No one has ever regretted taking good care of their teeth and now the summer sales are on, it’s a good time to buy.
A number of studies have shown that electric toothbrushes are better than manual brushes when it comes to removing plaque and keeping gums in good health. But it’s hard to find a scientific consensus on which electric toothbrush works the best. Because of the wide variety of features and brushing mechanisms, the chances are that the best brush for you won’t be the best for everyone.
That’s why it’s a good idea to read reviews and find out which features are most important to you.
There are key features that’ll be useful to most people. Some brushes have a timer to let you know that you’ve brushed a section of your teeth for long enough and that it’s time to move on, as well as a sensor that lets you know if you’re pressing down too hard and could damage your tooth enamel or gums.
Others will give you a number of brushing modes and optimised heads for polishing, tongue brushing or gentle cleaning.
Do you need a brush with an app? If you want to overhaul the way you brush your teeth, app-connected brushes will monitor your technique and feed back tips.
We test out and write full reviews of products, so you know what each brush has to offer and can buy the brush that’s right for you. We’ve tried out electric toothbrushes from the market leaders Oral-B and Philips Sonicare, as well as smaller and independent brands.
We’ll also provide information on battery life, charging times and methods (some brushes will charge via USB), as well as accessories and the price of replacement heads.
Investing in an electric toothbrush will be well worth if if it helps to prevent expensive dental work. But that doesn’t mean you should pay more than you need to. For the best prices available, have a look at our round-up of the best electric toothbrush deals. All deals we find will reflect the actual prices that brushes are sold at, rather than the (often inflated) RRPs that retailers like to quote.
And if you want more information on features, read our buying advice after our best-of list.
1. Oral-B iO6
- Excellent cleaning performance
- Monochrome display
- Smart features
Cons
- Shorter battery life
- Replacement heads expensive
The iO Series 6 (AKA the iO6) is the latest iO brush from Oral-B and the most budget-friendly of the series. It has a monochrome rather than a colour screen and instead of a magnetic charging puck, it comes with a standard two-pin charger.
But for a less wallet-beating price, you’ll still get the top-notch iO cleaning performance, as well as genuinely good brushing guidance from the accompanying app.
One note on the price: there are regular deals on this brush, so if you bide your time, you should be able to avoid paying the full RRP.
Read our full Oral-B iO Series 6 review
2. Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000
- Powerful
- Huge number of brushing options
- Good case & charger
Cons
- Limited app
- Average battery life
- Can be harsh on gums & teeth
This is one of the best brushes around for cleaning performance. It’s extremely powerful and provides a number of different brushing options and intensities.
In terms of features, it has a pressure sensor on the handle, as well as a timer to let you know when to move between sections of your mouth and when you’ve reached the end of the recommended brushing period.
Accessories-wise, it comes with a charging puck for a two-pin bathroom plug and a sleek travel case with a concealed USB lead.
It’s app-connected and, while the app can help you to keep your brushing schedule organised (keeping track of your brushing routine, scheduling dental appointments and re-ordering brush heads), it won’t offer advice on improving your technique.
Read our full Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 review
3. Oral-B iO9
- Great brushing performance
- Colour screen
- Variety of brushing options
Cons
- Short battery life
- Limited app
- Cheap-looking case & no USB charging
The iO Series 9 delivers impressive cleaning performance, using micro-vibrations to remove plaque and polish teeth. It has seven brushing settings, a countdown timer and a pressure sensor.
It’s also app-connected, and you can get real-time feedback on how much coverage you’re achieving as you brush. The rest of the app’s features are much less useful, amounting to a series of different ways of logging your brushing sessions.
Of course, with the iO, it’s all about the full-colour OLED screen, which is both useful and unnecessary, in roughly equal measures. But what you gain in display information, you lose in battery life, which lasts less than two weeks.
Read our full Oral-B iO Series 9 review
4. Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100
- Brushing options
- Brush head alert
- Solid battery life
Cons
- No app, but not everyone wants one
The Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100 is a toothbrush built and designed for people who are happy to spend a decent amount of money on a top of the line brush, but aren’t sold on the need for connected features and app support.
So it won’t connect to your phone, but it’ll do just about everything else, with three brushing modes and another three intensity settings, which pair with the new BrushSync tech so that the brush will automatically adjust to the optimum setting for any given brush head.
It’ll also use the same technology to give an assessment based on your usage of when it’s time to swap to a new brush head.
Beyond that, the design is slick and modern, there’s a good choice of colours and brush heads available, and it comes with a sturdy travel case. Plus the battery life actually exceeds Philips‘ claim of 14 days – ours ran for over three weeks before it ran out of juice.
Read our full Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100 review
5. Oral-B Genius X
- Great brushing feedback
- Variety of brushing modes
Cons
- Smart features can’t be personalised for couples/ families
Smart toothbrushes tend to over-promise and under-deliver, and to some extent the same is true with the Genius X. To bill this as AI-driven is really pushing it, especially since it doesn’t learn as it goes.
Still, tracking is pretty accurate, with feedback at the end that really is useful – all in the sort of premium package you’d expect from a brush at this level. We just wish that syncing the brush to the app was easier, and that there was better support for couples or families sharing the same brush handle.
The average user may well stop using the smart features eventually anyway – but even if you do, you’re still getting a top quality electric brush with a range of options and modes.
Read our full Oral-B Genius X review
6. Oral-B Genius 9000/8000
- Good brushing performance
- Variety of brushing modes
- Smart features
Cons
- Smart features are dated
We were impressed with the Oral-B Genius 8000 and 9000 for many reasons: excellent plaque cleaning, comfortable brush and handle, brush-head options, travel case, and long battery life.
However, we found the app’s functionality didn’t live up to its promise. The Position Detection is a great idea, but we found it tricky to get right. When used just to advise and monitor mouth-quadrant brushing it was more successful but not as sophisticated as it thinks it is.
But as a premium electric toothbrush both the Genius 8000 and 9000 certainly live up to the hype. Neither is cheap but compared to the cost of a visit to the dentist, using a quality toothbrush is a wise financial decision as well as a healthy one.
Read our full Oral-B Genius 9000/8000 review
7. Sanyei ION-Sei
- Stylish
- Ionic technology
- USB charging
Cons
- Bigger brands have more options for cheap compatible brush heads
A combination of Japanese technology and German design, the ION-Sei certainly looks good. There are two colour options but we reckon that Lake Blue is the more striking. Still, either will make a stylish addition to your bathroom.
Fashion is, of course, secondary to actual teeth cleaning and it’s here that the innovation lies. Unlike other sonic toothbrushes, this one generates a stream of ions and a weak electric charge which aims to stop bacteria growing in your mouth.
You pay a steep price for the tech: not only is the ION-Sei expensive but it doesn’t come with a travel case. It also lacks features you’d expect to see on a high-end brush, such as pressure detection and a head-replacement indication.
It is rechargeable via USB though, which is handy.
Read our full Sanyei ION-Sei review
8. Oral-B Pro 3000
- Two week battery life
- Pressure sensor
- Brushing timer
- Good cleaning performance
Cons
- 2-pin charging plug only
- Button hard to press
- Noisy
For a relatively wallet-friendly price, the Pro 3000 will provide everything you need in an electric toothbrush.
Most importantly, its cleaning performance is very good. It also has all the features that are really important. Its timer will alert you to move on to a new section of your mouth every 30 seconds and let you know when your two-minute brushing time has expired.
It also has a bright red pressure sensor that illuminates when you press too hard.
The only real design flaw is that its shiny on/off button can get a bit slippery when wet and you’ll have to press it hard to switch it off without scrolling through its other brushing modes.
There’s no USB charging option but the two-week battery life means that it should last you through a holiday, although by the time the battery warning light comes on, the brush’s operation will start to slow down.
9. Oral-B Pro 6000 SmartSeries
- High quality
- App helps with brushing performance
Cons
- Newer rival brushes are beginning to come down in price
The Oral-B Pro 6000 and Pro 6500 SmartSeries electric toothbrushes use wireless technology to sync with a handy smartphone app. The most important thing is to brush each section of your mouth without too much pressure and for the right length of time.
The brushes are top quality, and now that the price has come down they represent good value.
We’d also love to see the app get a bit smarter about brushing techniques, as opposed to just duration and frequency of brushing.
Read our full Oral-B Pro 6000 SmartSeries review
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