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10 best electric toothbrushes tried and tested for brighter, healthier teeth

From Oral-B to Philips, there are brushes to suit every smile

Steve Hogarty,Jon Axworthy
Tuesday 22 August 2023 12:40 BST
<p>Upgrade from a manual toothbrush and you’ll see and feel the difference after one clean </p>

Upgrade from a manual toothbrush and you’ll see and feel the difference after one clean

Thinking of buying a new electric toothbrush but don’t know where to start? We don’t blame you. Oral-B and Philips have more options than you have teeth, with a bewildering array of models ranging from the cheap battery-powered Philips One to the premium Oral-B iO9 and Philips Sonicare 9900 brushes. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the best electric toothbrushes to suit every budget and every mouth.

As you might have already suspected, the best electric toothbrush isn’t necessarily the priciest one with the most advanced features. You might not need a coaching app to tell you how to brush your teeth properly, and you might not need a luxury toothbrush travel case that doubles as a charger.

Key features to look out for are pressure sensors, which tell you off for brushing too hard, and timers, which remind you when it’s time to move on to the next part of your mouth or stop brushing. More modes doesn’t necessarily mean a better result: in our testing we found modes mostly differed only by the intensity of the oscillating action and the time spent brushing each part of your mouth.

Most of the brushes we’ve featured have all of these basic necessities included, and where there are exceptions we’ve pointed them out. We’ve also tested some more environmentally sustainable electric toothbrushes, which aim to reduce plastic waste by using recyclable brush heads.

If you’re shopping for your child’s electric toothbrush, check out our guide to the best kids’ toothbrushes to please even the most paste-averse little ones.

How we tested

These brushes were tested on a wide variety of mouths, including those going through teeth straightening with invisible braces and those with implants and sensitivity. We asked testers to rate the brushes on how thoroughly they felt their teeth had been cleaned as well as the usefulness of any accompanying apps and modes, and considered the price of each brush versus the cost and ease of replacing the heads.

The best electric toothbrushes for 2024 are:

  • Best electric toothbrush overall – Oral-B Pro 3: £40, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best budget electric toothbrush – Philips One: £15.99, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best sustainable electric toothbrush – Suri electric toothbrush: £75, Trysuri.com
  • Best premium electric toothbrush – Philips Sonicare 9900 Prestige: £549.99, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best for braces – Oral-B iO9: £225, Amazon.co.uk

Oral-B Pro 3

  • Best: Electric toothbrush overall
  • Cleaning modes: Three
  • Battery life: Two weeks
  • Phone app: No
  • Replacement head price: Around £4
  • Why we love it
    • Nails the basics
  • Take note
    • Noisier than the iO brushes

The best affordable electric toothbrush Oral-B makes, the Pro 3 is noticeably less powerful than the iO range but will essentially clean your teeth just as competently as the more expensive brushes, with all their techy bells and whistles. It has everything you really need and none of the frills: it’s compatible with the standard Oral-B brush heads, it has a timer with 30 second pacing buzzes, three modes, a pressure sensor and a two week battery life.

Those modes are daily clean (ie. standard speed), sensitive (ie. slower oscillations), and the promising-sounding whitening mode. The whitening mode appears across the entire Oral-B range (and on lots of similar brushes), but as you might suspect it’s not actually whitening your teeth. Instead it uses the last 20 seconds of your cleaning timer to instruct you to “buff” your front teeth with increasingly fast oscillations, in theory polishing them up for a brighter smile.

In our tests there was no discernible difference to the appearance of our teeth using either mode, but like other brushes in our list the Oral-B Pro 3 left our teeth with that trademark “just been to the dentist” feeling. The lack of an accompanying “smart” app means you can happily watch TikToks on your phone while you brush, too, like normal people.

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Philips One

  • Best: Budget electric toothbrush
  • Cleaning modes: One
  • Battery life: 90 days
  • Phone app: No
  • Replacement head cost: Around £5
  • Why we love it
    • Simple, travel-friendly design
    • Triple-A battery means a long battery life
  • Take note
    • No recharging option

This budget-level offering in the Sonicare range is a simple triple-A battery powered brush that combines the usual Sonicare brush head and W-shaped bristles with a sleek, contoured handle that’s pleasant to hold and offers good grip. With just a two-minute timer and a pacer to let you know when to switch sides and one mode of brushing, this is a simple, effective and very portable brush that still offers the deep clean that we expect from Philips Sonicare technology.

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Suri sustainable electric toothbrush

  • Best: Electric toothbrush under £100
  • Cleaning modes: Two
  • Battery life: 30 days
  • Phone app: No
  • Replacement head cost: Around £5
  • Why we love it
    • Comes with magnetic mirror mount
    • More sustainable than most
    • Self-cleaning case
  • Take note
    • No pressure sensor

Whereas regular electric toothbrushes are destined to spend most of their existence in a landfill, Suri aims to be the world’s most sustainable electric toothbrush, by using parts that are more easily recycled or repaired. The corn-starch toothbrush heads, for example, can be returned to Suri for composting – just pop them in a freepost envelope.

While we can’t measure the impact of Suri’s green mission, we’re definitely on board with the concept, which is made all the easier because the toothbrush itself is one of the best we’ve tested. It looks sleek and stylish, is compact, has an optional self-cleaning case and an optional magnetic mount for storing it on your bathroom mirror. Even the matching charging dock has been well designed to fit in with bathroom decor.

Battery life lasts about a month between charges, and the 33,000 sonic vibrations per second give a comprehensive clean without the added fuss of an app or a fancy on-brush display. Suri is a highly recommended electric toothbrush, even if you absolutely despise the environment.

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Spotlight oral care sonic toothbrush

  • Best: For value
  • Cleaning modes: Three
  • Battery life: Two weeks
  • Phone app: No
  • Replacement head cost: Around £7
  • Why we love it
    • Good range of modes
    • Comes with three replacement heads
  • Take note
    • No pressure sensor

There’s a lot to like about this sonic brush, starting with the price, which also includes three replacement heads. Unobtrusive design and a nicely proportioned handle means that it looks and feels like a premium brush, and its three brushing modes will be enough to deliver on a range of oral hygiene goals, whether that’s keeping your dentist happy at your next check-up or gradually whitening teeth for a healthy smile.

In operation, it doesn’t feel harsh on gums although there’s no warning light to tell you that you’re brushing too hard, which might be a concern if you’re usually a little heavy-handed with your dental hygiene. It’s also fitted with a quality battery, and we found that the brush only needed one top-up charge in the month that it was on test.

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Philips Sonicare 9900 Prestige

  • Best: Premium electric toothbrush
  • Cleaning modes: Five
  • Battery life: Two weeks
  • Phone app: Yes
  • Replacement head price: Around £12 each
  • Why we love it
    • Intense sonic cleaning action
    • Stylish charging travel case
  • Take note
    • Expensive

The Philips Sonicare 9900 Prestige is an exceptionally smart-looking electric toothbrush. It’s giving Kendall Roy vibes, the kind of brush you might whip out of a Tom Ford washbag in the bathroom of a Learjet. It comes in two shades, champagne and midnight blue, and includes a stylish and compact pleather travel case that doubles as a USB-C charger.

Unlike other premium brushes the Sonicare 9900 doesn’t feature anything as gauche as a digital screen or a slate of on-brush controls (besides your basic three-levels of intensity). Instead you pick your settings in the accompanying app, which makes sense considering how rarely we switch between brushing modes. The brush then remembers your preferences and the app will alert you if you’re going too hard, or if it thinks there’s a better mode for you.

If you, quite reasonably, don’t want to faff around with a toothbrushing app, the Sonicare 9900 is still smart enough by itself, automatically dropping down a gear to a gentler brushing intensity if it senses you’re putting too much pressure on your gums. The decent two-week battery life rounds off an excellent brush package. While at full price the Sonicare 9900 is expensive, it’s a hard recommend if you can spot it during one of its regular discount windows.

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Oral-B iO9

  • Best: Electric toothbrush for brace wearers
  • Cleaning modes: Seven
  • Battery life: 14 days
  • Phone app: Yes
  • Replacement head price: Around £10
  • Why we love it
    • Powerful, comfortable cleaning action
  • Take note
    • Replacement heads can be expensive

One step down from the all-singing, all-dancing, all bank account-draining Oral-B iO10 (was £799.99, now £476.99 Currys.co.uk), the less expensive Oral-B iO9 impresses with its pleasing design and LED graphics that denote which one of the seven modes you’re currently rocking.

The oscillating action feels like it’s cleaning the teeth very thoroughly, although if you have sensitive teeth it’s definitely worth cleaning in that mode to make sure you aren’t aggravating teeth and gums. Our brace-wearing, teenage tester found that the oscillating action seemed to produce much better results for clearing and cleaning braces compared to sonic brushes, with the action of the brush head particularly suited to loosening food left behind after eating.

Oral-B’s excellent app backs up the brush’s performance, so if you do have time and are interested in utilising all the tech to improve your technique, then you will be able to really fine-tune your brushing regime to get the most out of the brush and value for money.

Read the full Oral-B iO9 review

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Oral-B iO4

  • Best: Cheap iO electric toothbrush
  • Cleaning modes: Four
  • Battery life: Two to three weeks
  • Phone app: Yes
  • Replacement head price: Around £10
  • Why we love it
    • Most affordable iO in the range
  • Take note
    • Lack of on-handle control

The Oral-B iO4 is the cheapest entry-level brush in the iO range, and we rate it one of the best in terms of value. While the rest of the iO series is defined by the little digital display adorning the handle (and that buzzword, “artificial intelligence”) the iO4 pares things back to basics with a simple power button for switching between modes.

Despite this the iO4 retains the most essential smarts of the more expensive brushes, with an LED pressure warning, the usual buzzing timers and accompanying app which lets you choose one of four brushing modes. It also comes with a travel case, though not a recharging one.

The simplicity of the iO4 works out great if you’re not bothered about using the app regularly: just set it up once and your mouth is on easy street. It’s less useful if you want to share the handle with somebody else who has different brushing preferences. For that, take a look at the Oral-B iO5 (£159.90, Amazon.co.uk), which also strips out the display but has on-handle buttons to quickly switch between modes.

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Ordo sonic +

  • Best: For whitening
  • Cleaning modes: Four
  • Battery life: Three weeks
  • Phone app: No
  • Replacement head cost: About £4
  • Why we love it
    • Cheap replacement heads
  • Take note
    • No pressure sensor

In terms of design, the Ordo looks similar to a Sonicare brush and it performs like one too with the 40,000 sonic pulses per minute that it delivers giving a very satisfactory clean. There are four brushing modes to choose from and a timer gives you plenty of control over how the brush performs. We really liked the W-shaped profile of the bristles in the head too, which seemed to make it easier to get to all the exposed tooth surfaces.

The brush head also has a cross in the middle of the bristles, made from silicone, which helps whiten and polish the teeth as you brush, and all our testers felt that this addition was very effective in getting rid of longer-term stains. However, there is no pressure sensor, so if that’s something that you particularly need in order to brush efficiently, then this might not be the brush for you. But the battery life was even better than claimed – roughly four weeks, rather than three.

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Oral-B iO6

  • Best: Mid-range electric toothbrush
  • Cleaning modes: Five
  • Battery life: Two weeks
  • Phone app: Yes
  • Replacement heads: Around £10
  • Why we love it
    • iO smart features at a reasonable price
  • Take note
    • Battery could last longer

Look a little further down the Oral-B iO series and you’ll find the mid-range Oral-B iO6, which we still really like because it offers many of the features of the flagship brushes in the range at a less bruising price point.

It’s a little chunkier to hold than its stablemates, but this might actually suit some brushers who find the slender designs a little slippery while brushing. The signature, round oscillating head is powered by five brushing modes and the brush still links up with Oral-B’s excellent app, which can give you insights into your brushing performance, as long as you put in the time with it.

The pressure sensor, timer and pacer all give real-time feedback as you brush, and the battery life is enough to get you through a week of cleaning before you have to think about docking it on the charger for a couple of hours.

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Oral-B Genius X

  • Best: Cheap replacement heads
  • Cleaning modes: Six
  • Battery life: Two to three weeks
  • Phone app: Yes
  • Replacement head cost: Around £4
  • Why we love it
    • Affordable replacement heads
  • Take note
    • Slightly noisier than the iO brushes

In terms of functionality and features, the more inexpensive Oral-B Genius X doesn’t differ all that much from the premium iO range, especially when compared to the entry-level iO4 and iO5 brushes. The Genius X uses a similar oscillating round brush head (amusingly called “dentist inspired”, whatever that means) and includes an LED pressure sensor, six cleaning modes and a two week battery life. It lacks the quiter, less buzzy motor of the advanced iO brushes.

The app has a smart coaching feature, which tracks how well you brush over time and gives you tips on how to improve your technique. We generally think these apps are over-complicating something we do at least twice a day for our entire lives, but they’re a good way to kick any bad habits you might not realise you’ve fallen into.

The clincher for the Genius X is that it’s the most advanced Oral-B electric toothbrush to use the standard Oral-B brush heads. Whereas the iO range uses special heads costing £15 at full price, the Genius X uses heads costing as little as around £4 each.

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Electric toothbrush FAQs

Do dentists recommend Oral-B or sonicare?

Oral-B and Philips’s sonicare are two of the most widely recommended toothbrush brands by dentists, but there’s no industry consensus on which electric toothbrush is best. Dentists recommend a wide range of electric toothbrushes, and depending on which brand you ask you’ll get a different answer.

One thing almost every dentist agrees on, however, is that electric toothbrushes are better at cleaning than manual toothbrushes. Even more important than the type of brush you use is practicing good dental hygiene habits: brushing regularly and for the dentist-recommended two minutes, reaching all parts of the mouth, and flossing.

Are round head electric toothbrushes better?

Round head electric toothbrushes oscillate thousands of times per minute, enough to efficiently remove plaque, bacteria and debris while brushing. A sonic or ultrasonic toothbrush, which is more likely to have a standard-shaped head, pulses tens of thousands of times per minute to break down and dislodge plaque, bacteria and debris.

There’s not a whole lot of evidence that sonic and ultrasonic toothbrushes are more effective than standard electric toothbrushes at cleaning teeth, but on paper the newer technology packs more vibrations per second and could help remove plaque more quickly.

Are electric toothbrushes better than manual toothbrushes?

Research shows that electric toothbrushes are more effective at cleaning teeth and protecting from gum disease if they are used properly and for the recommended time. That’s because the vibration of the bristles works extra hard to remove plaque from your teeth and reduce the risk of inflammation of the gums. Oscillating (rotating) and sonic (vibrates at very high speeds and frequencies) electric toothbrushes have been found to work even harder.

Electric toothbrushes often have extra features that are also significant. A built-in timer, for example, can help ensure you brush your teeth long enough. Some toothbrushes even connect to your phone to bring you personalised brushing advice.

Some people report being more focused when cleaning their teeth with an electric toothbrush and kids tend to find them more fun – especially if there are associated child-friendly apps involved. People with braces can also find it easier to keep their teeth clean with an electric toothbrush.

But electric toothbrushes are more pricey than manual ones and finding replacement heads isn’t always easy. It’s also worth noting that not everyone likes the feeling of using them.

Can electric toothbrushes be bad for your teeth?

Brushing too hard and fast with an electric toothbrush can permanently damage teeth enamel and cause gum recession. But electric toothbrushes can only damage teeth and gums in this way if excess pressure is applied, so always make sure you allow the movement of the toothbrush to do all the hard work.

Top features to look for in an electric toothbrush

  • Brushing timer – This will help to make sure your teeth are brushed for the dentist-recommended time of two minutes. Some electric toothbrushes are programmed to be on for just two minutes, while others will alert you by beeping or vibrating when it’s time to stop.
  • Brushing modes – Some brushes, often those that are more expensive, come with a range of brushing modes, which are designed to tailor your electronic toothbrush to your cleaning needs, for example, if you have sensitive teeth, you can opt for a more gentle setting.
  • Pressure sensor – Pressing too hard against your teeth can cause harm to your gums, so some electric toothbrushes have pressure sensors to alert you when you’re pushing too hard.
  • Mobile apps – A range of electric toothbrushes have Bluetooth meaning they can connect to your phone via an app, doing so gives you additional data on how you brush your tooth. With some apps, such as Oral B, you’ll receive real-time feedback, as well as tips and instructions.

How to use an electric toothbrush properly

Hold your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle towards the gum line. Move the brush gently back and forth, with a circular movement over the front, back and top of your teeth. Don’t scrub, especially along the gum line, and use floss for harder-to-reach areas between the teeth. Some toothbrushes also allow you to brush your tongue to avoid cavity-causing bacteria.

You should spend at least two minutes using this technique, spending 30 seconds on each section of your mouth – upper right, upper left, lower right and lower left. Repeat both morning and night.

How to clean an electric toothbrush

To make sure your electric toothbrush stands the test of time, we’d recommend cleaning it regularly. Rinse the toothbrush head and electric body after every use to remove toothpaste build-up and excess grime. A cotton bud can also be used to reach harder areas, such as the base, or a damp cloth for tougher debris.

How long do electric toothbrushes last?

The average electric toothbrush lasts three to five years. Many electric toothbrushes come with a two-year warranty. But you will need to change the heads more frequently – the general advice is at least every three months. Some of the newer electric toothbrush heads have colour change indicators to alert you when it needs replacing.

Are electric toothbrushes eco-friendly and can they be recycled?

Yes and no. Yes, because when it’s time for a new toothbrush, you only have to replace the head. No, because they are still made of plastic and after their lifespan, they have to go to landfill. Although toothbrush heads are not generally recyclable, it’s worth noting that because electric toothbrushes last longer, you don’t have to replace them as often as manual ones. What’s more, the heads are a lot smaller than a whole manual toothbrush, leading to less plastic waste overall.

But there’s nothing to stop you from recycling batteries and cables, and a growing number of brands are offering recycling services. Colgate’s oral care recycling programme accepts the whole toothbrush, packaging and all. To use the service, take your unwanted products to one of the drop-off locations across the UK. You can find the full list of collection bins here.​

The verdict: Electric toothbrushes

If you want an electric toothbrush that isn’t too expensive and is relatively cheap to buy replacement heads for, we recommend the Oral-B Pro 3. Its oscillating brush head features a powerful cleaning action and can easily get into those hard to reach spots, while the 360-degree pressure sensor ensures you’re brushing safely.

For a dazzling smile, try one of the best whitening toothpastes

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