Buying Electric Toothbrushes: Oral-B

Buying toothpastes are one thing, but buying electric toothbrushes is a whole different field. If you do not like your toothpaste you might have wasted only ten dollars at the most. Although, if you have ever looked into electric toothbrushes you know they are expensive, and a nice electric toothbrush will be at least fifty dollars.
What electric toothbrush is the best? Luckily, unlike toothpastes, there are basically two strong brands for electric toothbrushes. Sonicare and Oral B. The answer to which toothbrush you should buy will differ among each dental professional you ask, and it can be very confusing. So, what toothbrush should you buy? As I tell my patients, always buy the one you believe you will like and will use! If you do not like it, then you will not use it. You are then wasting money and are not helping your oral health.

*Disclaimer I might be a little biased as I have never used a Sonicare electric toothbrush, but I personally use an Oral B toothbrush. So instead of giving only my personal opinion, I will be only stating facts and call out when I am providing my personal opinions.

Oral B
If you go to Oralb.com and check out their electric toothbrushes, on their first page they make the claim to "Remove 100% more plaque vs a manual toothbrush." They also state, "When you brush with an Oral-B, you'll see and feel the difference. For individual tooth-by-tooth cleaning and a dentist-like clean feeling every day, make a power move to Oral-B. The first electric toothbrush approved by the American Dental Association for effectiveness and safety."

Right away, Oral B catches my eye since they talk about having the approval from the American Dental Association. Just like with toothpastes, this allows us to know it has been tested and is a proven fact their toothbrushes are in fact effective and are safe for your mouths.

Oral B then describes how their toothbrushes are designed with dentists for the best possible clean. Their toothbrushes have a round brush head. This will allow the brush to cup each tooth better and remove more plaque. If you ever look at the polisher, they use during your cleanings you will notice they also use a round head.
Next, they talk about whitening from day 1. While we all know how I feel about whitening, this claim is true. When you brush your teeth, you are removing the plaque which is a yellow color and you are making your teeth whiter. The electric toothbrush also is able to remove more surface stain than a manual toothbrush.

My favorite part about Oral B toothbrushes is this next one! Protecting your gums! Oral B toothbrushes have pressure control to help reduce brushing speeds and Smart Ring Visibility alerts when you brush too hard. This is HUGE for Oral B because they realize people think they need to brush hard, when you really don't. Brushing too hard can cause your gums to recede and cause more problems. With the toothbrush warning you when you are brushing too hard, this allows you to prevent issues later on.

Lastly, Oral B toothbrushes time you and will beep every 30 seconds of brushing. You should brush for 2 minutes to remove all the plaque. With the 30-minute beeps, this allows you to make sure you spend the same amount of time on each section of your mouth. This also allows you to make sure you don't miss any areas. You can spend the first thirty seconds brushing the cheek side if your top teeth and then thirty seconds brushing the tongue side of your top teeth. You then will repeat on the bottom.

Personally, I use the Oral-B Pro 5000 toothbrush. I enjoy it because I am able to use 4 different toothbrush heads and the brush itself has many different settings. If my teeth are sore, I can use a sensitive setting which will allow the brush to spin softer. They also have a whitening, daily clean, deep-clean and gum care settings. As you see from their advertisement, they claim "Floss-like clean for heathier gums" The particular head they have on for the picture is the 'floss' head. This is because the little yellow pieces are a soft plastic, which get in between the teeth and removes some plaque. It does NOT replace flossing because you are not able to get the plaque out from where the teeth are touching with the brush.

Oral-B also makes special toothbrush heads for all types. They have a Pro Gumcare head which is one of other standard heads. It is a soft head and helps prevent gum problems if used daily. They also have a 3D white head with a small polishing cup inside. This cup looks very similar to the ones at the dental offices. If he Pro Gumcare is still too hard for your gums they do make a Sensitive Clean head as well. This head has extra soft bristles. This head is great for anyone with puffy gums to start out with. This head will sweep the plaque off softly and hopefully will not cause you pain. This will make brushing more tolerable and get you back into the habit of brushing twice daily. Lastly, my favorite head they make is the Ortho Care head! This head is designed to go around brackets and clean a lot of the plaque off. If someone uses this electric toothbrush head along with a Water Pik during ortho, they will have great teeth and gums after!

Now what is the difference between Oral-B and Sonicare? One difference is Sonicare brushes on go side to side when brushing. Oral-B heads rotate in a full circle. They both work well and remove plaque off the teeth. While I did not talk about Sonicare, I do not believe they make a bad electric toothbrush. I just know more about Oral-B and am a personal consumer of their products.