The Truth About Electric Toothbrushes

NOT ALL ELECTRIC BRUSHES ACTUALLY CLEAN YOUR TEETH. Shocked? We aren’t. Low powered electric brushes don’t have the power to move the bristles enough to clean your teeth WITHOUT having to brush as you would with a manual brush. Full power electric brushes create a brushing action that DOES clean your teeth for you – all you have to do is slowly move the brush around your mouth.

If you are going to spend the money to upgrade from a manual brush, there is no point unless you are getting a brush that is going to do a better job cleaning your teeth. Manual brushes work great with the right technique, pressure, and duration. Choosing the right powered toothbrush can reduce the need to focus on these brushing elements – choose the wrong electric toothbrush and you still need a good brushing technique.

If you want the right electric toothbrush here’s a few things to look for

First, a strong motor. Most low budget brushes have a tiny little motor with a counterweight. It’s simply not going to cut it. In fact, while you think its action will clean your teeth effectively, it’s not going to do much more than vibrate the handle. The motor must both create and translate movement to the brush head in order to mechanically remove plaque, lift stains and make your mouth feel cleaner.

A couple of dead giveaways that will identify a brush that has a small motor are very thin brushes and a brush that runs on AA batteries. A brush with replaceable AA batteries can’t and won’t provide the power necessary to actually clean your teeth. It saves the manufacture a lot of money to build around a replaceable battery, but it will never deliver the power needed to clean your teeth.

Second, a solid battery life. With most electronic devices, the battery is usually the first thing to fail. If you own a phone that is over 2 years old, you know exactly what we mean. All batteries lose capacity over time, when you design the toothbrush around an oversized battery you are not only able to go much longer between charges but as battery life diminishes – the brush has a much longer service life compared to brushes that come with smaller batteries.

Third, is the circuit board, you may hear it called the PCB. This glorified on/off switch controls all those “fancy” functions that your brush does. Having different functions on a brush won’t clean your teeth better, but they do offer a little room for adjustment so you can choose a setting that feels right for you. We have found that 5% of our customers think the brush is a little too powerful while 5% believe it isn’t quite powerful enough. Neither group is wrong – they just have different preferences – sometimes a little adjustment is a good thing.

Finally, we have been designing electric toothbrushes for the last 6 years and one thing we have learned from dentists is that the best toothbrush is… the one that you use. So, get a brush that feels right for you and use it.  This reason is the key factor behind developing 3 distinct brush head options for our SmartClean toothbrush. The other thing that most dentists agree on is that the bristles should be soft. Medium or firm bristles cause too much aggravation to the gums and should be avoided.

We believe it is important for any electric brush to have a few different options because we believe that everyone has a different idea of what feels right for them. There are several electric toothbrushes on the market that ONLY OFFER ONE STYLE OF BRUSH HEAD! If you choose a one-head brush, you run a higher risk of not liking what you picked.

Now that you know what is key, its time to consider other key factors we know are on your mind when you are choosing exactly what to look for in the purchase of your next brush.

• Most brush manufacturers don’t disclose their battery or motor size.

It can be difficult to find out exactly what is inside your brush. We believe in being honest and transparent. Anyone purchasing a Brio SmartClean will know exactly what is inside our brush for both the battery and motor.

• Electric brushes have prices ranging from a few to a few hundred dollars and I hate to use price as a factor in the purchase, but we can confidently say that it is not possible to sell a quality sonic brush for less than around $30.

This is the bare minimum amount to cover decent components and still have a small margin. Don’t get us wrong, there are still poor-quality toothbrushes that cost well over $30, but anything less than that is nearly guaranteed to not have the ability to brush your teeth effectively.

• Another big consideration when it comes to choosing a full power electric toothbrush is the decision between oscillating or sonic.

An oscillating brush moves the bristles back and forth in a circular motion (think Oral-B) and the heads are almost always small and round. A sonic brush vibrates the bristles back and forth at a very high frequency (usually around 30,000 times a minute). We are biased to sonic brushes. We have tried both types of brushes over the years but found that sonic brushes make our teeth feel cleaner. Many oscillating brushes have enough power to clean your teeth, but we feel the difference is in a sonic brushes’ ability to move fluid in places where the bristles can’t reach, and the stimulation of your gums isn’t replicated the same with an oscillating brush.

We think that nearly everyone that uses an oscillating brush would prefer a Sonic brush, that’s why oscillating brushes are one of the types of brushes we would never recommend to anyone. Don’t get us wrong, they are good but if you are going to spend the money on a full-power electric brush, you will be better off with a sonic brush. Period.

This is about all you need to know when choosing your next brush. If you are still not sure what to choose, never hesitate to reach out to us. We believe if you are looking for a great sonic brush, ours is top-notch. We have been developing sonic brushes for 6 years and have considered all these details when we created the Smartclean. Whether you are an experienced electric brush user or looking to upgrade, The SmartClean is the choice for you. If you try it and don’t agree, send it back within 90 days for a full refund.