Metal Mouth Message Board

I've been debating whether to buy a Sonic toothbrush. $ 120 plus for either Sonic Care, or Oral B Complete Sonic...Today I saw a new colgate sonic for $3.99 <electric> and a Oral B Vitality Sonic for $19.99..Do they all work basically the same? I have a hard time making decisions normally, can u imagine what I'm going through now..lol

I bought a Oral-B® ProfessionalCare™ 8000 Series.
http://www.oralbprofessional.com/us/pro ... ow8000.asp#

I has normaol head, power polisher, interdental peak, tongue freshener and dual action head.
I just bought it, because it had so many different things.
I have never used electric toothbrush before, so it takes time to get used to it.

I will share it with my boyfriend. He can take the dual action head as I will use the normal one.

I did some searching once at scholar.google.com for info about toothbrushes. Studies tend to be funded by big manufacturers, but if you understand what you are reading, you can glean good information.

My summary: Since the performance of SoniCare is so close to that of the rotating Oral B, which is so close to the cheaper rotating models, just buy a cheaper rotating model and see how you like it for two weeks.

(Two weeks is the time it takes for the novelty of a new product to totally wear off. Most people don't stick to something new after even a few days, I know from experience!)

If you like it after some days or weeks, you can eventually buy a more expensive model that offers more conveniences such as longer battery time, wall charger, replaceable heads, stronger motor, etc.

I personally have a SoniCare and a manual tooth brush, and I find I use the manual for tongue brushing and quick morning brushes, while I use the SoniCare before bed.

Just remember the most important thing about cleaning your teeth: How you clean is more important than the tool you use!!! Brushing too hard with any brush will hurt your gums. Flossing poorly or too hard with any floss will be ineffective or hurt your gums.

Electric tooth brushes are good because they remove some room for error -- they make it harder to screw up. So poor brushers get better with electric brushes. Good manual brushers, however, don't get much better with electric ones. Note: most people are bad brushers!!

my periodontist is very much against the rotating toothbrushes.....apparently people tend to press to hard with them and irritate their gum tissue. He suggested the vibrating sonic - you just hold it against the gum line/tooth/bracket and it moves by itself without so much pressure - I love mine., though it was a little pricey (like $70 at target)

I love my Sonicare, I can't stand to go anywhere without it. I have the dental professional trial, e9800, which I think is the same as the e9700/600? I had the old school one which is now called the sonicare advance. Mine was so old it just went caput! I had my sister in law pick me up a new one at the ADA convention. Dirt cheap!!! If you know anyone who goes to an ADA convention, you can have them get you loads of new things! I'm going to order a Waterpik Sensonic too, just to ttry it out, if I don't like it, no biggie.

I have used Sonicare brushes for years and have always been very happy with them; however when I went to get my brace fitted, the dental nurse who gave me the little talk on oral hygiene, do's and don'ts etc. advised against electric toothbrushes! I think she was confusing the sonic brushes with the rotary variety.

Yes, I wonder why your ortho is against them, Salacia? My ortho, in the instruction packet he gave me, recommended an electric toothbrush (although he didn't give me one!!)

I don't recall whose post it was, but I recall reading one recently here on AW regarding a periodontist not recommending the rotary style, but I believe it was because the users tended to use too much pressure and risked damaging the gums. I would think that if you're careful in that regard, it should be fine.

I recently purchased a $20 Oral-B Vitality and really like it.

It was my dental nurse who advised against them, she seemed to think that a rotary style electric toothbrush might knock brackets off teeth. I tried explaining the difference between a sonic toothbrush and a rotary toothbrush but I don't think she quite got it

oh dear - perhaps her boss needs to send her on a training course

I didn't look into the differences between the sonic brushes. I bought a Sonicare e9000 (I think) which was pretty expensive, but over 6 months or so I noticed my teeth were looking very stained. It just wasn't shifting the stains the way my old Oral-B rotary brush was, so I went back to that.

Others here have got on really well with Sonicare though, so I'm not sure why it didn't work for me. I do drink a lot of tea and coffee, so perhaps my teeth just need firmer treatment.

I picked up the Sonicare Extreme last night. I figure if I like the $30 travel model a lot, I can always go back and upgrade for home and keep the travel one at work.

I used it before bed last night, and I'm not sure what I think yet. I mean, my teeth felt clean, but I'm not sure if they felt MORE clean then when I use my Colgate electric. But I'll use it for a few more days before I make my mind up.