A magic toothbrush? (Aquafresh Flex Tooth & Tongue Toothbrush)

Member Name: GentleGenius

Product:	Aquafresh Flex Tooth & Tongue Toothbrush
Date:	01/11/09 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good cleaning action, bendy neck, made my teeth feel healthy

Disadvantages: Packaging almost impossible to open, difficult to clean the back of the tongue

To me, buying a new toothbrush is similar to having new shoes, a new keyboard or a new vegetable knife, in that they can take a little bit of getting used to.

Thinking it was about time I replaced my toothbrush, I studied a few in Sainsburys and the Aquafresh Extreme Tooth & Tongue brush caught my eye. I was particularly attracted to the claims on the rear of the pack that it is supposed to remove 5 times more bacteria than other toothbrushes, and I liked the idea of a flexible neck (flexible neck on the brush, I mean!). The brush apparently contains silver ions, which are said to help prevent bacterial growth.

My trusty old toothbrush suitably binned, I grappled with trying to open the security-welded pack so I could test out my newbie Aquafresh purchase. Because I was finding the pack extremely difficult and frustrating to open using hands alone, the air became very blue - so I reached for a pair of scissors and a sharp knife. Even with some very energetic use of those cutting implements, I still found the pack frustratingly hard to open, but I got there eventually.

Taking the toothbrush in my hand with the intention of testing it for effectiveness of manipulation, I thought the best thing to do would be to actually brush my teeth. I was pleased that the brush had good flexibility and is bendy a little way down the handle from the head, as in the past I've found with rigid stemmed toothbrushes, it's very difficult to reach the less accessible nooks and crannies inside my mouth.

Once I began to brush my teeth, the neck was flexible enough for me to give the whole of the inside of my mouth a good seeing to. The bristles were firm, but not scratchy - which is how I like them - and the head of the brush wasn't so big that the mere act of brushing my teeth almost choked me.

I then attempted to brush the back of my tongue. Though I found this easier than with other toothbrushes due to the flexibility of the neck, it was still very difficult and I found that I could only manage to reach a tiny bit further back on my tongue than usual. I was hoping with a bit of manipulation utilising the bendy neck, that the brush would stretch all the way to the back of my tongue, but it didn't.

I did very much like the brushing action overall though, and I could feel the bristles going right down between my teeth, and massaging my gums perfectly.

Despite the product claiming to contain menthol, I couldn't smell or taste it at all, but didn't lose too much sleep over that.

Overall, I'd say this is one of the better toothbrushes I've used in my life, but I do knock one star off the rating because of not being able to reach as far back on my tongue as I'd have liked, plus the packaging resembling Fort Knox.

At £2.10 from my local Sainsburys, I consider this toothbrush to be slightly on the pricey side, but with a bit of shopping around, chances are high that it could be bought a little more cheaply elsewhere.

Thanks for reading!

Summary: A very good toothbrush that's flexible, but maybe not quite flexible enough