Best electric toothbrush 2023on September 13, 2023 at 14:50 Tech Advisor
What’s the best electric toothbrush? And how much do you need to spend? Read on to find out. Our round-up will help you to find the brush that’ll best help you to look after your teeth and gums, as well as ensuring you don’t waste money on a product that’s not right for you.
Studies confirm that an electric toothbrush is better than a manual brush when it comes to removing plaque and keeping gums in good health. But it’s hard to find a similar consensus on which electric toothbrush works 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.
As well as good brushing performance, we think that the most important features on an electric toothbrush are a brushing timer and a pressure sensor. A timer will let you know when you’re brushing for long enough, as well as ensuring that you spend an equal amount of time on each part of your mouth – it’s common to favour the front teeth and neglect harder to reach ones at the back. And a pressure sensor will stop you from damaging your tooth enamel or gums by pressing too hard.
On top of this, there are any number of features that could make a difference to how well you brush your teeth, from a choice of brushing modes, to the real-time coaching feedback that some connected brushes offer. Plus, there are the nice-to-have features, like long battery life and good charging options.
If you want to find out more about electric toothbrush features and get the answers to commonly asked questions, have a look at our FAQs, after our best-of list. We’ve also got round-ups of the best budget electric toothbrushes and the best Oral-B electric toothbrushes.
Otherwise read on for our best picks. We test out and write full reviews of our best-rated electric toothbrushes, so you know what each brush has to offer. 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, as well as accessories and the price of replacement heads.
Best Electric Toothbrush Reviews
1. Oral-B iO7 – Best Electric Toothbrush
Pros
Excellent brushing performance
Screen with timer
Three-hour fast charge
Cons
No USB charging
Expensive replacement heads
Price When Reviewed:
£454
There’s no escaping the fact that this is an expensive brush, but if you can afford it, the iO7 is our top pick. We think that Oral-B’s iO line deliver the best brushing around, and have some of the top feature sets, and the iO7 has the best of the high-end features for its price point.
What you’ll miss out on is the full colour screen that the iO8, 9 and 10 have. Instead it has a black and white screen – but it displays all the same information. Crucially, it’s the cheapest brush in the iO series to offer magnetic fast charging. This means your brush will charge in around 3 hours, as opposed to the 12-16 hours that the less expensive models take.
Its battery life is the only area in which the iO falls short. Oral-B claims up to two weeks of use from the battery but in practice, we found that 10 days is usual. This is about par for the course with iO brushes but not as good as some rivals, so if long battery life is very important to you, you may need to look elsewhere. And, like all iO brushes, there’s no USB charging option. Instead, you’ll get a shaver plug if you buy in the UK and a standard two-pin plug in the US.
However, in every other respect, this brush is pretty much flawless.
The iO7 has five brushing modes: Daily Clean, Sensitive, Intense, Whiten & Gum Care. It has an excellent pressure sensor, two-minute brushing timer and a brushing countdown that displays on the screen. There are also excellent smart features, including interactive real-time brushing feedback – although, bear in mind you’ll need the app for this.
It’s not ideal for sharing, unless you don’t mind some of the smart features being inaccurate, but some retailers offer a two-pack deal that makes a pair of iO7s more affordable. And if you’re in the UK, don’t buy it at full RRP. Wait until one of its regular sales times and snap it up then.
Read our full
Oral-B iO Series 7 review
2. Oral-B Pro 3 – Best Budget Electric Toothbrush
Pros
Two week battery life
Pressure sensor
Brushing timer
Good cleaning performance
Cons
2-pin charging plug only
Button hard to press
Noisy
Price When Reviewed:
£40
For a relatively wallet-friendly price, this will provide everything you need in an electric toothbrush. That being said, it’s better value in the UK than in the US, where it’s called the Smart 1500 and has a slightly higher price point.
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.
Read our full
Oral-B Pro 3 review
3. Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 – Best Sonicare Electric Toothbrush
Pros
Powerful
Huge number of brushing options
Good case & charger
Cons
Limited app
Average battery life
Can be harsh on gums & teeth
Price When Reviewed:
£340
The DiamondClean 9000 is extremely well made, with a minimalist look. It’s also one of the best brushes around for cleaning performance. It’s powerful and provides a number of different brushing options and intensities: it’s one of the few brushes that lets you choose a cleaning mode and then allows you to make the vibrations stronger or softer.
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
4. Suri – Best Sustainable Electric Toothbrush
Pros
40-day battery life
Recyclable brush heads
USB charging
Cons
Just two cleaning modes
No pressure sensor
Only one brush head supplied & replacements are pricey
Price When Reviewed:
£95
If you worry about waste and plastic but still want a high-quality electric toothbrush, Suri is an excellent option. Its brush heads and bristles are made from caster oil and corn starch and you can return them to the manufacturer for recycling. Its handle is aluminium and is made to be repairable.
It’s a sonic brush that delivers 33,000 vibrations per minute and has an IPX7 waterproof rating, so you can take it into the shower if you want. It’s not noisy and it’s very pleasant to use and feels effective. It comes with a handy wall mount and USB charging stand with four-hour fast charging – both features we liked a lot. But it’s the 40 day battery life that is its most impressive feature.
There are a couple of compromises to be made: it doesn’t have a pressure sensor, so it’s not a good choice if you need a reminder not to brush too hard, and it has just two brushing modes – everyday clean and polish.
There’s one other thing to consider. Replacement brush heads aren’t the most budget friendly at $17.50/ £14.40, but it’s understandable, given that they’re not plastic.
Read our full
Suri sustainable electric toothbrush review
5. Sanyei ION-Sei – Best Ionic Electric Toothbrush
Pros
Stylish
Ionic technology
USB charging
Cons
Bigger brands have more options for cheap compatible brush heads
Price When Reviewed:
£129.99
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
6. Oral-B iO8 – Best Luxury Electric Toothbrush
Pros
Brilliant brushing performance
Full colour screen with timer
Three-hour fast charge
Cons
No USB charging
Less than two-week battery life
Price When Reviewed:
£170
The iO8 is one of the best luxury buys around as has just about every feature you could want but at a slightly more reasonable price point than the iO9 or the iO10.
It has a full-colour screen that greets you, times your brushing session and lets you choose from one of six brushing modes. It has a pressure sensor that glows green when you get it right and red when you press too hard. Opening the app lets you change the brush’s settings, access your brushing stats and get real-time brushing feedback.
It’s not flawless though. You’ll be lucky to get two weeks from the battery life (we never managed this in our test) and there’s no USB charging option. However, it’s three hour fast charging time does somewhat mitigate this.
Read our full
Oral-B iO Series 8 review
7. Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100 – Best Non-connected Brush
Pros
Brushing options
Brush head alert
Solid battery life
Cons
No app, but not everyone wants one
Price When Reviewed:
£125
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
8. Oral-B Genius X – Best Mid-range Electric Toothbrush
Pros
Great brushing feedback
Variety of brushing modes
Cons
Smart features can’t be personalised for couples/ families
Price When Reviewed:
£150 approx
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
9. GUM Playbrush Junior 6+ – Best Kids’ Electric Toothbrush
Pros
Interactive games
Great performance
Brushing statistics
Long battery life
Cons
Subscription model
Position detection lag
No shaver plug
Price When Reviewed:
£29.99 & subscription
If you have problems getting your children to brush their teeth for long enough, Gum’s Playbrush can help. It uses gamification and rewards in a specially designed app to keep them entertained. Every time your child uses the brush, they can play an interactive game.
There’s an interactive brushing coach, which uses a position sensor to show, in real-time, little cartoon bacteria disappear from onscreen teeth. Brushing games include colouring and an ongoing, Tamagotchi-style game, in which your child hatches and cares for a baby dragon, using coins earned while brushing.
The brush head is available in two sizes: Kids 3+ and Junior 6+. We tested the Junior model. The brush itself is chunky, with a grippy, raised bubble design that makes it easy to hold. It has a power and a sensitive setting.
Its battery life is excellent: it will last up to 8 weeks from a single charge
Read our full
GUM Playbrush Junior 6+ review
10. Oral-B iO Series 4 – Best Budget iO Electric Toothbrush
Pros
Great brushing performance
Pressure sensor
Brushing timer
Cons
Not a good choice for sharing
12 hour charging time
2 week battery life
Price When Reviewed:
£240 (RRP)
If you want an iO but are looking for a budget-friendly model (relatively speaking), the iO4 is our pick for having the best feature set for its price point. As well as the iO signature cleaning performance, it has four brushing modes, a red/green pressure sensor and a vibration timer.
There’s one oddity though. There’s no way to tell on the handle itself which brushing mode you’re in (unless you can tell by the change of vibrations alone), so you’ll need to use the app to set it up.
Of the other less pricey models you might want to consider, at this stage the iO3 is only available in the US and the iO5 is not as good value in the UK, but those in the US might find that it’s a better deal.
Read our full
Oral-B iO Series 4 review
Electric toothbrush FAQs
Do electric toothbrushes clean teeth better than manual brushes?
The consensus is that they do. It’s easy to find studies that show that using an electric toothbrush delivers significant benefits when it comes to the health of your teeth and gums. One of the best examples is an 11-year study that took a long-term look at the effects of using an electric toothbrush on oral health and concluded that it had a significant, positive effect on reducing cavities and tooth loss.
Can an electric toothbrush damage gums?
Any toothbrush can damage your gums if you brush too hard with it. But if you use an electric toothbrush properly, it won’t. And, unlike manual brushes, most electric toothbrushes have a safeguard against brushing too hard. This is the pressure sensor, and it’s one of the electric toothbrush features that we consider to be indispensable. A pressure sensor will light up – usually in red – when you brush too hard. Some brushes, like the new Oral-B iO range, will also light up in green when you use just the right amount of pressure.
Are electric toothbrushes good for braces?
An electric toothbrush is better for braces than a manual brush as it’s likely to lift food debris more gently and more effectively. If you have braces, you should look for a brush head with medium firm bristles. But what’s most important is that you use an electric toothbrush with a pressure sensor.
Should you buy a sonic, oscillating or ionic electric toothbrush?
Different electric toothbrush brands opt for different cleaning techniques. Sonic brushes work by producing vibrations to remove plaque, while oscillating brushes rotate to produce the same effect. Oral-B’s iO range uses both techniques to – we think – impressive effect. Ionic toothbrushes (we have one in our top ten: the Sanyei ION-Sei) make your teeth temporarily repel, rather than attract, plaque.
While it’s an easy matter to find studies indicating that electric toothbrushes are superior to manual brushes in plaque removal, it’s hard to find conclusive evidence that one type of electric brush technique is better than the rest.
What’s more important is that you find one you’re comfortable with and use a good brushing technique.
Are electric toothbrush heads interchangeable?
The short answer is no. Buy an electric toothbrush and you’ll need to keep buying the same brand of brush head. This may mean it’s worth checking the price of replacement heads before you invest – our reviews will tell you whether replacement heads from each brand are expensive or not.
But there’s a good buying hack. If you buy an electric toothbrush from one of the big brands, Oral-B or Philips, you’ll be able to find compatible unbranded brush heads that are much cheaper than official ones from big retailers such as Amazon. However, you should bear in mind that in getting the best price, you might also be compromising on quality.
How often should you change your electric toothbrush head?
The standard amount of time is three months. You’ll be able to tell when it’s time as the brush will have lost its shape.
Some brush heads also feature colour-changing bristles that lose their blue streak and go white when it’s time to change the head. And if you get an app-compatible brush, most, including those from Oral-B and Philips Sonicare, will alert you when you need to switch to a new brush head.
Some app-connected brushes, including the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000, will go one stage further, giving you the option to automatically reorder via the website when the handle detects that the head is wearing out.
Can you recycle old electric toothbrush heads?
Like any electrical or electronic device, your toothbrush handle can be complicated to recycle (although we have advice) but there are plenty of options for recycling your used toothbrush heads. There are TerraCycle programmes in the UK and in the US. Plus, there’s a service for US-based Oral-B users and one for Philips users in the UK.
But if you’re serious about minimising your environmental impact, there’s an even better option in the form of the Suri electric toothbrush, which has recyclable heads and a repairable handle.
Which electric toothbrush features are important?
If you’re buying an electric toothbrush, there are certain features you should look out for.
Timer
It’s all too easy to forget how long you’ve been brushing, which is why the best electric toothbrushes will have a brushing timer. Dentists recommend two minutes, which feels much longer than it sounds. These brushes will do the hard work for you by letting you know when you can (eventually) stop.
They’ll also alert you to move onto a new section of your mouth every 30 seconds. Most people spend longer on certain parts of their mouth and neglect other areas. Typically, they’ll focus on the front of their teeth and the easier-to-reach sections of their mouths. This can lead to gum disease and tooth decay in other areas.
A timer may be the most important feature on your electric toothbrush, except perhaps for a pressure sensor.
Pressure sensor
We mentioned it above but a pressure sensor is one of the key reasons to buy an electric toothbrush over a manual one. It’ll stop you pressing too hard when you brush. This bad brushing habit can damage teeth and gums.
Over-brushing is often a substitute for brushing well. It can wear down the enamel on the teeth, leading to sensitive teeth and receding gums.
If you check your toothbrush and find that the bristles part in the middle, palm tree-style, it’s a sign that you’re brushing too hard. To protect your teeth, buy a brush with a pressure sensor.
When you brush your teeth with an electric toothbrush, let the brush itself do the work. Move it slowly over your teeth – there’s no need to do a brushing up and down motion to keep your teeth clean.
Cleaning modes
More sophisticated electric toothbrushes feature different modes. They’ll have a button on the handle that’ll allow you to toggle between deep cleaning, whitening, tongue care, polishing and gum care.
Some may have a setting for sensitive teeth, while others may have a range of intensity levels that can be used in the same way.
If you suffer from sensitive teeth or bleeding gums, a brush with different options could make a real difference to how comfortable and effective your brushing is.
Battery life
Being able to charge your brush easily is really important, particularly if you travel often. Some brushes, including the the Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 and the more expensive oral-B iO brushes, will include a USB charger as well as a standard two-pin bathroom plug connector. The DiamondClean 9000 combines USB charging with a travel case, which is ideal.
An average battery life is now around two weeks, so bear that in mind when you read our reviews.
Bristles
Most brushes feature standard nylon bristles but a few are coming on to the market with silicone brushing heads. Silicone is naturally bacteria-resistant and is much gentler on gums than nylon, so it could be a good option for people with gum sensitivity.
There have been promising studies on the virtues of silicone bristles but it’s really too early to say. Some dentists have cautioned that as the bristles are wider, they won’t have the same reach as nylon bristles.
Smart apps
Smart brushes connect with a smartphone app to collect data on each brushing session. Depending on the app, they may also discover and flag errors in your technique and help to change your brushing habits.
The best app we’ve found for overhauling your brushing technique is the one used with Oral-B iO electric toothbrushes. Depending on the brush you get, you’ll get more or less feedback when you brush.
The higher the iO model number, the more feedback you’ll get. The iO9 and iO10 will give you real-time, detailed brushing feedback. If you’re interested in an iO brush, read our round-up of the best Oral-B electric toothbrushes to see which one is right for you.
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