Apr 23, 2021
Phillips Electric Toothbrushes
There are several different types of toothbrushes in the Phillips Sonicare electric toothbrush range - Prestige, Diamond clean, Protective Clean Expert Clean and Daily Clean with the main differences being the gadgetry and the price.
Phillips definitely markets on the look, colour and feel of the brush rather than on the efficiency. This does not make it a poor option for an electric toothbrush. It just makes it harder to find out the actual specification and efficiency of the brush.
How does it work
Phillips Sonicare electric toothbrushes have a sonic sweeping motion with up to 62000 brush head movements per minute. This creates gentle microbubbles and this sonic motion gently drives fluid between the teeth while the strokes from the bristles break down the plaque and sweep it away from the gum margins.
Prestige 9900
This electric toothbrush uses AI to sense motion and coverage. It adapts its intensity if you brush too hard. My understanding is it therefore does not have several modes as it automatically adapts to your needs. It connects to an app and feeds back in real time to help ensure you reach every tooth surface.
Sonicare Diamond Clean
Diamond Clean connects to an app which gives you a progress report thus letting you see how much you have improved over time. The brush has built in smart sensors which let you know when you are using too much pressure. It has four modes - Clean, White+, Gum Health and Deep clean plus - all of which are fairly self-explanatory. The brush also has three intensities on all of these modes which means you get to choose between a high intensity to boost your cleaning or a lower one for a more sensitive mouth. This range also have a prompt to tell you when to change your brush head as well as automatic selection of mode depending on which smart head you have popped onto the brush – it will select whitening mode when you use a whitening toothbrush head.
Expert Clean
The main difference I can see between this range and Diamond clean is this range has three modes and three intensities. The missing mode is the whitening one. Otherwise, it has the same app connectivity, replace brush head warning, pressure sensors to wark if you are pressing too hard and mode selection depending on the head on the brush.
Protective Clean
This is a fairly basic model without gadgetry. It has one mode and does not connect to an app. It does still have the smart had technology which means it warn you when it is time to replace your toothbrush heads. It does not have a visible pressure warning system but pulses when you press too hard.
In summary, the Phillips Sonicare range of brushes are very sleek and the research quoted indicates removal of between 7-15 time more plaque than manual tooth bushing alone. The choice of which one to get comes down to the cost, and how simple you want to keep it all. The research does seem to show the whitening mode will help to maintain the colour following whitening treatment and/or a hygienist visit. Personal opinion is that without out one or other of these it will not necessarily make you teeth look whiter. So, it all comes down to the app and how many modes you fancy.
I hope to cover the different brush heads in both ranges in another blog over the next few months and hopefully will help to take the stress out of which one to choose.