Battle of the Brushes ||| Are Sonic Toothbrushes Worth it?

Over the years I’ve gotten very serious about oral hygiene. It only takes a few stern talks from your dentist to get you to rethink how you’re treating your mouth.  As the years have gone by, there’s been quite a few advancements with mechanical toothbrushes and we’ve given them all a serious shakedown to see how they fare.

The Normal Toothbrush |||
For over 500 years the bristle toothbrush has been the standard for taking care of your teeth. A basic concept, a stick with bristles that brush away nasty plaque that damages your teeth and gums. The toothbrush took hundreds of years to get from China to Europe, then another hundred years to get to America.

It wasn’t until the 20th century when things changed. Nylon bristles reduced bacteria buildup. Angled handles helped reach molars and rubber massaging arms to stimulate your gums. Today the toothbrush is a far more efficient and sanitary compared to sticks with animal hair. Their main drawback is they still require you to manually rake them across your teeth. It’s easy to brush too hard or not hard enough, or to miss key spots. For only a few bucks you can grab one in a pinch but they just don’t compete with modern electric toothbrushes.

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The Electric Toothbrush |||
In the 1950’s the first electric toothbrush hit markets. The concept is simple, machines can do what humans do, only faster and more efficient. Sometimes marketed as a time saver and sometimes used to promote health. The basic function is a motor that drives the brush allowing you to just move the toothbrush across your grill giving you gleaming smile. More of a gimmick than a revolution they never caught on in the average household. By the year 2000, Sonic Toothbrushes had rendered the classic electric toothbrush obsolete.

The Sonic Toothbrush |||
A sonic toothbrush is a toothbrush that offers over 20,000 strokes per minute. The Oral-B and Sonicare brands now sit atop the toothbrush battle, each making individual benefit claims to try to win customers. With two totally different technologies we’ll go over our experience with both brands budget offerings.

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Sonic Showdown: Oral-B vs Sonicare.

Oral-B Vitality ||| The Sonic Spinner

The Oral-B Vitality is the budget priced electric toothbrush from Braun. You can pick one up at any grocery store or pharmacy making it accessible to everyone. This is the reason why the Oral-B is often people’s first sonic toothbrush. You may be thinking, gee, just turn it on and brush! Unfortunately not, using an Oral-B sonic toothbrush requires a very specific brushing habit to avoid damaging your teeth and get the most out of your toothbrush. If you just scrape thing thing along your kisser you could screw up your gums and teeth. They’re a little difficult to get clean as the head tends to “gunk up” easily and hard water can leave nasty deposits on the grip and battery connection.

Overall, if you do your homework, use the Oral-B properly and clean your brush after every use you can vastly improve your smile while spending very little dough. It’s 2 minute timer gives you incentive to brush for the dentist recommended time. Furthermore if you’re traveling and forgot your toothbrush, the local Albertsons has one giving you a good excuse to give it a try.

Sonicare ||| The Tesla of Toothbrushes

The Sonicare toothbrush was initially unveiled in 1992 and created a premium toothbrush market. By 2001 it had become the #1 selling electronic toothbrush in America. It’s easy to use, even slowly ramping up speed over the first 12 uses so you don’t freak out at first. Like the Oral-B it has a 2-minute timer turns the toothbrush off when you’re done.  It’s easy to use, simply brush as you always have, just slower and make sure you hit the gum line too.

Sonicare claims that 31,000 strokes a minute “blasts” between your teeth cleaning where brushes can’t reach. I can’t say if that’s true but I can say this, your teeth have never felt cleaner. The “fresh from the dentist” feeling is real, not just hype.

At over $100 a pop not everyone could make the switch. With the price of the Philips Sonicare Essense dropping as low as $20 now is the time to jump on the train.

But what about the high end sonic toothbrushes?

Both Oral-B and Sonicare offer premium versions of their sonic brushes. With names like “genius” and “diamond” their prices can push up above $200. The question is, at 10 times the cost do you get 10 times the cleaning power? Sadly no, not at all. You’ll get better batteries, UV sanatizers, fancy lights and buttons but the exact same cleaning effect. Don’t get me wrong, the bougie brushes are nice, but not for the price.

Our take on the battle of the brushes, the $20 Sonicare E-Series is the best bang for the buck by a mile. The king of clean, the crown of crowns, the plaque hack or your money back! Easy to use, built like a tank and the best clean I’ve ever experienced. If you’ve been neglecting your gnashers take this heathen’s advice and upgrade to a Sonicare.