Road Test: Will a $379 toothbrush transform my oral health routine?
WORDS BY IZZY WIGHT
Squeaky clean.
When it comes to the ‘chore’ parts of my beauty and wellness routine – taking vitamins, flossing, removing chipped nail polish – I generally keep it as simple as possible. I snack on gummy vitamins (it’s like a treat), floss when I can and use clear or nude-coloured nail polish because I know it’ll stay on well past the chipping stage.
As the recipient of not one, but two glorious rounds of braces – one with baby teeth and one with adult teeth because the situation was dire – I understand the importance of oral health. I’m also admittedly a little lazy, so I chose to ignore my dentist’s recommendations of an electric toothbrush and instead, chomped through cheap packs of disposable ones and breakneck speed.
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While brushing, you see, something possesses me to bite down hard on my toothbrush, leaving it looking like Beaker from The Muppets after less than a week of teeth-cleaning. It’s a bad habit – and one that can apparently damage your gums and wear down your enamel if kept up for long enough. So when the opportunity arose to try the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 Sonic Electric Toothbrush, my interest was piqued.
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With a premium price tag of $379 (my toothbrushes are usually $5 for a pack of two), I like to imagine this as the Rolls Royce of the oral health industry. According to Phillips, it’s the brand’s “best whitening” in its “most elegant sonic electric toothbrush”. It’s definitely nice to look at on my bathroom counter – I love the sleek all-black design, and it comes with a little glass to sit it in – but does it really work?
What really drew me to this brush is its app-syncing abilities. Using ‘smart brush head recognition’, it connects to the Phillips Sonicare App, which tells you everything from your average brush duration to the status of your brush head. You can choose from four settings (clean, white+, gum health and deep clean+) to customise your brushing experience to best suit your needs.
Most importantly, the Phillips Sonicare app tracks your cleaning in real-time, letting you know when you’re pressing too hard on your teeth and/or gums. It would notify me every time I fell back into old habits, making me distinctly aware of just how incorrectly I was brushing my teeth beforehand.
After a few months of use, I also noticed my teeth were generally cleaner (the Sonicare was more effective in getting those hard-to-reach places) and my gums didn’t feel nearly as sensitive. It’s an accountability tool that really works for me, and I look forward to logging my brushes in my little app calendar and hitting a perfect-pressure brush.
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If you can’t afford the $300-plus price tag but feel like upgrading your oral health routine, my recommendation would actually be the Philips Sonicare Cordless Power Flosser 3000. Instead of string floss, this device pulses water in precise jets to clean between the teeth. It’s less effort (15 seconds each on the top and bottom is recommended) but with better results. Like the brush, you can choose from different flossing modes and intensity settings.
So would I recommend splashing out on a new toothbrush or flossing device? If what you’re doing isn’t currently working for you, definitely. Teeth are important – so instead of chomping down on a disposable brush, try and take your anger out elsewhere today.
For more of the best electronic toothbrushes, head here.
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