Tricky Toothbrush (Braun Oral-B Professional Care 5000 Rechargeable)

Member Name: MALU

Product:	Braun Oral-B Professional Care 5000 Rechargeable
Date:	28/10/05 (2091 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: does the job perfectly

Disadvantages: none really once you've got used to the timer

I have my second electric toothbrush now, an Oral-B one just like the first. I can’t tell you how long an electric toothbrush lives, one day mine fell to the floor and landed on the metal pin onto which the brushhead must be stuck. I couldn’t see any damage but the brushhead wouldn’t fit properly on it any more and thus the toothbrush’s end had come.

***Why an electric toothbrush at all?***

I have a confession to make: for me the toy factor is important, I like this gadget. I’m old-fashioned and don’t have gadgets in my household calling/cutting/boiling/grinding when a button is pressed so I concentrate my childish feelings on my toothbrush. I don’t think, though, that people using electric toothbrushes have healthier teeth per se, they must use them properly. Someone using a manual toothbrush regularly and conscientiously may have better results in the end (if brushing isn’t followed by flossing even an electric toothbrush doesn’t help much according to my dentist). I find it interesting that the performance of the toothbrush in question here is compared with the one of a manual toothbrush, “Green . . . bristles bend slightly when they interact with water to provide a brushing action that’s as gentle as *’as a soft manual toothbrush’*. Ha!

***Why an Oral-B toothbrush?***

The advertising slogan in Germany is ‘Recommended by Dentists’, not a lie like so many other advertising slogans, my dentist did recommend it indeed. Oral-B is still sold under the name Braun (a German firm founded in 1921 and famous world-wide for its excellent industrial design) although the Gillette company acquired a majority holding of the firm in 1967. It was in 1963 that Braun developed the first electric toothbrush and in 1991 Braun launched the world’s first electric toothbrush with a round cup-shaped brush head and innovative oscillating movement. This innovation has become the most successful electric toothbrush worldwide and one of the core product categories in the Gillette portfolio and the leader in the 4.5-billion $ toothbrush category. Wow!

There you have it, I’m in good company.

On their website Oral-B claim that over 60 clinical studies prove the superior performance of their oscillating-rotating technology, I can only believe them, who could prove them wrong? Maybe their competitors, but not a simple user like me. I am impressed by what they tell me, can you imagine a three-dimensional brushing performance, the combination of two distinct brushing motions, pulsations and oscillations? I knew you couldn’t, neither can I. 20 000 in-and-out pulsating movements per minute reach deep to loosen the plaque, while 7600 side-to-side movements per minute whisk it away. My tongue tells me that it works, the surface of my teeth feels smooth.

The text on the package tells the consumer in five languages that the toothbrush inside also improves gum health and naturally whitens teeth. At the beginning the gums not used to an electric toothbrush may bleed a bit, this stops after some days meaning that the gums have hardened, which is a good thing, of course. An extra service: the colour of the bristles fades reminding the consumer to replace the brushhead. I love the sentence: ‘A new brushhead removes more plaque than one three months old’. Who’d have thought that?!

***Oral-B Professional Care 5000***

The shop-assistant offered me this model when I told her that I had to replace my old one. She said that Oral-B Professional Care 5000 was slightly more expensive but also more advanced technology- wise, my old toothbrush was only two-dimensional (bah!) and didn’t have a timer. I decided to splash out in order to be tops in the field of tooth brushing and bought it.

The white body of the toothbrush with two blue stripes on neither side lies well in my hand, the on/off switch can be found easily even without looking and in the dark as it is embedded in a blue rubber strip, due to the rubber there’s also no danger of the toothbrush slipping out of my hand when wet. White and blue – the colours with which we associate hygiene and health.

The brushing itself was OK (three-dimensional, woohoo!) but I noticed something odd, sometimes the toothbrush would stutter a bit and then stop and sometimes it went smoothly. Back I went to the department store where I had bought it, the toothbrush has a guarantee of two years. After only five days I had it back, a super service if you ask me. I wonder if the Braun/Gillette people are as efficient in, say, Bahrain, Gouadeloupe or Lithuania to mention only three of the 85 countries where they have Guarantee and Service Centres? This is not a racist remark, I’m just curious, of course they have to be efficient in the product’s country of origin, I can’t applaud them for that.

Had the damage been repaired? Well, no, I experienced the same occasional stuttering and stopping. Back to the shop; just when the shop-assistant, an elderly woman, was writing down my complaint, a young male shop-assistant passed by, heard me and cried, “But that’s the timer! You’ve got a toothbrush with a timer!” Indeed I had, I had all forgotten about it and never thought about what it would be like, how it would remind me of the two minutes dentists seem appropriate for a thorough cleaning. The female shop-assistant mumbled, “I wouldn’t know, I’m usually with towels” and gave me back my toothbrush which had been serviced for nothing. I wasn’t embarrassed, I found the situation hilarious!

So my toothbrush is as well and sound as can be, it cleans my teeth perfectly. It serves me well at home and could also go on short trips with me as the fully charged handle lasts seven days between charges. When at home I always leave it on its stand, i.e., I don’t let it become empty and then recharge.

And yet: I can’t get used to the darned timer. Of course, this stuttering and stopping indicates to everybody that the two minutes are over, even the deaf and the blind can notice it, however, I’d prefer the timer to be additional, the blind could get an extra thingy that would bleep, the deaf could get an lighting signal, the seeing and hearing part of the population could just learn to brush their teeth for two minutes by doing it for a week or two watching the clock. Just my thoughts. Five stars nevertheless, I can’t subtract one for my personal problems. :-)

Btw, the leaflet accompanying the toothbrush gives instructions for use in ten languages and is marvellous reading matter for anyone interested in comparative linguistics, offers really useful information and is also funny. Example: ‘The toothbrush can be used with any leading brand of toothpaste’. I read it all through for this review (I should have done so at once, the stuttering timer is explained in detail).

***Where to buy?***

Tesco and Boots offer Oral-B Professional Care 5000 online for 29.99 GBP (8 brushheads for replacement cost 24.99 GBP). I also paid 29.99, Euro, though, which means 20.73 GBP. Quite a difference! Why not take back from your next holidays in Germany a sensible souvenir instead of silly beer steins or a cuckoo clock?





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Summary: a recommendable elecric toothbrush

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