Best Oral B Electric toothbrush?

fuzzgun19

We've been for a check up, and the dentist advised us my teenage son will need to 'brush better' to help prevent decay starting.

At the moment he's using a Colgate electric brush and has done for about 6 months (manual before that).

I can't really think of how he can 'brush better', he brushes twice a day(2 mins a time)/mouthwash.
He says he has heard Oral B toothbrushes are better as the head goes in a circular movement.
Can anyone advise if Oral B brushes are any good, and which one gives the best cleaning results? (preferably at the cheaper end).

brook2jack

The best electric toothbrush is the cheapest one!

Seriously

1 ditch the mouthwash. It washes away all the fluoride from the toothpaste and if used within two hours of using toothpaste they interact with each other. 98% of all mouthwashes are classed as cosmetic as there is no proper evidence they prevent disease. The only mouthwash that should be used is prescribed by a dentist for specific problems for short term use only. After brushing spit, don't rinse otherwise all the fluoride gets washed away.

2 no toothbrush in the world will do the job properly on its own , it has to be moved around the mouth and down onto the gums to do the job properly. Get him to try disclosing tablets at night to show up where's he's missing. A manual brush or cheap electric brush will do just as good or bad a job. Providing the brush is small enough it's not what you use its how you use it.

3 even if you brush 27 times a day if you do not control what you eat you will still get decay. No more than three times a day for sugary snacks/foods/drinks. In teenagers energy drinks which have up to 12 spoons of sugar a can can be a problem , as can smoothies and snacking in general.

4 get him to take his toothbrush in with him to the dentist so he can be shown how to brush properly. Over 90% don't brush properly.

5 get him to floss. If you don't floss or use Tepe brushes you are not cleaning 40% of your teeth.

Apollonia

98% of all toothpastes are classed as cosmetic as there is no proper evidence they prevent disease.

Did you mean mouthwash?

brook2jack

You spotted the deliberate mistake, corrected now. Thanks

Hermia

fuzzgun19 wrote: »

We've been for a check up, and the dentist advised us my teenage son will need to 'brush better' to help prevent decay starting.

At the moment he's using a Colgate electric brush and has done for about 6 months (manual before that).

I can't really think of how he can 'brush better', he brushes twice a day(2 mins a time)/mouthwash.
He says he has heard Oral B toothbrushes are better as the head goes in a circular movement.
Can anyone advise if Oral B brushes are any good, and which one gives the best cleaning results? (preferably at the cheaper end).

I have one of the more basic Oral B ones and it is awesome. The round head really helped and my dentist praised my teeth after I switched to an electric toothbrush. I have a small mouth and find it hard to manoeuvre a normal shaped brush around. I once tried the Phillips Sonicare and the brush's shape would make me gag a lot. I would recommend the switch, but he obviously still needs to make sure he uses the brush properly.

Ben84

Many years ago my dentist showed me how to brush my teeth. It's easy to take for granted that you know something that seems so simple, but actually I'd been doing it badly. What puzzles me is that I'd never had any advice on this before from any other dentist. I make more effort to ask my dentists since then about things like how to brush.

As for electric toothbrushes, it seems you can spend as much as you want on them. Some are very expensive, yet in many cases I looked at they took the same heads as the £20 models from the same manufacturer. Maybe I'm missing something, but the doubtful side of me wonders, just how much can the handle do to agitate the exact same brush head's bristles about that justifies £100+ extra on the price?