Canines are for life, not just for Christmas! (Braun Oral-B Professional Care 5000 Rechargeable)

Member Name: hazydaze123

Product:	Braun Oral-B Professional Care 5000 Rechargeable
Date:	30/04/09 (150 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cleans teeth thoroughly, variable brush movements, easy to use

Disadvantages: The timer may be annoying when having a good clean

Altogether now....."If you wanna get Braun give him a hint..." Anyone else old enough to remember that advert?

Anyway, enough of the 80's telly trivia and on to the review:
We've all got them (well, nearly all). What am I talking about? Yep, teeth! But those happy little guys who live in our mouth don't remain happy for long if we don't look after them. They need lots of loving care and attention. As the title suggests, you want to keep your teeth for the rest of your life, if possible, and this is where a good toothbrush comes in.

Up until a couple of years ago, I had never used an electric toothbrush as I had always thought I was doing a good enough job with a manual one. However, it was a trip to the dentist that converted me into an electric toothbrush user. The dentist made a point of telling me that my mouth was quite small which made it quite difficult for a medium manual toothbrush to reach the edges of the back molars. She suggested I either use a children's toothbrush or invest in a good electric one. Now what was I to do? I had seen some nice little Whinnie the Pooh ones which looked quite cute. Or should I just act my age and buy an adult one? It was a tough decision. When I mentioned to my husband what the dentist had said, he was no help whatsoever, commenting that I may have a small mouth but plenty comes out of it. At that point, I didn't bother 'giving him a hint' and decided outright that I would spend HIS money on an electric toothbrush. The decision was made!

*****SO WHICH ONE DID I BUY?*****
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I already new that Braun was a good make, having bought a few Braun products in the past. The Braun PC 5000 D is a very good model and has always been reliable for me. The toothbrush was not overpriced and it basically provided everything I needed in a toothbrush.

*****AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?*****
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This is quite a stylish looking toothbrush (if a toothbrush can possibly look stylish!) but, at the same time, is very straight forward to use.
First of all, you need to look at the toothbrush holder. The holder has two purposes. Firstly, and quite importantly, it is responsible for charging the toothbrush battery. The flex which descends from the back of the holder comprises a two pin plug, as do all bathroom appliances. Attached to the holder is a little case in which you can keep your toothbrush heads. The holder is made of white plastic and is extremely easy to keep clean.
The toothbrush itself stands on a pin at the front of the holder. This is also made of white plastic but has a blue rubber grip on either side which makes it easy to hold whilst cleaning your teeth. You will also find the 'on' switch situated at the front of the toothbrush, and this is made of blue rubber, just like the side grips.

All in all, this is a very neat electric toothbrush.

*****THE IMPORTANT BIT - HOW DOES IT WORK?*****
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Well, all I can say is: It's not rocket science. It's only a toothbrush! However, when you think of how you would normally use a manual toothbrush, it's obviously just a case of brushing up and down, forwards and backwards etc. Well you can still do that with an electric toothbrush, but with the Braun PC 5000 D, it does a little bit more. The selling point of this particular model is that it rotates, oscillates and pulsates. Flash eh? Basically, the brush rapidly turns round, twists and vibrates which means your teeth 'get hit' from all angles.

So there I was, happily brushing away one morning, when suddenly the toothbrush 'cut out' a couple of times and then carried on regardless. Haha - this was obviously the timer kicking in. The little guy doesn't believe in working you too hard, so assumes you have done a pretty good job after two minutes of brushing and gives you a gentle reminder that your teeth should be sparkly clean so you can now stop brushing.

The only downside to this, from my point of view, is when you are brushing your teeth before visiting the dentist for your regular check-up. You know how it is, you brush and brush until you can brush no more just to make sure your teeth are as clean as possible - and the timer goes off telling you that you can stop. But do not fear - all you need do is switch the toothbrush on again and carry on to your heart's content. Normally though, the two minute time period is sufficient to give your teeth a good clean.

*****HOW ABOUT THE BRUSH ITSELF?*****
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The toothbrush comes complete with one brush head. This fits neatly and easily on the top of the toothbrush by just clicking it in place. Again, made of white plastic to match the toothbrush and holder, this is quite cleverly designed. For anyone who has never used an electric toothbrush before, the brush head, unlike a manual toothbrush, is fairly small and circular, hence the ease of use for anyone without a big mouth (I prefer to think of it in that way!) The bristles of the brush are green in the centre of the circle, and blue and white around the outside. Now there is a reason for this. The blue section begins to fade once the brush head needs to be replaced. I am still undecided on how accurate this is. Is it Braun providing good dental hygiene advice and suggesting we need to change our brush heads every two or there months, or is it a sales gimmick to make money on the replacements heads? (I will explain more about the replacement heads shortly). The particular brush head I am using at the moment has been on the go for about three months and has just started to fade, so according to Braun, I need to go shopping!

Spare brush heads can be purchased from most supermarkets or chemists and are available in packs of two or four. Each replacement pack comes with 5 coloured rings which fit around the outside edge of the brush head, enabling each family member to identify their own particular toothbrush. I paid in the region of £7.00 for a pack of two replacement heads from Tesco. However, a search on e-bay or Amazon may offer a better price.

*****BATTERY LIFE*****
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To be honest with you, this could be better. The electric toothbrush in my house gets used four times a day - twice by me and twice by my husband. I would not consider this an exorbitant amount of use, but it generally needs charging approximately every five days. I usually plug it in at night time, and it is all nicely fully charged by morning and ready to use again.

*****SO WHAT DO I LIKE ABOUT IT*****
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I had never been overly keen on trying an electric toothbrush but, once I had bought this, I could never go back to a manual one. With the brush head being quite small, it certainly reaches right to the back of the mouth and you can access all those little places you couldn't with a manual one.
I also like the fact that you don't really have to do much to clean your teeth. The days of brushing up and down have gone as, with this toothbrush, you just rest it against your teeth and the brush does all the work. I like that!

*****AND ANYTHING WHICH I DON'T LIKE?*****
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I have no complaints about the toothbrush itself, but some people may find the replacement heads a little expensive.

*****AND FINALLY, WOULD I RECOMMEND IT?*****
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Yes I would. This is an extremely good toothbrush, which does not require fancy bells and whistles to make it tooth-worthy!

Thanks for reading.

(also on Ciao: matthewsmum)

Summary: A very lieable electric toothbrush

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