The American Dental Association finds that electric and manual toothbrushes are pretty much equivalent when it comes to cleaning teeth and removing plaque. But an electric toothbrush can make it easier to brush your teeth for longer periods of time. It can also be better at hitting some of those hard-to-reach spots.
So how do you choose the best electric toothbrush? Well, the right toothbrush partly depends on your personal preference. Do you want to focus on plaque control, oral hygiene or teeth whitening? Do you have sensitive gums or teeth? Are you looking for a 2-minute timer? (Dentists recommend brushing your teeth for 2 minutes twice a day with a soft toothbrush head.)
You'll also want to consider your budget. Would you prefer to spend a little more on a powerful model that does extra work for you, or stick to something simple and classic?
There are lots of electric toothbrushes to choose from.
Amanda Capritto/CNETWe get it, the choice can be overwhelming. Before you start shopping for the best electric toothbrush for oral care, check out this guide featuring our electric toothbrush reviews. Our electric toothbrush comparison walks you through nine high-end products for cleaning your teeth, gingivitis, teeth whitening and more. But regardless of which brush you choose, don't forget to floss!
Read more: Three smart toothbrushes from CES 2020 that you'll want this year
How to choose the best electric toothbrush
When looking for the best electric toothbrush, you'll want to consider a few factors.
Cost: First things first: What's your toothbrush budget? On the lower end, you can get a cheap electric toothbrush for $20 to $50, but the cons are that they won't have certain features such as a lithium-ion battery, a water flosser or a sensor.
Many people won't want to spend more than $40 or so on a toothbrush, but if you've got extra money to spend on your pearly whites, investing in a higher-ticket toothbrush in the $100 to $200 range with more features may be worth it in the long run, especially if it helps you have fewer cavities and dentist visits.
Capabilities: What do you need the toothbrush to do? Maybe you just need one mode for cleaning a little deeper than you can with a manual toothbrush.
If you need help brushing for the dentist-recommended two minutes, it's a good idea to select one with a built-in smart timer. If you want to easily track your oral hygiene habits, go for a Bluetooth-enabled toothbrush with an app.
If you have sensitive teeth or sensitive gums, consider looking at the types of brush heads that you can get for your electric toothbrush. Some models, like those from Oral-B or Sonicare, offer many different types of brush heads for different needs, such as brush heads for whitening, gum care and cleaning around braces.
Convenience: Are you going to remember to replace your brush heads when it's time? If not, maybe a subscription-based electric toothbrush is right for you. Don't forget to look into how long a toothbrush holds its charge because the last thing you want is for your toothbrush to be dead when you grab it from the charging dock and you're trying to get ready for bed.
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I've been on the hunt for a very simple electric toothbrush for a long time. I'd scour the internet for my ideal toothbrush and end up overwhelmed with all of the high-tech, app-integrated options; eventually I'd buy one, but I always ended up reverting to a manual toothbrush because I never found an electric toothbrush that did exactly what I need and nothing more: cleaned my teeth better.
Quip is everything I've ever looked for in an electric toothbrush. For one thing -- and a big thing to me -- the brush head is actually close to the size of a manual toothbrush head. It's not tiny like most other electric toothbrushes, which I know are designed to clean one tooth at a time like the ADA recommends, but I really like the full-size brush head on the Quip toothbrush. (CNET editor Sarah Mitroff felt the exact opposite about this, so be sure to read her Quip review if you're considering a Quip brush).
Quip is super simple in every aspect: It has one speed and a 2-minute timer that buzzes every 30 seconds and turns off after 2 minutes is up. That's it. There's no app to fuss with and no chargers or wires to tote or store. Quip is powered by an AAA battery located in the head of the brush. The charge lasts three months, and at that point, you replace the brush head for a fresh brush and a fresh charge.
Since there's no charger, Quip is super easy to travel with. The toothbrush holder it comes with also doubles as a protective travel case.
While I gave Quip the title of "best simple electric toothbrush," I'd also dub it the best travel electric toothbrush and the "best feels-like-a-regular-toothbrush electric toothbrush".
I will say that the Quip motor isn't very powerful compared to other brands, such as Sonicare or Oral-B. To me, it felt like a manual clean with a little extra oomph, and while I actually liked that, many people will not. And if you're looking for a smart electric toothbrush with Bluetooth or an app, Quip isn't the one.
Water flossing changed my life. No joke! I've always hated flossing -- in fact, when I was a kid, my orthodontist wouldn't let me get braces until I became proficient at flossing. Now I have a permanent retainer on top and bottom, and I still hate flossing.
Waterpik makes flossing incredibly easy and efficient. With hardly any effort and in about 5 minutes, the Waterpik water flosser removed food debris from in between my teeth (which are very tightly packed) and from underneath my permanent metal retainer, which is something that could take me up to 20 minutes to execute by myself.
This was like an otherworldly revelation for me: "Flossing can be this easy?! Why did I never know?". My dental hygienist is going to be so proud of how clean my retainer looks when I go back for my next appointment.
Plus, the Waterpik Complete Care 5.0 is a bargain compared to buying an electric brush and a Waterpik separately: This two-in-one includes five water flosser tips, two Triple Sonic brush heads, 10 pressure settings, three brush modes and a two-minute timer with quadrant pacing.
The Waterpik does take some getting used to -- when I first started using it, I was no match for the water dribble coming from my mouth. Eventually I learned to bend slightly so my mouth hovered above the sink, and now it's one of my favorite dental health products I've ever used.
Be warned, though: If you have sensitive gums, start with your water flosser on a low setting. I made the mistake of arbitrarily setting mine to level seven for the first use and my gums bled. Next time, I dialed it down to level three, and I've been slowly working my way up to a more powerful setting as my gums become less sensitive.
Several electric toothbrushes have Bluetooth functionality and app integration these days, but Colgate's app is the only one that didn't give me a headache. Its simple interface gives you easy-to-understand visuals about the duration, frequency and surface coverage of your brushing.
I thought this was silly at first, because how hard is brushing your teeth, right? Well, I quickly went into denial when the app told me I only hit 68% of surface coverage during my first session with the E1 toothbrush. I no longer thought the toothbrush-app combo was silly when I found my percentage creeping up with each brushing session! The coaching really does work.
Aside from that, the brush itself is nice. It's sleek, comfortable to hold and not as bulky as some other electric toothbrushes. When I first received the package, I thought, "Huh, this feels like Apple branding." Call me a branding expert, because I later learned that the Colgate E1 is actually sold in the Apple Store as an Apple accessory.
With just 10 days of battery life, the E1 isn't the longest-lasting rechargeable toothbrush on the market, but that shouldn't be an end-all. Just don't forget your charging base when you go on a trip.
I found the Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100 the gentlest of all brushes on this list across all three settings (whiten, gum care and clean), yet still felt like my teeth were thoroughly cleaned with each use. And despite having sensitive gums, I sometimes brush too hard. The ProtectiveClean actually buzzes at you when you press down too hard with the brush, a gentle nudge to let you know to lighten the pressure.
The ProtectiveClean 6100 has three different modes for different needs: clean, whiten and gum care. I will say that I was disappointed to learn that this toothbrush actually has different brush heads that are optimal for each mode (I thought I'd found the only one that had an all-in-one brush head!), but the modes still feel different even when using the same brush head.
For example, my ProtectiveClean came with the "W Diamondclean" head (the whitening one), but I fared just fine using that brush head on the other settings. Was it ideal or optimal? I don't know; I'd have to compare each setting with its correct brush head. But what I'm saying is you'll probably be just fine without the three individual brush heads.
If you have trouble remembering when to replace your brush heads, you'll love this: Philips' BrushSync technology tells you how long you've been using your brush head and how hard you've been brushing, two key factors in brush replacement. A light on the handle will blink and the brush will beep, letting you know it's time to order a new one.
Shyn (pronounced "shine") is a newer subscription-based oral health company that currently offers electric toothbrushes, flossers, dental picks and teeth-whitening products. The company's Ultra Flex 10 Brush Head recently received ADA approval, joining the ranks of the other electric toothbrushes on this list.
You can choose from multiple brush heads to customize your Shyn electric toothbrush, including whitening, anti-plaque or gum care. I tested the Ultra Flex 10 Brush Head and was thoroughly impressed.
The brush head is slightly larger than most electric toothbrush heads but still smaller than a manual toothbrush. The bristles are soft and flexible, and the brush head has a thin, squishy rubber coating that makes it gentle on your gums.
I thought the Shyn electric toothbrush with the Ultra Flex 10 Brush Head produced a deep, thorough clean without making my teeth or gums feel sensitive (which is a big deal for me; more on that below).
Similar to Quip, you can opt to join a subscription plan that sends new brush heads every three months. Shyn's subscription costs $6 every three months for the Ultra Flex 10 Brush Head.
Also tested
The electric toothbrushes in this section weren't my favorites, but these toothbrush options do have some great qualities worth mentioning. One of these might be the right choice for you so I felt it worthwhile to include them here.
The Oral-B Pro 3000 is a good brush. It really is. It's just way too powerful for me. The brush head both vibrates and oscillates, whereas most electric toothbrushes do just one or the other. Theoretically, that would produce a deeper clean, but even if that's true, I don't think it would be worth it for me.
My gums and teeth felt sensitive after every use with the Oral-B Pro 3000, but I do tend to experience dental sensitivity more than most. If you have sensitive gums, note that Oral-B has a variety of brush heads that might help. There's definitely a chance that I wouldn't have experienced as much sensitivity if I used these sensitive gum care brush heads.
There's some good in this, though: I feel like the Oral-B Pro 3000 cleared away morning mouth sliminess better than every other brush on this list, and it did a great job of knocking food debris out of the hard-to-reach back molars.
Because the brush head is small (which I typically don't like) and oscillates, the Oral-B Pro 3000 actually did a wondrous job of cleaning my permanent retainers -- something that no other toothbrush has ever managed. Depending on what I'd eaten, I sometimes felt like I didn't even need to floss after using the Oral-B Pro 3000.
You already know how much I love the Waterpik, so you can safely assume that I was extremely excited to learn that there is such a product as an electric toothbrush that is also a water flosser. I don't mean a water flosser that comes with an electric toothbrush -- I mean a water flosser that is an electric toothbrush.
My excitement quickly turned into exasperation when I ended up first spraying myself in the eye and then proceeded to spray water all over my bathroom mirror as I, in a frenzy, tried to turn the dang thing off. Don't make my mistake, folks. Just put the toothbrush in your mouth before turning the Waterpik feature on.
Aside from the initial downturn, I enjoyed my experience with the Waterpik Sonic-Fusion Toothbrush. It's a bit awkward to use the Waterpik feature at first, as the brush must be connected to the tube through which water flows. Once you find the sweet spot on your bathroom counter, though, it won't be an issue.
In terms of the cleaning power, I liked the Sonic-Fusion just as well as the Waterpik Complete Care, but in terms of design, the Complete Care is easier to use than the Sonic-Fusion. If you have enough space on your bathroom counter, I'd recommend the Complete Care over the Sonic-Fusion. But if you're in tight quarters or want to travel with a water flosser and electric toothbrush, the Sonic-Fusion is a great option.
While there are many inexpensive electric toothbrushes out there, my experience with the Hamilton Beach Brands Brightline Brush (compared to some others in the same price range) decidedly dictated this brush as one of the best value electric toothbrushes.
The Brightline suite of products is a new brand from Hamilton Beach Brands that launched in December 2019, and is the company's first foray into personal care. As a brand known for kitchenware and appliances, I'd say it didn't do too bad
The motor on the Brightline brush is powerful -- I was actually a bit taken aback by the sound at first -- but it's not so powerful that it hurts. The brush head features contoured bristles that are rather soft and flexible. This particular brush only has one speed (with "adjustable intensity" per the user manual, although I never figured that out), but Brightline offers another brush with five modes for about $10 more.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
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