My Toothbrush Is Smarter Than You (Part 2)

To quickly recap, I was asked to try a new toothbrush and tell you what I thought of it. Admittedly, not the “norm” for our site, but I’m willing to give anything a try and goodness knows I love writing. It was with some amusement, then, that I took on the responsibility of testing out the new Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide. By my very nature, I am frugal and a power toothbrush is not something I would consider purchasing. This is based somewhat on the price, but mostly because I already have ninja like skills with the manual variety.

I’m going to confess to you right now that I had no idea what to make of the power toothbrush when I first saw it. It was big, loud, and came with an instruction manual. Usually, anything that has those three characteristics qualifies as a “power tool” I would use around the house rather than put in my mouth. However, there were days when I considered using certain items from my toolbox to dislodge stubborn children’s teeth or to address a tenacious popcorn kernel that had lodged itself deep within the gums. So, a power toothbrush wasn’t totally out of the question.

Cold I pull off a power toothbrush?  I was pretty sure I wasn’t that “kind of guy”. Some men look great on a motorcycles and sports cars. Really, a natural fit. I imagine that these are the type that gravitate towards a power toothbrush and use them often. I also imagine that their names are Chet or Maverick. I drive a ’95 green Honda Civic and the odds are very good that it will be the sportiest car I will ever own. This also means, by my strange logic, I am not the kind of “dude” to swagger about the house in a bathrobe grinding away on my bicuspids with a tool that uses batteries and sounds like a power drill.

But, hey, I’m willing to give it a shot. Let’s see how my first experience went, shall we?

And people wonder why I am not in movies…

My brief relationship with the power toothbrush was not altogether unpleasant, but nor was it a Honeymoon in Vegas. The power toothbrush was easy enough to use (turn on – open mouth – all done), but there were a number of things that bothered me about it that I never could really shake off. First of all, I really never felt like it was doing anything better than what I was already doing myself with my manual toothbrush. My mouth didn’t feel any cleaner, just more “brushed”. Second, the price of the power toothbrush just about knocked me over. I’m used to spending NOTHING on my toothbrushes, as I get them free from my dentist. This power toothbrush will set you back at a bit. If you are interested in buying it, you can get deals online, but for me, the price is just not in my family budget. Third, it only came with one brush. I would need to buy another brush for both my wife and I to use it. This was one more trip to the store and cost I didn’t think was necessary when we consider the price an individual has already paid for the power toothbrush. Honestly, I felt cheated.

It wasn’t all bad, though. I did like the timer that came with the power toothbrush that counted how long you brushed each quadrant of your mouth. This was a pretty neat idea and I will be using it going forward. I also liked how the toothbrush could sense when I was brushing too hard and would correct you. According to Everyday Health, brushing your teeth too hard can cause damage to your teeth’s enamel, irritate your gums, and even cause cavities. Knowing when you are doing that to your teeth is most certainly a benefit. Lastly, I really liked the different speeds you could use for the power toothbrush. Soft gum rubdown, hardcore full-on plague ripping action, and everything in between. Having these choices was a nice touch as it allowed me to tailor my brushing experience.

As of today and of this posting, my dentist tells me I have great teeth, healthy gums, and I need to floss more. This is exactly the same thing the dentist has been telling me for about 12 or so years. I do floss, occasionally, and brush at least twice a day. I am also blessed with crazy awesome enamel. Does my current state of teeth cleanliness improve with the power toothbrush? Does using it address my dentist’s long-running floss campaign? No, not at all.

Do I recommend the Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide? No, not really. After reading about it and using it, I missed my imperfect and very manual relationship with my traditional non-powered toothbrush. Of course, if your name is Chet or Maverick and drive a sports car or own an airplane, you probably already have at least 3 of these power toothbrushes in  your home. In the end, it just wasn’t for me, didn’t fit into my family budget, and didn’t deliver any results that would suggest it was an improvement over what I was doing already. Some people buy memberships to health clubs because they need that extra financial incentive to get out the door and hit the treadmill. Perhaps some might need the same for their oral hygiene. Some people, but not me. I’m happy with my traditional toothbrush

But  if you are not, Oral-B is offering a $10 mail-in rebate on select power toothbrushes April 29 through June 16, 2012. Visit OralB.com for more information. You can also follow the company on Twitter and like them on Facebook. Two easy ways to get info on the latest deals and steals.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Oral-B and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.