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Because an electric toothbrush does the work for you, and because most will now tell you when you’re pushing too hard, it can help protect against further recession.” Will electric toothbrushes whiten my teeth? It’s tempting to say that this is the best electric toothbrush out there. The reason it hasn’t won the top spot is because it’s very expensive and, on balance, the Spotlight Oral Care and Suri offer a better balance of performance and affordability. This unique electric toothbrush is from FOREO, a brand that usually makes high-tech face brushes. It has a similar ‘beauty tech’ vibe, with a smooth silicone handle and curvy design (two times stronger silicone than the previous version). It’s very simple to set up and use, and has an unbelievably long battery life of 365 days per charge (no, I don’t quite know how that works, either – but it’s true. I’ve never had to charge it). That makes it a great toothbrush for travel. Dr Richard Marques, a private dentist based on London’s Harley Street, says: “By now, so much research has gone into them that any electric toothbrush you can buy is better than a manual toothbrush. They either use rotation and oscillation or vibration, and you’re able to clean your teeth without scrubbing too hard.”
Slim, sonic and sustainable, that’s the Suri toothbrush in a nutshell. It was born out of frustration at the four million electric toothbrushes which end up in landfill per year thanks to unrecyclable plastic parts. Suri’s answer? A sturdy aluminium frame, plant-based cornstarch heads, and castor oil bristles. It’s basic, with just one setting, but you do get a timer, with the brush pulsing every 30 seconds and switching itself off after two minutes. We also like the unusual pink, blue and yellow colour choices. Patients who use electric toothbrushes are a lot less likely to suffer from gum disease”, says Dr Edwards-Lunn. “Unfortunately, gum disease is a multifactoral disease. Just having an electric toothbrush doesn’t mean you won’t get it. But it will mean the risk is much reduced. The most important thing is removing the plaque.” Will electric toothbrushes help with receding gums?Modes are increasingly a big deal, giving you different speeds and patterns optimised for whitening, deep cleaning or sensitive teeth and gums. It’s not clear that all of these make a huge amount of difference, but having a slower, gentler mode that you can switch to a faster, more intense mode can be useful when you’re getting used to a new brush. Plus, while you don’t get all the extra brushes or charging glass of the flagship model, it does still come with a handy USB charging case, making this a fantastic toothbrush for both home and travel. It’s still not what you might call cheap, but it’s a premium brush at a price you might find easier to swallow.
If you want to save some money, you’re not restricted to the manufacturer’s own heads. A few smaller, third-party manufacturers make Sonicare- or Oral-B-compatible brush heads, which usually sell for much less than the real deal. Philips and Oral-B will tell you that you’re not getting the same quality or clean from these cheaper heads, but in our tests some have been perfectly effective. Battery life is the biggie. It’s now unusual to get an old-school NiMH battery that runs out in less than two weeks and takes most of a day to charge, but they still exist. More modern lithium-ion batteries will give you two to four weeks of brushing – or more – without a recharge, and will take anywhere between three and 12 hours to reach full capacity. I want to love it, but I’m not sure I do, as the head is quite wide which makes it hard to reach all the nooks and crannies - although it has been streamlined from the ISSA 2. It has a huge range of 16 different speed settings, although they’re not separated into dedicated ‘modes’ as such, and I actually found that 16 is too many. It has an interval timer, which prompts you to move to a different area of your mouth every 30 seconds for a thorough clean, but again no pressure sensor. Dentist Dr Toby Edwards-Lunn points out that electric toothbrushes help children, the elderly or anyone with a weaker grip to make sure their teeth are getting the proper cleaning they need. “In this day and age the technology is so good, you don’t need to put any elbow grease into it. The brush does it for you,” he says. Some toothbrushes combine the two actions and are known as rotating-oscillating. This is my personal recommendation to patients and what I use. Other mechanisms of action include pulsing and sonic. Pulsing and sonic are additional features to a rotating, oscillating or rotating-oscillating brush.”
Gums recede for lots of reasons,” Dr Edwards-Lunn says. “Patients can be susceptible to it, or they can sometimes brush too hard. They can have past problems with gum disease, which could have caused it. And they can have a thin biotype of gum, where it’s a genetic thing. The One doesn’t have the brushing power of a larger Sonicare brush, but it’s ahead of other battery-powered electric toothbrushes and does a great job of leaving your teeth feeling shiny and clean. The relatively gentle movement is also brilliant for massaging along the gumline.
The reason I love this toothbrush so much is the intuitive design coupled with the fact that I can feel the deep-cleaning effects (the closest I’ve got to a hygienist-standard clean at home). Even though it cleans powerfully, it doesn’t feel too harsh on my gums. It also has a remarkably long-lasting battery – I started by testing it daily for four weeks and only had to charge it once in that time. It’s definitely won a permanent place in my bathroom cabinet. However, finding the best toothbrush for you can be a minefield. Not only do all the toothbrushes look nigh-on identical, but the manufacturers seem to have decided that confusion is good for business, producing several different ranges with different characteristics all at the same time. It’s hard to distinguish between so many similar products, while the boxes and adverts bombard you with pseudo-science and marketing-speak.The brush is powered by sonic pulse technology that cleans at a maximum of 11,000 pulsations per minute. The head is made of silicone and PBT polymer bristles, which are now super flexible, which gives it a very different feel to other toothbrushes. Unlike the others, you’re supposed to use it like a regular toothbrush, scrubbing up and down and in circles rather than holding it against the teeth. As for the brush itself, it feels and works much like a mid-range Sonicare toothbrush. It has four brushing modes designed for cleaning, whiting, sensitive teeth and a gum massage, and a nice, slim handle with a grippy, rubber feel. It switches itself off when the usual two-minute brush is done, and pulses every 30 seconds during use to remind you to brush another quarter of your mouth. Battery life, meanwhile, is brilliant, with enough charge to get you through a good month of brushing before recharging via USB. A great electric toothbrush for not a lot of money, even without the subscription plans. Not everyone wants the bother of an app-enhanced dental routine, so if you’d rather spend a little less but still get a great toothbrush, then the iO Series 3 could be for you. It delivers the same magnetic drive technology as the other brushes in Oral-B’s flagship iO-Series range, but comes without the advanced sensors and Bluetooth connectivity to monitor your brushing and send the data to your smartphone. In practice, that means a quieter brush with a more comfortable vibration, and one that still leaves your incisors feeling polished and your molars super-clean, as well as doing a fantastic job of clearing plaque from between your teeth.
To make things more complicated, brush heads come in different types designed for different dental requirements, so you’ll find Sonicare heads for gum care, deeper cleaning or plaque defence, and Oral-B heads with slightly different brushing actions. Any Sonicare head can be used with any Sonicare brush, but Oral B’s standard heads can only be used with its Pro-series brushes, while its iO heads only work with iO series brushes. Seven cleaning modes (daily clean, sensitive, gum care, intense clean, whitening, super sensitive and tongue clean) Battery life is also solid for a budget brush, while it takes just four hours for a recharge. Most importantly, though, this is a big step up in cleaning from manual brushes or cheaper battery models, and you can kit out the whole family without breaking the bank. I expected a lot from this brand, which was founded by two cosmetic dentists, and the Spotlight Oral Care Sonic Toothbrush more than delivered.
The best electric toothbrushes you can buy in 2023
Does it deliver as good a clean as the more expensive Sonicare models? Maybe not. Even when you move beyond its Soft and Gum Care modes for the White and Polish options, you don’t quite get the power of a mid-range Philips brush, not to mention alternatives from Oclean or Ordo. However, your teeth feel clean after brushing and the Gum Care mode gives your gums a decent massage, while the Soft mode is ideal for first-time electric toothbrush users or those with sensitive gums.
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