Some find brushing their teeth with an electric brush easier and more thorough than with a manual toothbrush. Some studies support this assessment. Warentest took a closer look at 11 new brushes. The price-performance winner comes from the testers’ database.
The twice-daily effort of brushing your teeth is even more worthwhile when you use the best cleaning products. Because in addition to the right technique and a suitable paste, the right toothbrush is the key to a thumbs up or down at the next visit to the dentist. Increasingly, cleaning is being done electrically – which dentists are increasingly recommending. This should be more thorough and easier.
However, brushing your teeth with the electric toothbrush is not faster than with a manual toothbrush. The teeth should also be cleaned with an electric brush for about two minutes at a time. It is therefore important to find a toothbrush that suits your own needs and cleaning habits. Stiftung Warentest provides orientation and has sent 11 new models to the test laboratory. At prices between 16 and 300 euros.
First of all, it can be said that there are two types of electric toothbrushes: rotating-oscillating and sonic toothbrushes. The rotating ones have a round brush head, sonic toothbrushes have an elongated one. In terms of cleaning performance, neither system shows clear advantages.
When buying an electric toothbrush, individual brushing habits should therefore play a role: With a round-head toothbrush, each tooth has to be cleaned individually. With their elongated heads, sonic toothbrushes clean more surfaces at once. So, for brushers who are a little less diligent and patient, and prefer to be more comfortable when cleaning their teeth, sonic toothbrushes may be a better choice.
However, seven of the brushes tested were found to be “good”, one “fair” and four only “fair”. The devices from Eta, Lächen, Oclean and Proficare are among the bottom performers in the current test. They removed so little of the artificial plaque from the test teeth that they were only rated “fair” overall. But Warentest warns: In addition to the performance of the brush, the “human factor” also counts. Mistakes such as brushing too short or incomplete can significantly reduce success.
Test winner is the “Philips Sonicare 9900 Prestige” for 300 euros (“good”, grade 1.8). Significantly cheaper and also “good” are the “Happybrush Sonic Toothbrush V 316” brushes, which also work with sound, for 50 euros (grade 2.3) or the “Fairywill Sonic Electric Toothbrush P11” for 40 euros. The price-performance winner from the product test database is still the “Müller Sensident Cordless Toothbrush Perfect Clean Professional)” for only 16 euros (all 2.3). The latter is a rotating-oscillating model.
