No matter how hard I work to keep my teeth shiny and clean, I always suffer difficulties with them. I decided it was time to invest in an electric toothbrush to see if this made any difference - I'm delighted to say it's made the world of difference! Due to my sensitive teeth and gums I opted for the 2 mode version, for sensitive teeth, and this will be the brush I am reviewing here.

~~~~Appearance~~~~

The toothbrush comes in a sturdy looking blue box (not the TARDIS sort, i'm afraid...), with a clear window so you can see what you're buying, On mine it notes that if you don't notice a difference within 21 days you can receive your money back. I'm not sure if they're still running this promotion but it does show you that they seem to be very confident in their product, which is always encouraging.

It's a blue and white affair, like most of the Braun brushes, with a power button on the front and two indicator lights at the bottom - one shaped like a battery, the other like a plug. On the sides there are also red lights, it all looks quite flashy and sweet but also very unisex.

In the box you'll find the brush comes with a white docking station to charge it, powered by a two pin plug. This is worth noting because unless you already have a shaving socket in your bathroom, you're going to have to invest in a two pin socket as this doesn't come with the product. They can be picked up for a couple of pence though, so don't be deterred.

Along with the charger, the brush comes kitted it out with one standard blue and white brush head already attached, and one spare green and blue 'Floss Action' one. As far as i can tell, the spare head is actually for sensitive teeth, and I do find it gives a better and more comfortable clean with my feeble gums. So Braun do offer something for everyone's needs in the box. Obviously, once your brush head is worn out you'll need to pop along to your local supermarket (or any other good retailer!) and buy replacements.

Finally there's a very simple instruction manual and warranty card to be found in the depths of the packaging.

~~~~Functionality~~~~

It's all well and good having a pretty toothbrush sitting on your bathroom side, but the real question is, does it actually work? Well, I think it does.

This isn't just any old electric toothbrush either, the Professional Care 2000 offers 3D cleaning. Braun claim the brush head pulsates, oscillates and rotates to give you that deep denist-feel clean. I've had a cheaper electric toothbrush once before that only rotates, and I will say the Braun seems to do a much better job - you can feel it pulsating in your hand, so I'd say Braun are pretty true to their word here. According to the manual the brush pulsates 40,000 times and rotates 8800 times in a minute. Now, I'm not quick enough at counting to be able to vouch for that...! But the brush certainly does do a lot of work.

Not content with just brushing your teeth for you, the Oral B also has a lot of different settings to customise the experience and help you maintain good oral hygiene.

I chose the Professional Care 2000 2-mode option - the first mode is 'Daily Clean' while the second is 'Sensitive Mode'. When you press the power button once, you'll find yourself in Daily Clean mode, all you need to do to activate Sensitive mode is press the power button once more. So whether you have a whole mouth that needs a gentler touch, or just one area, you can switch to and fro and with ease. Braun recommend those with sensitive gums, or problems with bleeding gums opt for the sensitive setting. They also suggest it's normal for gums to bleed for a few days when switching to an electric brush, but should it persist over two weeks, consult your dentist. Personally, my gums bleed quite a bit with manual brushing but not at all with electric brushing, so that's a bonus for me, and a sign it's improving my overall gum health.

Remember those red lights on the sides of the unit? They're actually pressure sensors. This handy feature notes when you're pressing down too hard on your teeth and will stop pulsating, only the oscillation will continue and the red lights will flash to alert you. The second you return the pressure to a more suitable amount, the pulsating will resume. This is a brilliant feature because an awful lot of people do brush too hard, taking some of their enamel with them. There's a misconception that to brush well you need to scrub your teeth hard, and this brush helps make sure you're not causing any enamel erosion or lasting damage by being a bit too heavy-handed on your pearly whites.

Not only does it let you know if your brushing skills aren't quite up to scratch, it also gives off a stuttering vibration at 30 second intervals to let you know to move between each area of your mouth to ensure each quadrant is getting a thorough clean. Once two minutes have passed it lets off a longer vibration, just to let you know that you've done two minutes of brushing which is the denist-suggested time. At first, this feels a little patronising - a little toothbrush telling me how to brush my own teeth?! But it's actually doing you a favour, and once you start to see an improvement, you will forgive the Braun's bossiness.

Another stuttering motion and red light will appear when the brush is running low on battery, before of course, completely conking out when the battery is empty. Something I found a little annoying is that the unit requires a good 24 hour charge each time, although it does then hold its charge for around a month of use so I suppose it's all give and take.

~~~~The Result~~~~

The Braun Oral B Professional Care makes brushing incredibly easy. It wont let you brush too hard, neglect any areas or get the job done too quickly. The 3D cleaning has made such a difference to my teeth, whereas before I'd put the effort in to scrub them clean and be met with reasonably white gnashers, now it's no effort at all just to hold the brush to my teeth, and the end result is gleamingly clean, perfectly shiny white teeth. My dentist always notices a difference if I switch back to a manual for a few weeks too, this electric toothbrush really does make all the difference to your teeth's health and overall appearance. Braun insist you'll notice whiter, clean teeth in 21 days and I completely agree with them.