Electric Toothbrush

Brushing your teeth with an electric toothbrush everyday can be a good way to keep cavities and other periodontal diseases away. However, only models that rotate in both directions are more effective than manual toothbrushes to remove plaque and prevent periodontal disease.

According to results recently presented at an international symposium held in Boston, rotational electric toothbrushes are the most effective. The results obtained by these devices in an investigation demonstrate their effectiveness surpasses that of other electric models that only make movements in one direction.

The investigation compared the effectiveness of a manual toothbrush versus six different electric toothbrush models; the data was obtained from several clinical trials conducted in European countries and United States along 37 years. Some of the trials included over 2,500 participants in total, dating from 1964.

Only electric toothbrushes with rotating movements showed better results than manual toothbrushes, these devices showed to remove 11% more plaque than the others, while also reducing gum bleeding by 17%. In numerical terms, the power of the movements on these devices is about one hundred times higher than manual toothbrushing.

Although the research doesn’t exactly determine why some electric toothbrushes are more effective than the rest, the authors suggest the importance that proper toothbrushing has to eliminate gingivitis, which is the first step to having a more severe periodontal disease. Gingivitis is reversible with a proper medical treatment, but if not treated in time, it can cause illness and even teeth loss.

Neither the research provides data on the possible consequences that the use of these devices may have in the long term; which is why the authors admit that further studies will be needed to know the true implications of the different methods of toothbrushing. Moreover, they say, “this could help dentists make recommendations best suited to their patients, which does not mean anyone should stop using their toothbrush immediately”. The research remarks the importance of proper brushing, “If you don’t know how to do it”, they say, “It doesn’t matter what method you use”.

Buy it!

The Oral B 9900 is rated as one of the best electric toothbrushes in the market. It’s the most advanced of its kind, its motor provides a powerful 40,000 in-and-out pulsations per minute and help loosen plaque. It also oscillates at 8,800 pulsations per minute in a side-to-side manner. The innovative FlossAction brush head gives you a floss like clean, even in those hard to reach places. It features:

Pros

1. Excellent cleaning performance
2. Alerts you when brushing too hard
3. Great battery life
4. Built in timer (2 minutes recommended for best results)

Cons

1. More expensive than other similar models
2. It could include a UV cleaner

My Rating  

Some Amazon Reviews

Best Electric Toothbrush So Far, January 10, 2008  

I used an electric toothbrush before this, and so I assumed that the transition would be easy. Surprise! I at first found that the Triumph was shockingly rough! For the first week I had to use it on the gentle setting, but after a week I got used to it and switched to the normal setting. I found that that the monitor is useful to time the session and I think that it is worth the extra money.

For what it is worth:
Normally when I visit the dentists office, the technician spends considerable time scraping off the plaque from my teeth. I went 2 weeks ago, and there wasn’t any plaque for her to remove. None. Additionally, I have rather poor flossing habits, and the technician usually causes my gums to bleed. This time she commented on how healthy my gums were – even between my teeth (I did not admit that I had not flossed in a month). Note: I am not advocating that you don’t floss, just admitting that I don’t.

Awesome!, November 4, 2007  

What an awesome toothbrush! Not only do my teeth feel so much cleaner, my gums are looking much healthier and my teeth have brightened a bit — all in a month’s time!!

My dentist suggested I purchase an Oral B toothbrush (he suggested a specific model, which was cheaper) because I have a bad tendency to overbrush and brush too hard causing my gums to be brushed away. This toothbrush is definitely saving my mouth. The 2 minute timer always seems to end before I’m done brushing — can you tell I really like this toothbrush? It’s just finally nice to have something that works as well as this does that also warns if and when you’re bearing down on your teeth too much along with the different brush heads and it intuitively knowing how to work with each of those.

I use the flossing brush head and the polishing head. Love them both.