Society of Certified Senior Advisors: Best Electric Toothbrush

Older adults don’t always do a good job brushing their teeth. Electric toothbrushes can solve a range of problems.

Older adults today are much more likely to have their natural teeth than their counterparts a couple of generations ago. Remember your own grandparents putting their dentures in a glass to get them sparkling clean? Baby boomers may have gum recession or dental work, but those teeth still need to get brushed to keep them healthy. For several reasons, an electric toothbrush is much better than a manual one.

Your Options in a Nutshell

That’s the promise of the Y-Brush, the first mouthguard-style electric toothbrush to show promise, according to one reviewer. Developed in France, The Y-Brush looks like a mouthguard on a stem. It’s made from food-grade silicone and features bristles angled at 45 degrees as most dentists recommend. Apply your favorite toothpaste and insert the Y-Brush into your mouth to target upper or lower teeth. Push a large blue button and wait five seconds. Then, do the other jaw. Done!

Actually, you can program the device to brush for five, 10 or 15 seconds per jaw. Best practice is to rotate the stem slowly from side to side while it is vibrating. The Y-Brush offers sonic cleaning. It is offered at $125 and is available only on the Y-Brush website. A fresh mouthpiece (with bristles) is $30, but because it’s so quick to clean, you’ll only need one every six months.

Here are the pros and cons of the Y-Brush, according to independent reviewer Jon Love. Overall, he is quite enthusiastic about the device, finding that it did a much better job of cleaning his teeth than previous, similar styles. It did leave some plaque near the gum line, but overall it fared much better than, say, a poorly done job with a manual brush.

Pros:

Surprising cleaning results
Ease of use
Automatic power off
Three modes
Long battery life

Cons:

Fit of mouthpiece
Cleaning results
Toothpaste residue
Firm power / function button
Construction and quality

The Oral Health Foundation recently completed a study that found people using an electric toothbrush had healthier gums and less tooth decay and kept their teeth longer than those using a manual toothbrush. A study from the Journal of Clinical Periodontology found that electric toothbrushes resulted in 22% less gum recession and 18% less decay over an 11-year research period.

There are practical reasons to consider an electric toothbrush, too. The grip of an electric toothbrush is much larger than that of a manual brush, making it easier for arthritic hands to hold. The rubberized grip is also easier to cling to, and a push of a button makes the toothbrush do all the work for you - shimmying across your teeth for a deep clean.

Caregivers who brush teeth would also benefit from using an electric toothbrush. It will give a vigorous scrub, the sonic action can help reach places the caregiver might otherwise miss, and it’s easier to hold.

Three brands most often come out on top: Sonicare, Oral-B and Rotadent.

Sonicare electric toothbrushes have a head that looks similar to a manual brush. Its high-frequency vibrating action transfers energy to the fluids surrounding teeth, helping to dislodge plaque in areas where the bristles are not actually touching. The most plaque is still cleaned by scrubbing, but this is quite a benefit. Sonicare developed the technology and all of their line, even the less expensive models, use sonic technology. Cost $25 to $180.

Oral-B features a smaller, circular brush head that rotates and is especially good at cleaning individual teeth one-by-one. The bristles on Oral-B spin very fast in one direction, then the other, and pulse in and out. Cost $40 to $120.

Rodadent is a brand many people are not familiar with. Like Oral B, the head is designed to clean one tooth at a time. The small heads feature nylon filament bristles that are a third the size of standard bristles, and their tapered tip head is unique in the industry. It features interior bristles that are longer than the others, meant to clean under the gumline and between teeth. Cost $105 to $136.

Electric toothbrushes have a couple of features that are especially useful: a timer and power setting. The timer, available on many models, beeps after two minutes are up. That’s the standard amount of time dentists recommend you brush; 30 seconds for each quadrant. By contrast, most of us without a timer brush our teeth less than 60 seconds. The power setting is also available on several models, and could be key to helping an older adult switch from a manual to an electric brush. The gentlest setting is less noisy and has less vibration. However, it’s always best to move up to the more vigorous power level to get the maximum clean.

Which Model Should I Buy?

The first consideration is how much you’re willing to spend. If price is the main factor, you could go with the $25 Sonicare. For $50, you could get either the Oral-B Pro 1000 or the Sonicare 2 Series. Both offer two-minute timers, rechargeable batteries and several brush heads to choose from. Another site that does extensive reviews suggests moving up to the $90 Sonicare 3 Series Gum Health, the Oral-B PRO 3000 for $100 or the Rotadent ProCare at $135. Remember that brush heads, which cost about $8 for the Sonicare and Oral B and $10 for the Rotadent, will need to be replaced about every three months.

What About Flossing?

Flossing between teeth can get tricky for older hands. Water flossers can help. The Philips Sonicare AirFloss (priced at $50 or $90) shoots blasts of water or mouthwash to clean between your teeth. WaterPik Water Flossers ($50 to $130) use high-pressure, pulsating water to get out tiny bits of food between teeth and will massage gums in the process.

If those options sound a little pricey, try the WaterPik power flosser for $10. It’s battery operated and vibrates 10,000 times a minute for the flexible nylon tip to gently clean as effectively as traditional floss.

If you’re not already using an electric toothbrush, it’s time to consider switching over to one. They have many advantages, from ease of holding to sonic plaque removal. Consider buying one to be an investment in your health. After all, something you do twice a day, especially something as important as taking care of your teeth, should be simple, efficient and reliable.

Happy brushing!