Robyn Roste, Systems & Funnels

I Won’t Share My Bathroom, But I Will Share My Electric Toothbrush

I didn’t ever thing I would be someone who shared her electric toothbrush with others. But you know what, it’s pretty easy. Those cute little brush heads pull right off and everyone can have his or her own topper.

Electric Toothbrush Review

Why I’m talking about my electric toothbrush

I’m going to be honest. Despite becoming better at sharing since getting married, I still struggle. And so this is my grand gesture—sharing my new electric toothbrush with my husband.

I even plug it in in his bathroom.

Gesture.

As well I was really really really a bit intimidated by said electric toothbrush and needed him to try it out first so I knew it was safe and wouldn’t break my teeth.

I’ve seen commercials for electric toothbrushes for a while now (who hasn’t?) and I know it’s kind of the rage and the thing people do but I’ve always resisted. Simply because I have never been able to understand why people will pay upwards of $200 for the electric version of something they can get from their dentist every six months.

So I asked around.

Quickly I discovered people are passionate about their electric toothbrushes!

I had 15 responses the same day I asked the question so I figured people wanted to chat about toothbrushes. I drafted six questions I thought I needed to know about electric toothbrushes:

  1. What led you to your decision to purchase an electric toothbrush?
  2. What brand/make did you purchase and why?
  3. In your opinion, how does an electric toothbrush compare to a regular toothbrush?
  4. What advice would you give to someone who is shopping for an electric toothbrush?
  5. Would you purchase an electric toothbrush again in the future? Why or why not?
  6. If money wasn’t an issue, what make and model of electric toothbrush would you choose?

Those who answered my survey actually surprised me. Nearly 100 per cent of respondents purchased an electric toothbrush upon the advice of their dentist or hygienist, and generally because there was concern for their gums.

I found this especially interesting because I’ve struggled with my gums my entire life and yet have never been recommended an electric toothbrush.

The other answers weren’t so uniform. The main two brands people purchased were evenly split between Oral-B and Sonicare (I’m actually not sure if there are more than two brands—I took a look at a couple retailers and didn’t see any other brands) and this decision was generally made from recommendations coming from dentists, hygienists, or friends. Only one respondent said their choice was made by what was on sale.

To my third question, most people answered they felt an electric toothbrush cleaned their teeth better than a manual brush. I know this is a pretty obvious answer but I wanted to ask the question because…well, maybe it didn’t actually work! For a dental response, here is an article about electric versus manual toothbrushes.

The advice people gave was mostly about money. Here are a few answers

  • “Buy a good one (within reason) as you generally get what you pay for.”
  • “Make sure you know how much it costs to replace the heads…and if you want rechargeable or not.”
  • “I bought a cheap version of the one I was looking at first (battery operated rather than rechargeable). This helped me test out the toothbrush instead of investing the almost $100 in the professional one. I think this was a good choice.”
  • “Try to see if you can get used to one before spending the money on a quality brush…electric toothbrushes do take a bit to get used to as they tickle the gums at times, which is a really weird feeling!”

To my question of if they would purchase again, all but one said yes. The one who said no qualified the response by adding the cost was the main deterrent, as the difference didn’t seem to be drastic enough to completely abandon the manual brush.

And, unsurprisingly, my last question—If money wasn’t an issue, what electric toothbrush would you choose?—most people chose “the most expensive one!”

Nice.

And then I tried out my electric toothbrush

Upon my completed research I finally felt brave enough to try my new toothbrush out. It was quite an intimidating process! There are many pieces and since I’ve never used an electric toothbrush before, all of the pieces were new to me. But the instructions were handy and we had the thing charging shortly. The first charge took about 24 hours, which felt like a long time since I was eager to try the brush.

I should add the brush I received to review was the Oral-B Pro 5000 SmartSeries and unfortunately it only came with one brush head. But there was a coupon for more brush heads! So after a bit of research, my husband and I headed to the shops and found a good fit for my husband. The brush head replacements were about $20 on sale and our coupon was for $3 so we ended up paying under $20 for three more brush heads. They say they will last about three months, so we’re set for six months.

How it went

My husband went first. I sat on the bathtub, watching every second. Honestly I’ve never seen anything like it. As soon as you start the brush the timer starts and gives you a smiley face if you’re brushing properly and beeps at you if you’re pressing too hard. Every 30 seconds the brush stops briefly, indicating for you to move to another quarter of your mouth. Absolutely brilliant.

Since everything went so well I felt like I could handle the brushing experience. But I shut the door on my husband. Because shy.

Good thing I did because I drooled EVERYWHERE. Literally. I couldn’t figure out how to brush for two entire minutes (IN A ROW) and keep my face/hand/arm/counter spit-free.

Gross, right?

But since my husband didn’t have this experience, I figured second time’s the charm.

And when I tried again the next day, no problem.

I’ve figured for me I need to spit every 30 seconds to keep things tidy, and I think that works pretty well.

My final analysis

Overall I think this toothbrush is really fun. It shows me I have never, ever brushed for the recommended amount of time, and I actually feel like my teeth are cleaner. It doesn’t hurt either, and none of my teeth broke.

I really wanted to get into my dentist for a cleaning to see if my gums received a better report post electric toothbrush, but I wrote down my appointment wrong. April was actually June so I gave up on that part of the review for now. Anyway, the box says to take the “60 day challenge” so trust me, when June hits I will be expecting good news!

I think this electric toothbrush is really fun. It shows me I have never, ever brushed for the recommended amount of time, and none of my teeth broke.

One more thing. I think you’ll enjoy my free resource library. This is where I keep my files, downloads, ebooks, worksheets and whatever else I manage to create. I love sharing what I learn and want to keep adding to this library so it becomes a wealth of helpful goodness.

This is a free resource but I do require a password to access the library itself. You can get access by popping your email address into the form below.

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