Hi Dopers,
I’ve got to get myself a new toothbrush.
My scumbag dentist (pit thread to follow) suggested a rotating electric toothbrush.
I searched the boards and have become frightened regarding the diversity of threads which contain the keyword “toothbrush”, but found no thread on this topic specifically.
So what’s your favorite toothbrush and why?
Oral-B 8850 DLX
Have had it for about a year. Like it a lot.
Prior to that I had a Sonicare that I thought was great until it died and I got the Oral-B. Definitely a step up. I can feel a big difference between the spinning head or the Oral-B and the ultrasonic vibration of the Sonicare. I think my new one does a lot better job along my gum line.
Sweet. There’s a bunch of them for sale on Ebay. “New-in-box” is a pretty important selling point on this one.
At what point did toothbrush names start to sound like sports car models?
I have an el cheapo Crest Spin-brush. I don’t like it. It’s really hard to get the battery cover to go in right. There are two kinds of heads: one that just rotates in front, and one that also oscillates in the back. The former doesn’t seem to do enough, and the latter feels like it does too much. I don’t use it every time I brush, because I’m afraid it’s going to abrade my gums away or something.
I like Sonicare a lot, but I’ve never compared them to the Oral-B. The Sonicare’s battery has eventually died on me, twice, failing to hold a charge.
I also have an Ultreo, in another residence. It seems pretty good, but it’s definitely different from the Sonicare and I haven’t used it enough to decide how much I like it.
Agreed. I’ve had them both and definitely prefer the Oral-B. My teeth feel smooth and clean even in the gaps between them with this one. But it has to be used correctly - not like a regular toothbrush. You don’t so much brush your teeth with it as brush one tooth, then the next, etc.
I have some proper rotating head rechargeable but I find the Colgate “microsonic” things with the battery in the base more practical and they give a better result. And they are cheap so I keep one at work and one in my bag.
My ORAL-B Spider man toothbrush, it has spider man on it…
We have the Oral-B Triumph and my BF loves it. I am warming up to it. It definitely cleans well, but anything other than the ‘soft’ setting irritates my gums, thus I use a manual brush most of the time and the Oral-B two or three times a week. BF can’t get enough of it though, and I have definitely noticed an improvement in his oral hygiene since we’ve gotten it.
The irritating thing is that the timer is on the handle. So unless you are adept at reading an LCD display backwards in a mirror while your hand is moving the timer isn’t much help. It does, however, “pulse” after two minutes so you know you are done, though the last two times I used it I didn’t notice the “pulse” and brushed for over 3 minutes before I figured it out.
We used to have the cheaper Oral-B “Vitality” and it’s pretty much worthless. It might be marginally better than a manual brush if you’re someone who can’t manage to brush your teeth properly without electronic assistance, but spending the extra dough on the Triumph is well worth it.
I had the luck of a Cybersonic unit find it’s way to me (UPS left it on my doorstep and it wasn’t mine, I called them several times to pick it up but they never did, when I moved out of state I took it with me).
I’ve had it for 7 years and it works great. Leaves your teeth smooth and polished like. Awesome along the gum line.
I would gladly pay for a new one but my 7 year-old one still works great.
I vibrates so fast that you have to turn it off/on when it’s in your mouth and keep your mouth closed when brushing or it vibrates toothpaste everywhere.
While I’m sure it’s a fine toothbrush, something bugs me with using the following as their selling point:
I’ve also got an Oral-B Triumph, which I like a lot. I don’t floss as much as I should but the “FlossAction” brushhead seems to make up for it somewhat. As for the timer, yes, it pulses after two minutes, but it also makes a smaller pulse every thirty seconds, so I use those to switch among the four quadrants. (And if you want, there is a version of the Triumph electric toothbrush with the “Smartguide,” which is a small external display that tells you how much time you’ve been brushing and also if you’ve been using too much pressure.)
It all sounds a bit silly, but my dentist and dental hygienist tell me that my teeth and gums are in better shape since I started using it.
I’ve got an Oral B Vitality with dual heads and it works great. I’ve been using electric toothbrushes for years and they do a great job of getting around my retainer. They will last longer if you don’t store them on the charger. Let them run completely down and then only recharge them when needed.
Count me as another happy Oral B user. Mine must be 15 or 20 years old and it’s still going strong.
There’s a new brush head that is supposed to improve gumline cleaning (it has something about “flossing” in the name) that I really like, and it’s only slightly more expensive than the (way overpriced) regular brushheads. I’m still on my first one so I don’t know if they last as long.
Roddy