Dentists agree nothing cleans your teeth better than an electric toothbrush.
These fast-moving brushes reach every surface of your gnashers more effectively, removing the bacteria that a manual brush might miss to leave whiter teeth, fresher breath and a sparkling smile. However, it’s not easy to choose between electric toothbrushes as one looks almost identical to the next, apart from the price which can vary wildly.
Every model will clean your teeth if you brush for the recommended time of two minutes, at least twice a day, but extra features will bump up the cost. Ones to consider include timers to make sure you’re not cutting corners with brushing, dedicated modes for sensitive or whiter teeth, pressure sensors and even accompanying apps for detailed information on the way you brush. Other nice-to-haves might include a travel case, wall mount or additional brush heads. Battery life is worth noting too, so you don’t find yourself without charge when you go to brush.
Finally, every electric toothbrush uses either sonic or oscillating technology. A sonic brush uses vibrations to loosen plaque from teeth, while an oscillating brush rotates quickly to do the same thing. Oscillating brushes feel more like a familiar manual brush but which one you choose really comes down to personal preference as both will leave teeth squeaky clean.
We got brushing with all these electric toothbrushes over several weeks to judge battery life, extra features, how easy each one was to use and how clean our mouth felt afterwards to find the ones that really deserve a place in your bathroom cabinet.
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Oral-B Pro 3 3500 3D Electric Toothbrush
Battery life: Over two weeks
Accessories: Travel case, charger
There’s no need to spend a fortune to nab a top-notch electric toothbrush. This Oral-B model comes in four colours including the rose pink we tested and is perfect for anyone switching from a manual toothbrush for the first time.
Removing up to 100 per cent more plaque than a standard manual toothbrush, the unique round brush head surrounds each tooth so it’s a doddle to get every surface clean. We even noticed we barely needed dental floss when using this brush (although dentists would still recommend regular flossing).
The brush also has a two-minute timer and three brushing modes - daily, whitening and sensitive - so you can tailor every clean for your dental needs that day.
Best of all, the light on the brush turns red if you brush too hard and automatically slows the brush speed. This is a fantastic addition for anyone with sensitive gums or those using an electric toothbrush for the first time, including older children. If you want a brush that gets the job done every time and will make your dentist proud, this is a reasonably priced winner.
Buy now £45.00, John Lewis
Suri Sustainable Electric Toothbrush
Battery life: 40+ days
Accessories: Case, USB-C charger
SURI’s Sustainable Sonic Toothbrush is a reimagination of a classic toothbrush, crafted from innovative, bio-based materials with no trace of petroleum-based plastics. The brush uses recyclable plant-based heads and bristles and the streamlined aluminium body is designed to be taken apart and repaired, all while delivering a dentist-level clean. The super-soft bristles are crafted from castor oil which replicates a similar feel to nylon bristles without leaving microplastics behind once broken down.
Most impressively, SURI will recycle the toothbrush heads for free in the UK and the US, offering up a user-friendly process to benefit both the customer and the planet. All you have to do is return your used heads in a prepaid compostable mailer bag provided upon purchase and let the SURI team take care of the rest.
Two minutes may seem fleeting, but brushing your teeth even for this brief period can be boring nonetheless. SURI’s two-minute timer and haptic feedback every 30 seconds help the seconds to whizz by while ensuring you’re not cutting corners. Once finished, place the brush into the magnetic mirror mount provided and be on your merry way.
Buy now £75.00, Suri
Oral-B io8 Electric Toothbrush
Battery life: Over two weeks
Accessories: Magnetic charger, travel case
With an RRP of – eek! - £450, this is the brush to buy if money is no object in your quest for the perfect smile. This model does almost everything but hold the brush for you and we noticed the difference with our teeth from the very first use.
It combines the best of both oscillating and vibrating technology, surrounding each tooth with a brush head inspired by the dentist’s tool yet delivering 48,000 micro-vibrations per minute to break up plaque with zero effort. There’s a useful pressure sensor, built-in timer and six brushing modes including intense clean, whitening and super sensitive so you can adjust as required to suit your teeth’s changing needs.
But it’s the smart capabilities of this brush that really set it apart. It tracks your brushing with an accompanying app to make sure you’re getting the best clean possible, with an interactive colour display on the handle itself for real-time personalised coaching. This makes it easy to switch between brushing modes and even gives you a well-deserved (and curiously satisfying) smiley face when you’ve brushed well.
If you take your phone into the bathroom, it’s even more useful as a map of your mouth in the app will show exactly where you’ve brushed and which areas you need to pay more attention to. We loved it, but we’d still advise waiting until it’s on offer before buying at full price.
Buy now £170.00, Boots
Ordo Sonic+ Toothbrush
Battery life: 3 weeks
Accessories: USB charging base, travel cap
If your heart’s set on a sonic brush but you don’t want to spend hundreds, this surprisingly stylish model is a great choice. Available in white, grey or rose gold, the head vibrates with 40,000 sonic pulses per minute and leaves our mouth feeling noticeably clean. There are also four different brushing modes – clean, white, massage and sensitive – making this brush perfect for anyone nervous about using a more powerful electric toothbrush. We really did feel the whitening mode left our smile brighter too, thanks to the built-in silicone-polishing element.
Beyond that, it’s straightforward to use for anyone looking for a brush that gets the job done without too many extras. It feels sturdy to hold and incorporates a two-minute timer, pulsing every 30 seconds to ensure every quarter of your mouth is brushed equally. It’s blissfully quiet to use and we were really impressed at its performance for the price.
Our only complaint is that it charges via USB only and can’t be adapted for a shaver socket, which is annoying if you already have one in your bathroom.
Buy now £59.99, Boots
Spotlight Oral Care Sonic Toothbrush
Battery life: 70 days
Accessories: Travel case, two spare heads with individual hygiene caps, charging dock
Spotlight was founded by Irish dentist sisters Dr Lisa and Dr Vanessa Creaven to create oral health products for their own patients. Unsurprisingly, they know everyone’s dental needs change over time so this sonic toothbrush addresses three issues with three separate toothbrush heads and three speed settings. The sensitive setting cleans gently with 31,000 reps per minute, while the whitening setting delivers 48,000 reps per minute to reduce discolouration, perfect for anyone with a serious coffee habit.
We tended to stick to the clean setting at 41,000 reps per minute and felt like we’d just visited the hygienist after every clean. The brush included a two-minute self-timer and felt very comfortable to use, so we were confident we were reaching every corner of our mouth. The travel case is a really handy addition as well, to guarantee the brush would stay clean even when we bring it on holiday.
Buy now £110.00, lookfantastic
Panasonic MULTISHAPE Modular Personal Care System
Battery life: 70 minutes
Accessories: Travel pouch, charger, electric shaver head, beard trimmer head, nose trimmer head
When is a toothbrush not a toothbrush? When it’s an all-singing, all-dancing, five-in-one men’s grooming kit that could revolutionise your bathroom cupboard if you’ll use all the attachments.
This Panasonic device does almost everything you could need with one handheld unit. All you need to do is swap the head – these can be bought separately if you won’t use them all or bundled together in this package for the full monty.
The main unit charges in just one hour but even a speedy three-minute charge provides five minutes usage, so you’ll never face a dead battery when you need to clean your teeth. It can be used wet or dry and every head comes with a protective cap to keep it clean.
Two sonic toothbrush heads are included in this package; a regular head and one with extra-fine bristles to get into narrow gaps between teeth. We didn’t expect much as it’s not a dedicated toothbrush but we found the device easy to hold and our teeth felt sparkling clean afterwards.
Of course, it won’t be for you if you’ll never use the hair trimmers and shaver, but if you’re looking for portable, all-in-one grooming, this is everything you’ll need.
Buy now £62.97, Amazon
Philips One by Sonicare
Battery life: 90 days
Accessories: Travel case
It’s not always practical to charge an electric toothbrush if you don’t have a shaving socket and don’t want to bring your toothbrush out of the bathroom. This brightly coloured brush available in sunny yellow, orange or black has all the benefits of an electric toothbrush but is operated with a single AAA battery.
It’s a great choice for younger brushers and still has all the features they’ll need including a built-in two-minute time with a buzzer every 30 seconds to remind them when to move to the next area of their mouth.
The toothbrush is also very slim and lightweight to hold so there can be no excuses for not getting a good clean every night. Plus, the dinky travel case means it will take up barely any room in your suitcase when travelling too.
Buy now £19.79, Amazon
Fairywill E11 Electric Toothbrush Ultra Sonic Cleaning
Battery life: 30 days
Accessories: USB cable, seven extra brush heads
No need to worry about the ongoing cost of replacement brush heads with this ridiculously well-priced toothbrush. Though you’ll get change from £20, it still comes with a total of eight brush heads which should see you through around two years’ average use before you even have to think about buying another. Better still, the bristles fade in colour when it’s time to replace the head so you can always keep your teeth in tip-top condition.
That’s not all you get for the price either. The brush delivers 40,000 strokes per minute for a clean to rival even the most expensive models and there’s a built-in two-minute timer with 30-second interval reminders.
There are even five settings including whitening, cleaning, sensitivity, polish and massage as definitive proof you don’t need to spend more on a toothbrush unless you really want to. We were certainly satisfied with the quality of cleaning and found the W-shaped bristles got into every nook and cranny.
Our only gripe is that the brush charges with a simple USB cable rather than on a stand, which we felt would have helped keep it hygienically clean while it charged.
Buy now £17.31, OnBuy
Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Electric Toothbrush
Battery life: 14 days
Accessories: USB travel case, charger stand and USB cable, brush cap
Our teeth felt sparkling after using this Philips sonic toothbrush thanks to a stonking 62,000 brush movements per minute. If that doesn’t supercharge your cleaning, the clever brush head will.
Its flexible design makes it easier to remove plaque from tricky areas including between teeth and the bristles adapt to the shape of your gums for greater surface contact area. We really felt the difference with this and didn’t need to resort to our trusty interdental brush even once while using it.
As you’d expect, there’s also a built-in timer and five brushing modes including sensitive and whitening, but we were happy to stick to the general cleaning setting for daily deep-down brushing. We would have liked an additional pressure sensor to alert us when we pressed too hard though. However, our gums in particular felt noticeably healthier using this brush and we reckon we’re in line for some serious praise at our next dentist visit. The charging battery case is a bonus for easy travelling too.
Buy now £176.55, Amazon
Brushboo Sonic Electric Toothbrush
Accessories: USB charger and extra brush heads
Brushboo's eco-friendly credentials go beyond the toothbrush itself. Its entire offering is plastic-free, from the product itself to the packaging - and 10 per cent of all profits go to reforestation projects through the Plant for the Planet association.
The good news? The brand doesn't compromise on quality, either. This brush in particular boasts a powerful clean through five modes including whitening, sensitive, and standard. You won't be disappointed.
Buy now £53.99, Amazon
Verdict
If you use for the recommended two minutes, twice a day, you won’t be disappointed by any of these brushes, particularly if you’re upgrading from a manual toothbrush.
For all the functions you’ll ever need and fantastic cleaning without breaking the bank, you can’t go far wrong with the Oral-B Pro 3 3500 3D Electric Toothbrush. But if you love a gadget and want to splurge, it’s hard not to be wowed by the Oral-B io8 Electric Toothbrush. Eco-conscious individuals should opt for the new-on-the-scene, unbeatably sustainable SURI.
