To know when your toothbrush is fully charged, look for a battery indicator light or a display panel on your toothbrush handle. For this story, T+L editors tested more than 40 toothbrushes under the guidance of Dr. Marc Schlenoff, DDS, FAGD . Rena Behar compiled their findings and surveyed multiple additional dentists, including Dr. Guneet Alag DDS, FAGD. This sleek matte black option comes with carbon-coated bristles, designed to gently remove discolouration, which our testers found did just that.
You don’t get the full suite of sensors of the iO9, but the iO6 still does a great job of tracking where and how you’re brushing and relaying it back to the Oral-B app. Plus, like the more expensive iO brushes, its pressure-sensing indicators and built-in OLED screen give you instant feedback on your brushing and whether you’ve done the full two minutes or slinked off early. Thanks to Oral-B’s magnetic motor technology, the clean is as quiet as it is impressive, with five oral b toothbrush heads different brush modes to cover gum care, whitening and sensitive teeth as well as intense and daily cleans. As long as you can live without fast charging, it’s arguably the best-value smart brush out there. Well, rest assured that we’ve done our homework to help you pick the right toothbrush. All the models reviewed here will get your teeth squeaky clean, even if they vary widely in terms of brushing technology, battery life, accessories, extra functions and price.
There’s even Bluetooth connectivity, though you’ll be able to get nearly all of the benefits of the toothbrush even if you don’t turn it on. If you’re fed up with braces, implants or bridges getting in the way of your brushing, look to this cleverly designed sonic toothbrush. It comes with three differently sized brush heads to help you clean both teeth and gums thoroughly, while a choice of seven cleaning modes allows for customised brushing. If you’ve got your technique down to a T with a manual one, then you might not see an electric one as much of an improvement.
Many felt it had “improved” their overall oral health with very little effort and helped them to feel “cleaner” every time they use it. However, the right toothbrush can help take a lot of the angst – and time – out of caring for your teeth properly. Bundled extras such as a travel case can also come in handy, particularly if it allows the brush to charge in situ via an adaptor or a USB cable. Some of us can’t get on with a brush that’s too chunky or too thin, and you might want something with more grip around the handle. I tested eight total toothbrushes in total, four of which didn’t make the cut. The app is both useful and encouraging, but I’ll admit that after a couple months, I found that I stopped using it consistently.
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. Philips Sonicare’s 9900 Prestige is the brand’s top-of-the-line smart toothbrush. It connects to your phone—to track your brushing habits—and has extraneous cleaning modes.
To test electric toothbrushes, we use them twice a day over a period of at least one week, making sure we get a feel for how they handle and perform when cleaning. During the test period, we will try any specific brush modes and attachments, and install any apps required to get the most out of built-in smart features. 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 to run down.