Which electric toothbrush is best

Not at all, said Dr. Sheri Doniger , an Illinois-based dentist who said the type of toothbrush isn't as important as your brushing techniques. Doniger said she encourages her patients to regularly brush and floss to get rid of decay- and disease-causing biofilm. Power brushes may be a good option for those with arthritis or any other manual dexterity issue, while a manual toothbrush may be good if you're looking for a more cost-effective option, she said.

Though Doniger uses both a manual brush and an electric brush at home, she said that an electric brush may be helpful for tackling gingivitis, an inflammation caused by plaque on the tooth.

He prefers an electric toothbrush to a manual one, and echoed that electric toothbrushes are great at removing bacteria. This movement creates microbubbles that gently remove bacteria biofilm — a cause of bad breath, staining, gum disease and bleeding gums. Doniger recommended electric brushes for patients with periodontal disease, bacterial plaque or a history of dental decay. If you decide to invest in an electric toothbrush, use the electric version every day to make it worthwhile, Doniger said.

An electric toothbrush might cause issues for an aggressive brusher, said Dr. If you scrub your teeth with an electric brush the same way you do a manual brush, it can potentially lead to gum recession. As with manual toothbrushes, all electric toothbrushes aren't created equal. Some are better at tackling hard-to-reach places, and others are preferable for specific types of dental issues.

Doniger said that the type of brush you purchase should reflect the issues you deal with pertaining to tooth and gum health. Below are the best, expert-recommended electric toothbrushes on the market at various price points, as well as electric toothbrushes for kids and those designed for travel.

The Philips Sonicare DiamondClean comes with three brush heads, each designed to tackle hard-to-reach areas; a brush body; and a traveling case for convenient packing. Pair the brush with the app on your tablet or phone and it will show you an automated progress report and real-time feedback on your brushing. Through app pairing, the brush tracks your habits over time, provides you with helpful oral care tips and helps you to focus on the most important areas in your mouth.

It includes six modes daily clean, gum care, sensitive, whitening, deep clean and tongue cleaner so that you can brush your teeth to meet your oral health goals.

This top-rated model is available in three colors: Black , Rose Gold and White. New York-based Dr. The better you look after your teeth and gums now, the less likely you are to face costly and invasive dental treatment in the future. In order to maintain good oral hygiene, brush your teeth twice a day for at least two minutes each time.

Dr Reena Wadia , periodontist and founder of gum clinic RW Perio , says: "The timing depends on if your teeth and gums are healthy. For those with established gum disease, you will probably need more than two minutes. We tested a range of sonic and oscillating models to find the best on the market in Electric toothbrushes are battery-powered brushes that make oscillating or sonic vibrating movements to remove plaque build-up, debris and bacteria.

Most modern models feature two-minute timers, multiple cleaning modes and pressure sensors to help ensure optimum brushing.

However, dentists recommend going electric. Sonic refers to the side to side vibrating motion of the brush filaments, while oscillating refers to the rotating and pulsating movements of the brush head.

There is little evidence to show which is more effective. Oscillating toothbrushes have round heads that can reach the back of teeth and effectively dislodge plaque. They have a brushing action of 2, to 8, rotations per minute and have more directional changes than a sonic brush. Sonic toothbrushes have diamond or oval-shaped heads and can reach up to 24, to 40, vibrations per minute, making their motions faster than oscillating models.

They help to clean a bigger surface area, as any fluid in the mouth is forced between the teeth and gum line by the powerful vibrations. Brushing correctly will clean effectively without causing any harm. Clean between your teeth — flossing or use of interdental brushes is the best way to get into these nooks and crannies. If you have specific issues such as sensitivity, find a toothpaste that helps tackle this. Timer: The best electric toothbrushes will have a buzzing timer to help you brush for the dentist-recommended two minutes.

Look for brushes with quad pacers that buzz every 30 seconds to guide you through each quarter of your mouth upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right. Cleaning modes: Some toothbrushes offer different cleaning modes, such as deep clean and sensitive, which is useful if you have a specific concern, such as sensitivity or yellowing.

Electric toothbrush apps: Some toothbrushes released over the last few years are "smart", with an app that connects to your phone. They provide you with tips on how to brush your teeth better, such as telling you if your pressure was too hard, if you missed a spot or if you didn't scrub well enough. We recruited a panel of 66 beauty testers to trial ten electric toothbrushes for a fortnight. They were asked to judge each model on its ease of use, design, features, battery life and overall performance.

They used a disclosing tablet before and after brushing their teeth to determine how effective their toothbrush was at removing plaque. Our winning electric toothbrush is as gentle as a manual one, with the deep clean effect of a hygienist session.

Its rapid sonic vibrations push toothpaste and air to hard to reach areas, successfully removing plaque, reducing staining and freshening breath. It has three cleaning modes, including sensitive and whitening, and comes with three different-sized brush heads for effective and comfortable use throughout the mouth.

Our testers liked its cleaning power, overall design and long battery life, with everybody planning to continue using it. Key specifications Brush action: Sonic Number of cleaning modes: 3 Features: Charge light, two-minute timer Included accessories: Three brush heads, travel case. Our testers found this great-value Oral-B toothbrush simple to control and agreed that it cleaned brilliantly, with noticeably reduced plaque levels.

The Waterpik does take some getting used to -- when I first started using it, I was no match for the water dribble coming from my mouth. Eventually I learned to bend slightly so my mouth hovered above the sink and now it's one of my favorite dental health products I've ever used. Be warned, though: If you have sensitive gums, start with your water flosser on a low setting. I made the mistake of arbitrarily setting mine to level seven for the first use and my gums bled. Next time, I dialed it down to level three and I've been slowly working my way up to a more powerful setting as my gums become less sensitive.

All that combined with the Oral-B app experience truly levels up the definition of a smart brush. When using this brush, I didn't notice much of a difference compared to other Oral B brushes, except the bristles on this brush felt softer than other Oral-B brushes.

That's a big bonus for anyone with sensitive gums, as is the real-time coaching that tells you if you're brushing too hard. For a toothbrush, the display offers an impressive amount of information. Based on color, you can easily tell what mode you're brushing in and follow coaching cues. The iO has seven brush modes, which puts it above the majority of brushes the average seems to be three or four modes.

You can choose from daily clean, whitening, gum care, sensitive, intense, super sensitive and tongue clean. I think the tongue clean setting is a nice addition; it's something you don't see on most electric toothbrushes.

However, those who want the best of the best -- both hygiene-wise and tech-wise -- will love the Oral-B iO. The brush comes with a year's worth of replacement toothbrush heads, which eases the price pain just a bit.

I found the Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean the most gentle of all brushes on this list across its three settings, yet still felt like my teeth were thoroughly cleaned with each use. Despite having sensitive gums, I sometimes brush too hard, but the Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean actually buzzes at you when you press down too hard with the Sonicare toothbrush -- a gentle nudge to let you know to lighten the pressure.

The Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean has three different modes for different brushing habit needs: clean, whiten and gum care. I will say that I was disappointed to learn that this Sonicare toothbrush has different brush heads that are optimal for each mode I thought I found the only one that had an all-in-one brush head! For example, my ProtectiveClean came with the "W Diamondclean" head the whitening one , but I fared just fine using that Philips Sonicare Diamondclean brush head on the other settings.

Was it ideal or optimal? I don't know; I'd have to compare each setting with its correct brush head. But you'll probably be fine without the three individual Sonicare brush heads. If you have trouble remembering when to replace your brush heads, you'll love this: Philips' BrushSync technology tells you how long you've been using your brush head and how hard you've been brushing, two key factors in brush replacement and cleaning performance. A light on the handle will blink and the Sonic toothbrush will beep, letting you know it's time to order a new one.

Shyn pronounced "shine" is a newer subscription-based oral health company that currently offers electric toothbrushes, flossers, dental picks and teeth-whitening products. You can choose from multiple brush heads to customize your Shyn electric toothbrush, including whitening, anti-plaque or gum care.

I tested the Ultra Flex 10 Brush Head and was thoroughly impressed. The brush head is slightly larger than most electric toothbrush heads but still smaller than a manual toothbrush. The bristles are soft and flexible and the brush head has a thin, squishy rubber coating that makes it gentle on your gums.

I thought the Shyn electric toothbrush with the Ultra Flex 10 Brush Head produced a deep, thorough clean without making my teeth or gums feel sensitive which is a big deal for me; more on that below. Similar to Quip, you can opt to join a subscription plan that sends new brush heads every three months. The electric toothbrushes in this section weren't my favorites, but these toothbrush options do have some great qualities worth mentioning.

One of these might be the right choice for you so I felt it worthwhile to include them here. It comes equipped with six cleaning modes daily, white, gentle, gum, tongue and max and a 2-minute timer that signals you to move mouth quadrants every 30 seconds. The daily and whitening modes felt too intense for me -- I didn't even attempt the max mode. The tongue mode is great for extra-gentle brushing, in addition to its intended purpose. The case is compact and has a magnetic closing mechanism.

It's also sleek, just like the brush it carries. Between my headphones, smartwatch, laptop and smartphone, a toothbrush charger is the last thing on my mind when packing.

Not too long after testing out the Quip brush, Quip came out with a new smart toothbrush. Like I mentioned earlier, the Quip smart electric toothbrush feels very similar to Colgate's Hum toothbrush. This is essentially Quip with Bluetooth. It connects to an app, which tracks your brushing and tells you where and how to improve. The Bluetooth "Smart Motor" senses your brushing routine and sends data to the app. The feel of the Quip smart brush seems exactly the same as the regular Quip brush, which was good news to me, but might not thrill people who were expecting big changes to the actual brush.

I still like that the vibrations are gentle and the brush head is larger than average. As for the app, it was easy to use. I didn't feel that the app experience was any better or worse than other Bluetooth-enabled toothbrushes I tried out -- I felt pretty neutral towards it. All in all, this new release from Quip can be a fun add-on for people who already love the Quip brush, but those who prefer a more traditional brush may want to look into Hum by Colgate, a Philips Sonicare or Oral-B brush.

Several electric toothbrushes have Bluetooth functionality and app integration these days, but Colgate's app powered toothbrush is one of the only ones that didn't give me a headache.

Its simple interface gives you easy-to-understand visuals about the duration, frequency and surface coverage of your brushing. I thought this was silly at first, because how hard is brushing your teeth, right? I no longer thought the toothbrush-app combo was silly when I found my percentage creeping up with each brushing session!

The coaching really does work. Aside from that, the brush itself is nice. It's sleek, comfortable to hold and not as bulky as some other electric toothbrushes. When I first received the package, I thought, "Huh, this feels like Apple branding. With just 10 days of battery life, the E1 isn't the longest-lasting rechargeable toothbrush on the market, but that shouldn't be an end-all.

Just don't forget your charging base when you go on a trip. The Oral-B Pro is a good brush.