crap versions that don’t do anything. Also the idea they can be refurbed is great but does anyone sell the parts? From memory Suri was promoted as dismantle-able but now their website is more send them back for a reduced cost replacement. Very much an unknown, likely style over substance…

toothbrushes reliant on standard AA batteries etc – just don’t bother…

beware ‘fake’ or just shit heads on brushes of all kinds. They look ok but some don’t work at all or wear out fast.

a small headed softish manual brush can be effective is used well but a good rechargeable electric brush tends to have better outcomes.

given the cost of dental work (including gum disease issues), get a decent brush, use it well (and clean between your teeth with something better than a waterpik ?) and keep the dentist at bay.

ps I have no links to Oral B or Sonicare.

My dentist recently told me most gum damage and recession he sees us caused by electric tooth brushes. He gave me a Curaprox brush, manual lowfi but it’s better at getting my teeth clean and really soft. I’ve spend years using oral b and I really can’t see me going back.

That’s interesting.

I’ve not used a manual brush for years.

FWIW, the evidence tends to suggest that the average person does a better job with an oral b style electric brush than a manual brush but that if you are “skilled” with a manual brush you can clean as well. The clinical research evidence also tends to suggest that the sonic brushes are not as effective as the rotary oscillating style.

oral b’s basic concept is the thing that is “clinically proven” to be better. They have then added lots of bells and whistles to sell more brushes so the more expensive models aren’t really any “better”

To @ali69er s point above. The stuff you are brushing off has the consistency of warm cream cheese so really doesn’t need much effort to remove ( think about how little force you are using spreading Philadelphia cheese on a bagel fresh out of the toaster!). Toothpaste is mildly abrasive ( whitening toothpastes more so) so scrubbing madly like you often see on tv will (over years) literally rub your gums and eventually tooth away.

your toothbrush ( electric / sonic or not) does no clean between the teeth. That’s why you need to use floss or interdental brushes. A waterpik is ok at this but it’s like cleaning your muddy bike with a hose. To get it really clean you need to get the sponge / brush out and wipe the worst of the mud off too.

it seems to be a stab at the Gillette pricing model

Strangely enough, they are the same company.

Have changed a few oral-b batteries over the years.  They’ve got progressively more difficult to rebuild with the cells getting hidden deeper and deeper underneath the control circuitry which is wafer thin and affixed to the chassis by a series of increasingly fragile clips. So now you might be able to get the unit apart, but to do so in a way where it won’t break on disassembly has become really difficult.  They use tabbed cells too which are so finely soldered to the boards that getting them back together is tricky to say the least.

Interesting to hear the new iO range is supposedly more rebuild able.

We have the expensive iO ones and they are good while they work but battery life has died twice now. First time got replaced on warranty but now past that. Claim to be charged up but die without warning with around 40% charge left (according to the display). Rechargeables shouldn’t be that flaky and toothbrushes shouldn’t be that expensive!

Maybe I should try to open it up and replace but don’t fancy my chances.

Thanks all. think that means I’m leaning more toward an oral b than a sonic.

I’ve just changed mine for a sonic toothbrush and it’s great. Always deals to be had too.

I picked up the top end Sonicare brush back in 2016, think it cost me £120, still using it today and battery life is just about keeping in there. I see these days they have lots of diff models to choose from, although they have done away with the wireless charging from what I can see.

 I would recommend Booheads on the Sonicare

These looks great, have just subscribed. Usually I wait for Philips have sales on the big packs, which does mean sometimes leaving a worm head on for longer then you’d want!