The right toothbrush for you depends on your personal preference—do you want a classic brush that costs a couple bucks at the drugstore? Or do you want to shell out for an electric toothbrush that does some of the work for you? According the American Dental Association, they both work equally well to clean your teeth. But a powered toothbrush might help you ditch some of your bad brushing habits—like not going for long enough and failing to hit hard-to-reach spots—and a 2014 Cochrane review of gave powered models a slight edge over the classic toothbrush.
Ready to put some power onto your pearly whites? Try one of these dentist-recommended electric toothbrushes.
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“The ISSA Toothbrush by Foreo is a breakthrough in battery-operated toothbrushes,” says Gregg Lituchy, a dentist at Lowenberg, Lituchy & Kantor in New York City. Instead of the usual rotating bristle brush, the newly-released ISSA 2 uses a pulsing silicone brush that the company claims is 35 times more hygienic than standard bristles. The head needs to be replaced just once a year and the charge lasts about 6 months.
“Toothbrushes are as individual as automobiles. Everyone has a preference. I personally use a Sonicare DiamondClean toothbrush,” says John Comisi, a dentist based in Ithaca, New York. “I like its small diameter toothbrush head, with a 2-minute timer. It comes with a very convenient travel case. Overall, it is probably the electronic toothbrush I recommend most.”
“My favorite electric toothbrush is from Rotadent,” says Kourosh Maddhi, a cosmetic dentist based in Beverly Hills, Calif. “It has very soft bristles, thus minimizing damage to the gum.” The brush automatically shuts off after 2 and a half minutes of use, and the charge lasts up to 3 weeks.
“I like the Oral B Braun brush for its circumferential action on the tooth surface,” says David Tecosky, a Philadelphia-based dentist. A pressure sensor lets you know when you’re brushing too hard, and an in-handle timer pulses every 30 seconds to signal that it’s time to move to a different part of your mouth.
“My favorite toothbrush is, by far, the Sonicare toothbrush,” says Laurence Grayhills, president-elect of the Florida Acadamy of General Dentistry in Wellington, Florida. “It oscillates back and forth at a frequency of about 20,000 cycles per second (that’s faster than I can do with my hand and manual toothbrush). While most toothbrushes require mechanical contact with the tooth surface to remove plaque, the Sonicare operates at such a high frequency that it creates a cavitational force that blasts plaque off the teeth without actually touching the tooth. There are a variety of brush-heads for various applications, which increases the versatility of the device. It has a built-in quadrant timer so that people use the device for the recommended brushing time.”
