Introduction

Choosing a particular electric toothbrush model from the Oral-B line up can be a bit confusing. We break down all the technology that Oral B has to offer its customers. You’ll be able to read about all the features and benefits. After reading all about Oral-B, and everything they offer, you’ll be making a more informed choice.

Oral-B electric toothbrushes have advanced brushing technology like their various cleaning modes. They have so many great features in each of their toothbrushes. They deliver stronger teeth, healthier gums, and less plaque.

Note – If you are looking for Children (3+ through 6 years old), Junior (6+ through 12 years old) or Teen series, please refer to – Oral-B Children and Junior Series.

New to Electric Toothbrush or looking for an upgrade model?

For users who have not use an Oral-B electric toothbrush before, or users who had used an entry level model, and would like to upgrade to a higher end model, we hope this guide would give some comprehensive guide to the range of Oral-B products that we have in our store.

We hope this guide gives thorough, yet concise explanations of all the features and functions available on Oral-B electric toothbrushes today. This guide will help you understand which one meets your needs and budget, and comes with all those specifications described by Oral-B.

How to choose an electric toothbrush really comes down to one factor: likability. The best toothbrush for you is the one you’re most likely to use. If you like your toothbrush, you’re more likely to brush for the full, recommended time of two minutes and clean all the tooth surfaces as dental professionals recommend.

Although price is always a consideration, your oral health depends on it. Factor in your overall oral health, lifestyle and budget, as well as features that you want, to decide the model that you need.

Understanding Oral-B’s Model series

Oral-B produced a very wide range of electric toothbrush, from budget electric toothbrushes to high end premium electric toothbrushes. There are 2 main categories of Oral-B

a) Battery Operated Electric Toothbrush

• DB4510 – Powered by 2 x AA battery, sharing the same EB series of replacement brush heads as all the other Oral-B rechargeable electric toothbrush

• B1010 CrossAction Power – A whole new range of AA battery powered electric toothbrush, they have their own range of replacement brush heads.
  
  For more details, please read – Comparing the Oral-B CrossAction Power Series of Battery powered toothbrushes

b) Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush

1) Vitality Series – This is the entry level range for Oral-B rechargeable battery models, with the lowest price, single cleaning mode, 2D brushing model, but they do comes in whole range of brush handle colors with different brush heads bundled;

For more info – please read Oral-B Vitality Series

2) D100 Series – This is an upgrades to Vitality Series, comes with a new handle design,and usually comes with an extra cleaning mode

3) Pro Series – This is the mid range series, and is one of the most popular series, partially due to the price point, and with just enough features for most buyers;

For more info – please read Oral-B PRO series

4) Smart Series – The Smart Series is a higher range than the Pro Series, and come with much more higher features, more cleaning modes, and advance features like bluetooth, which can be connected to Oral-B’s app;

5) Genius Series – The Genius series is a premium range, with the most features, cleaning modes, as well as top features that are not available in the Pro and Smart series, e.g. Position detection, Smart rings etc

6) iBrush Series – Genius series is branded differently in China market, and they are branded as iBrush Series there, with almost the same features as Genius;

7) iO Series – This is the latest series from Oral-B, released in 2020, and the iO series is now the most Premium range of Oral-B product. They are designed totally different from all the above series, and with its own iO series of replacement brush heads, which are only compatible with the iO series brush handles;

For more info – please read Oral-B iO Series iO7, iO8 & iO9

Note : For Kids / children models, please refer to our separate post – Oral-B Children and Junior Series

What are the things to consider to pick the right model for me?

If you are a first time buyer, you may not be familiar with some of the basic features of Oral-B products, not all models have these features. You will need to understand what these basic features do, and whether you can do without them, or you would like to have them for your first purchase.

On average, each Oral-B’s brush handle lifespan is 2-3 years, very much depends on how you take care of the product and the lifespan of the built-in battery. You can either start with an entry-level or mid-range model, if budget is a constraint, get use to the features, and upgrade later to a higher-end model.

For the more adventurous buyer, you may want to jump start to a mid to higher end model, if you want to start using all the advance features immediately.

Features and benefits of Oral B Electric Toothbrush

The following give detail features and technologies from Oral-B, once you read and understand these features, you will have a better understanding of what features you need for your next Oral-B model, base on the budget that you are ready to spend.

Oral-B’s Brushing Technology – Oscillation and Pulsation

The line of Oral B electric toothbrushes from Braun works an oscillation, and pulsation technology.

The back-and-forth & left-and-right motion of a rotary brushing action will together form the 3D cleaning design.

The brush head surrounds each tooth and vibrates while rotating. Electric toothbrushes from Oral B can deliver over 48,000 movements per minute.

At 48,800 movements per minute, you’re getting 97,600 movements when brushing for two minutes. That’s the time that dentists recommend you spend brushing.

Why some Oral-B models are called 2D and some 3D?

For the 2D model, there are only left-and-right oscillation motions, whereas in the 3D models, the addition of back-and-forth motions mixing with the oscillation together formed the 3D effect of cleaning.

Clinically proven superior 3D Cleaning Action oscillates, rotates and pulsates to break up and remove more plaque than a regular manual toothbrush

Various Brushing Modes

We wouldn’t be at all surprised if you were confused by the different cleaning modes that the Oral-B toothbrush may offer. Some entry-level models have just 1 mode, others 2, whilst some have as many as 6 modes. What do all these different modes do and why might you need them?

Each Oral B toothbrush has at least one brushing mode, usually the Daily Clean mode. Many of them have multiple brushing modes. There are 6 modes available across the devices. There’s Daily Clean, which is the clean commonly used daily. The Gum Care massage mode. That’s used to stimulate the gums. The Sensitive mode is a lowered power for those with sensitive gums and teeth.

There’s a Whitening mode that shines and brightens your teeth. The Pro-Clean was previously known as Deep Clean. It removes more plaque and film from your teeth. Lastly, there’s Tongue Cleaner. This is used to remove food and bacteria that’s hiding on the surface of your tongue.

Deep Clean is designed for exceptional mouth cleaning, featuring 45-second quadrant cleaning for a total brushing time of 3 minutes, enhancing the results of the standard 30-second quadrant clean of 2 minutes.

Each of these cleaning modes have different matching type or brush heads, and operate at different speeds and different duration of brushing time. For some, they may find these different brushing modes useful, and can switch between modes for different purposes, for different parts of the teeth.

For more details and in-depth description, please read Oral-B Built-in Brushing Modes

Oral B Replacement Brush Heads

Each cleaning mode has a brush head pairing that works together. The Daily Cleaning mode works well with any of the brush heads. The Sensitive mode works better with the Sensitive brush. The Whitening mode is enhanced with the 3D White brush.

FlossAction and CrossAction enhance any of the cleaning modes you choose. These are standard and deliver good brushing and flossing action. Most Oral B toothbrushes come with one or two brush heads. The rest can be easily ordered as needed.

For more details and in-depth description, please read – The Oral-B Replacement brush Heads

2 Minutes Timer and Quadpacer

The dentist recommended cleaning time for your teeth is 2 minutes, or 120 seconds every brushing session. Most Oral-B electric toothbrushes include a 2-minute timer to help you brush for the dentist-recommended 2 minutes. From the moment the brush is turned on, a built in timer is activated. At the end of the 2 minute cleaning cycle, the motor in the brush will stutter (pauses and restarts briefly) three times.

This pausing of the brush motor causes the brushing sensation to change as well as the sound of the brush. This is your signal that the 2 minutes of brushing time has been achieved.

Most people brush their teeth for under a minute, most just want to get over the brushing session as soon as possible, as for some people, brushing just before you sleep or just after you wake up is usually zombie time, where most remain in sleepy state.

This reminder feature will assist buyer to achieve the 2-minutes brushing time as recommended by dentists. Some buyer may think they can use a standalone stopwatch, or timer on their phones to monitor the 2 minutes.

Some of the entry level Vitality models do not have the 2 minutes reminder feature, while most models above 1000 all have these features built-in.

For more detail explanation, please read our “2-Minutes Reminder/ Timer and Quadpacer“.

Type of battery

Rechargeable batteries in electric toothbrushes these days are either Nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) or Lithium-ion (Liion) cells. What are the differences? Is one better than the other?

This question is important because nearly all powered toothbrushes have build-in batteries, for safety reasons, you are not supposed to replace them, as they are sealed inside the waterproof handle. In order to be able to enjoy a long life, it is important to know how to treat your battery and what to avoid.

This question is important because nearly all powered toothbrushes have build-in batteries, for safety reasons, you are not supposed to replace them, as they are sealed inside the waterproof handle. In order to be able to enjoy a long life, it is important to know how to treat your battery and what to avoid.

	NiMH	Lithium ion
Energy density	140 – 300 Wh/L	250 – 676 Wh/L
Cycle durability	180 – 2000	400 – 1200
Price	lower	higher

Lithium ion batteries have a higher energy density than NiMH batteries. Smaller sized batteries allow to build slimmer handles. Another advantage of NiMH is the faster charging. There is no need to wait for 12 hours before you can use your new toothbrush.

Li-ion powered Oral-B models tend to last 10 – 14 days* after a full charge, as compared to 5 days* for NiMH powered models.

* base on 2 minutes brushing per session, twice a day, i.e. 4 minutes per day.

Most of the entry level comes in NiMH battery, some older higher-end model also comes in NiMH, while new higher-end model all come sin Li-ion battery.

For more detail explanation, please read our “Battery Type and Battery Life“.

Pressure Sensor

Everyone’s felt the urge to brush with fervor and stick the bristles right up against the surface of your teeth. However, you’re not doing your teeth nor those bristles a favor. Vigorous brushing can wear down your enamel and shorten the lifespan of your bristles.

What is a pressure sensor?
A pressure sensor, with respect to electric toothbrushes, are small components inside the brush handle that detect when you are applying too much force during your brushing routine.  When it detects the use of excessive pressure, the brush will reduce the amount of power delivered to the brush head in order to reduce the chances of ongoing damage to the teeth and gums.  If the excess force is removed, the motor will power back up to a fuller speed and perform as normal. This change can happen within split seconds.

The bristles of the brush should skim the tooth surfaces to sweep away, bacteria, food debris and plaque.  Hard and aggressive brushing will not normally help, hence the pressure sensor to alert you to these instances where you do apply too much force.

The Visible Pressure Sensor is an important feature of higher end Oral-B models that score high points. Pressing too firmly with a toothbrush causes tooth abrasion. This is where the toothbrush starts to remove the enamel of a tooth and can lead to gum recession and tooth sensitivity.

For more detail explanation, please read our “Visible Pressure Sensor“.

Charging and Battery indicator

The red low battery indicator light is nearer the bottom of the handle, it lights up when it’s time to charge your toothbrush, as there is only juice left in the battery for 1 or 2 more brushes. Now would be a good time to charge it.

Advance Features of higher end models

Apart from the basic features mentioned above, the higher-end Oral-B models/series also come with more advance features, this is for buyers who want all the added features and have a higher budget for an Oral-B electric toothbrush.

The following are the more advance technologies and features for the higher end Oral-B models like Genius & iBrush series:

Technology to Protect Gums

Oral B has delivered gum protecting technology in many forms. First, their toothbrushes have more plaque removal features. The circular nature of the brush itself is meant to remove plaque along the gum line. That makes for healthier gums.

They also have a Gum Care cleaning mode on most of their toothbrushes. It’s this mode that massages the gums to stimulate blood flow. Healthy blood flow to the gums can repair damage. It can also keep them from being damaged.

Lastly, the Pressure Sensor tells you when you’re brushing too aggressively. Hard brushing on the gums can cause gum recession. That leads to serious issues with your teeth as you age.

Position Detection

The latest models from Oral B have Position Detection. It uses facial recognition to “see” your mouth. The front-facing camera on your phone or tablet is where the facial recognition software acquires its target.

With this technology, the software and the toothbrush work together to ensure that you’re brushing all your teeth. It’ll visibly see where you’re brushing and show the positioning in the app. It’s an incredible advancement in technology.

Smart Guide

This compact unit acts as a clock when you’re not using it for your teeth. Once you turn it on, it works with the Oral B Bluetooth-enabled brush. It’ll show a timer and give you feedback on your use when brushing.

Some of the older models have this Smart Guide for tracking your brushing. It’ll show you a cleaning mode, mouth quadrants, and the correct time for each quadrant. The guide will give you a smile face for good brushing habits.

Dual Charging

The battery life of the toothbrushes are really incredible. You’ll get between 12 and 14 days of battery. The length of the battery will depend on the amount of brushing and how many people are using one handle.

Many of the Oral B toothbrushes have dual charging. It’ll allow you to charge your toothbrush and your smartphone or tablet. That’s important when you’re traveling. You don’t need to block more than one plug or port with your charging needs.

Brush Head Shapes

The shape of the brush heads were inspired by the circular head used in the dentist office. Theirs is a small, round brush that surrounds each tooth to get all the edges. It’s easier to remove plaque with this design than the long square brush head on a manual toothbrush.

Reasons You Should Use Oral B

Removes More Plaque than Competitors

The reason that Oral B removes a large amount of plaque comes down to the features. It has the patented round brush head. That cups the entire tooth when brushing. It was inspired by dentists since they use that type of brush professionally.

There are modes of cleaning focused directly on plaque removal. The brush heads focused on plaque removal can also be paired with the cleaning modes. Deep Cleaning from the Pro-Clean option is ideal.

Customized Brush Heads

There are more than plaque removing brush heads. There’s a brush head for whatever your oral care weakness. Let’s say your dentist wants you to focus on plaque, but you want to also focus on teeth whitening. You can get the brush head for plaque removal as well as the whitening one.

The brush heads can be customized for your oral care needs as well as the cleaning mode. The gum massage mode can be paired with the brush head for sensitive teeth. You can pick exactly the type of brush head and cleaning mode will benefit you most.

Smart Coaching through the App

The app can be downloaded for your smartphone or tablet. It’ll keep track of all your brushing habits. There are a few good reasons for this. That gathered data can be brought to your dentist when you go for cleanings and checkups.

It can also be used for real-time tracking. You’ll be able to see exactly when you miss areas of your mouth.

ADA Approved

The company has received the American Dental Association’s Seal of Approval. The ADA updated their guidelines in 2017 to be more strict. After vigorous testing, the ADA Seal was granted to the Oral B line of power toothbrushes.

It’s quite a validation for a toothbrush company. To get the Seal, the company had to meet dental standards. It allows dentists to recommend these products wholeheartedly to their patients.

Options for Tongue Cleaning

The Tongue Cleaning mode can be paired with any of Oral B’s brush heads. Not every toothbrush model has this option, but it’s a good one. Food and bacteria can hide in the tongue’s crevices. Cleaning the tongue removes anything hiding there, which reduces bad breath.

It’s important to brush your tongue at least once per day. The entire surface of the tongue should be scrubbed. That’s easy to do with the dedicated cleaning mode found on many of Oral B’s toothbrushes.

Faster Teeth Whitening

With a Whitening cleaning mode and a whitening toothbrush head, you’re going to get more whitening in a shorter amount of time. If you pair the cleaning mode and brush head with whitening toothpaste, you could have a whiter smile in just a few days.

The 3D White toothbrush head uses bristles to remove the stains on the surface of your teeth. In the middle of the bristles is a polishing cup. The bristles surround the tooth while the cup makes it brighter and whiter.

Conclusion

The Oral B line of toothbrushes provides fantastic benefits with all their features. They do more than clean your teeth. Even the most basic of their toothbrushes provide great cleaning power.

The patented round brush surrounds each tooth while the oscillations and rotations do all the work. They have an app that helps you track your progress. That data can inform future brushing plans.

Aside from the cleaning, the features will give you benefits like healthier gums. There will be less plaque along the gum line. You’ll have fresher breath and whiter teeth based on the modes you choose in your Oral B toothbrush.