As someone who grew up with braces, retainers and a lot of (expensive) dental work, teeth are the first thing I notice about people. In my past and present, I am always trying out new dental devices like whiteners, new flossing tools and even a Miswak stick (a toothbrush that's made from a natural root that I saw trending on TikTok) — nothing is too absurd in pursuit of healthy teeth for me. And if I have learned anything from countless dentist appointments and Reddit threads, it is that having the right tools is essential to having healthy teeth.
Just like with flossing, brushing your teeth is essential to keep your teeth not only white, but also cavity- and plaque-free. In recent years, electric toothbrushes have picked up popularity and are often the choice of many dentists.
I have been using different electric toothbrushes on and off since I was a child. My father insisted on us all using them because, in his words, “They just work better.” After speaking with dentists, it turns out he was right!
With so many options on the market, it's easy to get lost in the hunt for the perfect fit for your teeth. To help make shopping easier for you, I tested out several models to find the best of the best. Read on to find out which ones made the cut and learn what dentists have to say about finding the right fit.
Best for reliability$undefined$49.97
What to look for in an electric toothbrush
Every dentist I spoke to agreed: electric toothbrushes simply clean the teeth better than their manual counterparts. Dr. Samantha Rawdin, a prosthodontist, says, "The vibrations — particularly those with sonic vibration — do a better job breaking up and scrubbing away plaque and food debris over manual brushing. Plus, there are a bunch of brushes on the market that have pressure sensors built in to give feedback if you are brushing too hard."
Finding the right power setting
Many electric toothbrushes have different power settings and finding the right one depends on your needs. "If your gums are sensitive, a less intense setting is better. Some brushes have a 'whitening' option where the last 15-30 seconds of the vibration in the cycle are more intense and can be used gently on the front teeth to help scrub away stains," says Rawdin. "Most of the time, I tell patients to use a 'normal' or medium setting unless there’s a specific reason to change, such as sensitivity."
Dr. Richard Lipari, a dentist at Lipari & Mangiameli Dentistry, says, "Let’s say your brush has pressure settings 1-10, I'd recommend keeping it around a four or five. The brushing technique with an electric brush is dramatically different than a manual brush; you really have to trust the motor and oscillating motion of the brush head to do the work, you want to avoid scrubbing or 'sawing' back and forth."
Lipari says that he sees patients do better with electric toothbrushes because they eliminate a lot of potential human error like not brushing long enough and not covering the full surface of the tooth.
What kind of bristles should you use?
Both Rawdin and Lipari say that soft, extra soft or sensitive bristles are best because they are gentle on teeth.
Best overall electric toothbrush
Ease of use: 4.5/5 | Battery life: 5/5 | Mouthfeel: 5/5 | Attachments/features: 5/5 | Overall rating: 4.8/5
Ease of use: Upon taking the toothbrush out of the box, the heads were very easy to attach. It has five pressure setting modes that you can switch between by pressing the power button. I was a fan of the whitening mode and the polish mode the most. The whitening mode was great for my lower teeth, where they are closer together; I felt I was able to get a deeper clean. The polishing mode was great for my front teeth, where I wanted them to look their best and get in between teeth for plaque. I also liked how the modes lit up when you switched between them, so it was easy to figure out which mode works best for you.
Battery life: The charger — while unique to the brand and not a universal port — was super easy to work with. My toothbrush arrived already charged. I have been using it one to two days per week for about two months and I have not had to charge it once. The brand says it lasts about 60 days on a full battery and, based on my experience, I'm inclined to say that's accurate.
Mouthfeel: The bristles are very soft and gentle. The head of the brush oscillates back and forth, so it does not put too much pressure on your teeth. It is a pretty small head, so it fits in the back of your mouth easily. I liked that all of the different settings felt very different from each other so it is a great option if you have certain sensitive areas of your mouth or teeth. I have a sensitive back tooth and loved using the soft setting in that corner of my mouth.
Attachments/features: The toothbrush has an overall two-minute timer and a 30-second timer that indicates when it's time to move on to the next quadrant of your mouth, which I loved. The brush came with eight replacement heads, so you have enough for just about two years. The travel case was a great size and I loved that the brush came with a wall mount that has a magnetic closure. It really came with everything I needed.
More electric toothbrushes tested by the author
Best for traveling:
Ease of use: 3.5/5 | Battery life: 4/5 | Mouthfeel: 4/5 | Attachments/features: 5/5 | Overall rating: 4.1/5
Ease of use: Upon opening up this toothbrush, it comes with a lot of attachments and two cables, but thankfully, it was all pretty straightforward to use. This toothbrush comes with a travel/charging case that uses a UV light to cleanse the brush head of 99.9% of bacteria in a minute, according to the brand. It also comes with a wall mount that magnetically attaches your toothbrush to the wall and a brush head cover to keep your toothbrush safe from bathroom toxins.
This toothbrush has two settings — one gentle and one more intense — and a sensor that pauses brushing when you are putting too much force on your teeth. Both of the settings for the brush were easy to use and felt great on my teeth. The bristles on the brush move around a lot, so I felt like I could get what I needed from it on a lighter setting.
Battery life: The battery life of this toothbrush is around 30 days. I have been using it for one to two days per week for around two months and have yet to charge it. You can charge it by using the provided cable or placing it in its travel case. While I haven’t needed to charge the toothbrush itself yet, I did charge the case and it was very easy to plug in.
Mouthfeel: The bristles on this brush are super thin and soft, and when the brush is oscillating, they easily move around your tooth to get a deeper clean in areas where plaque builds. I liked how small the head was which made it easier to fit in the back of my mouth and get in between each tooth. The settings for pressure were not too powerful, but they were easy to switch between.
Attachments/features: I like the mirror mount and think it is great if you lack counter space. I think the case/charging situation can be a little confusing at first because you have to charge the case or just charge the brush. So, depending on how you want to house your toothbrush (whether that’s in a case or on your sink), you’ll have to figure out what charging base is best for you. I also think the UV light is great for travel and the occasional cleaning when you’re home if you choose to keep it out/attached to the mirror mount.
Best for gentle teeth:
Ease of use: 4/5 | Battery life: 4/5 | Mouthfeel: 4/5 | Attachments/features: 4/5 | Overall rating: 4/5
Ease of use: Before using this toothbrush, I played around with the four speeds to familiarize myself with them. I liked how the speeds were printed on the brush and lit up when you moved between them. It has two buttons, one to turn on the device and one to switch between settings; this made it easier to move from one setting to the next without the fear of accidentally turning it off.
Battery life: A full charge is meant to last around 30 days, according to the brand. In my time using it, I have not had to charge it yet. However, this could be due to the fact that it lives on the charging base on my counter.
Mouthfeel: The bristles on this brush were very soft and the different settings did not feel too harsh on my teeth. I preferred the cleaning and whitening modes on my back teeth. The two-minute timer worked great and I appreciated the 30-second pulses to let you know to move on to the next section of your mouth.
Attachments/features: The case that the brush came with holds two heads of the toothbrush, but you have to remove them from the brush body to fit them in the case, which was a bit of a hassle. I also broke the case right off the bat, so it is definitely not good for traveling. However, I did love that the brush came with eight heads so you won't have to worry about ordering replacements any time soon.
Best for reliability:
Ease of use: 4/5 | Battery life: 4/5 | Mouthfeel: 4/5 | Attachments/features: 4/5 | Overall rating: 4/5
Ease of use: This toothbrush was pretty easy to use right off the bat. I turned it on and familiarized myself with the three pressure settings — gentle, daily and deep clean. They all had different colors so it was easy to figure out what setting you were on, but I do wish that the settings were written out on the brush. I used the gentle setting on my front teeth and the deep clean setting on my back teeth. I also loved how easy to was to switch between settings. You click it once to pause it and hold it down for around 2-3 seconds to switch settings.
Battery life: The battery life on this toothbrush is supposed to last 30 days. I have been using it one to two days per week for almost two months and have not had to charge the battery yet. The charging cable is small and discreet, so it is easy to set up to charge right on your counter.
Mouthfeel: The head of this brush is round instead of a rectangular toothbrush head. I like how easy it is to maneuver around my mouth. The bristles oscillate and the power settings are quite different from one another, which I like. I was a fan of the middle setting and found I used it on most areas of my teeth. It was powerful, but not too strong.
Attachments/features: My favorite feature of the toothbrush was that when you are brushing your teeth too hard, the light turns red and the movement pauses. I think this is a great feature to see and feel where you are brushing too hard and to learn how to adapt. I do, however, wish the bottom of the brush itself was not rounded so you could stand it on your counter without the support of the base.
Best for powerful brushing:
Ease of use: 4/5 | Battery life: 4/5 | Mouthfeel: 3.5/5 | Attachments/features: 4/5 | Overall rating: 3.8/5
Ease of use: This toothbrush was fairly easy to use; it didn’t come with a lot of frills or attachments. It has three power settings — daily clean, whitening and sensitive — that you activate by pressing the power button. I found it both easy to switch between settings and easy to power on and off. The stand is also the charger, so you just need to make sure you keep the stand clean to avoid debris buildup.
Battery life: I couldn’t find any information on how long this toothbrush lasts without charging it, but since the stand for the toothbrush is also the charger, I figured out that it is just always going to be charged if you keep it on the stand.
Mouthfeel: The brush head is round and oscillates at different speeds. I like the round shape, but found that the three modes were all very powerful and felt too strong for my mouth. If you have sensitive gums, it is probably not the brush for you. The pressure control setting was also very hard to activate. I tried to test it by putting a lot of pressure on my teeth and it didn’t always work. The toothbrush was also very loud, so if you are using it very early or late at night, it can be noisy.
Attachments/features: The toothbrush comes with one additional head so you’ll have about six months before you need to buy another head. I like that the brush has a two-minute timer and that it pulses every 30 seconds to let you know to move on to the next quadrant of your mouth. However, I thought the brush would turn off after it hit two minutes; it didn’t and just kept on pulsing every 30 seconds. Because of this, you need to make sure you keep track of the beeps to make sure you do the full two minutes. It also doesn’t come with a case or a wall mount.
How we tested the toothbrushes
I, Annie Shigo, tested the electric toothbrushes throughout the course of a couple of months. I tested the toothbrushes morning and night after eating meals and used each of their features as advertised various times. I used a different brush roughly every three days and made sure to use the same brush morning and night so I could see how well they worked before eating and after.
I made sure to thoroughly read through the directions and settings of the different toothbrushes to ensure I knew how to properly use each one. I also made sure to try all the attachments. I packed up the toothbrushes in their cases, mounted them on the wall if they had that feature and made sure to follow upkeep instructions from the brands.
Why trust Shop TODAY?
Annie Shigo is an editorial assistant who started reviewing and testing products to write about in 2023 in the beauty, tech, fashion and cleaning space, so she knows how to tell what works and what doesn’t.
She has tested dental products in the past and makes sure to consult with experts and learn what works for not only herself but also for Shop TODAY's readers.
Meet the experts
- Dr. Richard Lipari is a dentist at Lipari & Mangiameli Dentistry in Chappaqua, New York.
- Dr. Samantha Rawdin, DMD, is a board-certified prosthodontist at Gallery57Dental in New York City.
