Brush, Brush, Brush Away! (Braun Oral B Vitality Dual Clean)

Member Name: SWSt

Product:	Braun Oral B Vitality Dual Clean
Date:	29/07/09 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, very effective

Disadvantages: Long charge time for relatively short use, easy to clean and maintain, replacement heads expensive

Brushing your teeth is such a chore isn't it? Standing at the sink, foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog whilst having to vigorously brush your hand up and down to get your teeth clean. Honestly, the hours of my life I've wasted doing that. So, one day, I hit upon the thought of attaching a battery and a spring loaded mechanism to my toothbrush. Hey presto! Instant electric toothbrush.

After picking up the pieces of the broken mirror and removing the spring that had impaled itself into the unfortunate Mrs SWSt's head, I trudged off to the shop in disgrace. I was told not to return until I had bought a proper electronic toothbrush.

Until recently, I thought such items were a bit of a luxury item bought by lazy people with too much money. Recently, though - thanks to Mrs SWSt - my coffee consumption has increased dramatically. This has had two effects: 1) I leap around everywhere like a hyperactive rabbit on steroids and 2) more staining on my teeth which is hard to remove using a conventional toothbrush.

To combat the first problem, I nail my feet to the ground. The solution to the second involved buying the Oral B Vitality electric toothbrush. At under £15 (including the charger, the brush unit and two brush heads), this represents pretty good value for money. The one thing missing is a two pin shaver adapter, which is needed to charge the unit up. Most households probably have one of these, but if not, they can be picked up for less than a pound from your local supermarket.

Getting into the toothbrush proves one of the biggest challenges. It comes in that nasty little hard moulded plastic that's almost impossible to break into. In theory, the plastic should simply pop apart at the seams following the application of light pressure. In reality, a chainsaw, face mask, protective gloves and three spare hours are normally required. After slicing my fingers on the plastic, I did what I always do in such situations: I handed the packet to the far more patient Mrs SWSt to open.

Once you've got inside, the first thing you need to do is plug the toothbrush in to charge. The recharging unit is nice and slim and should sit neatly on most shelves as it is relatively small. Since it comes with its own little stand, it will also sit quite happily out of the way on the floor whilst charging.

The instructions recommend that you should do a full charge before using it for the first time. A full charge is estimated at a whopping 16 hours which only gives you around 20 minutes of power. This is one of the downsides to this model (and indeed, most electric toothbrushes). There is a disproportionate amount of charging for a relatively short period of use. I guess anything more would require a bigger battery, which would make the whole unit heavier. As it is, it is nice and light in the hand, so it's a trade off between longer battery life or easy to hold brush. Still, I find that brushing my teeth twice a day, I only need to recharge once a week. An overnight recharge then gives me another six days of power.

One omission from the unit is a battery power indicator. When charging, you have to remember how long it's been plugged in for and there's not indicator to show whether it is actually charging or not - you just have to trust that it is, Similarly, when using it, the only warning that the battery is running down is that the rotating heads slow down and then it conks out, which can be a bit of a nuisance if you're mid-brush. I'd definitely recommend having an ordinary toothbrush on standby.

Once the unit is charged fully, using it is very simple. You simply fix the head to the brush and press the button to start the head rotating. The brush is obviously thicker and heavier than a standard toothbrush, but still fits easily into the hand and is lightweight enough for most people to use easily. The head rotates at a constant speed and brushes your teeth with far more power and speed than you could achieve with a traditional toothbrush.

Handily, this particular model has an automatic two minute timer built in. When it has been running to two minutes (the amount of time recommended by many dentists), the brush buzzes intermittently three times to let you know that time is up. The first time this happens, it might give you a bit of a shock when the unit suddenly cuts out - particularly if you are brushing your back teeth at the time! After using it for a while, though, you'll start to anticipate and expect it. Push the button and the whole thing stops.

Because of the high speed of the head, this brush does generate an awful lot of foam. With an ordinary, manual toothbrush, you can get away with not being over a sink whilst brushing. With this one, forget it, unless you want lots of interesting white blotches on your floor! It also tends to coat the brush and the head, so it's a good idea to rinse the whole thing under the tap each time you've finished using it. Otherwise it becomes horribly crusted with old chunks of toothpaste.

Having initially been a little sceptical, I have to admit my teeth definitely feel far cleaner than when brushed with a conventional brush. Its obviously not as effective as when the dentist polishes your teeth, but it's pretty good. It's a lot easier to prevent staining, because the pressure the brush applies to the teeth means stains are cleared away promptly and don't have as much time to build up.

Maintenance-wise, the brush is fairly easy to take care of. As with all toothbrushes, you are advised to change it every three months or when the bristles show signs of wear and tear. This is a simple case of removing the head of the toothbrush and replacing it with another which can be bought from pretty much any chemist or supermarket. There are a variety of heads available from single heads to those with a double set of brushes or ones specifically designed to fight plaque, so you can choose the one you feel most comfortable with. Replacement Heads cost around £6 for a pack of two (depending on which ones you buy). This is obviously more expensive than buying a new, conventional toothbrush, but it's definitely worth it as your teeth do feel cleaner.

Having been slightly sceptical about the value of electric toothbrushes, I've been converted. Cleaning teeth is a lot easier and they feel much cleaner and fresher when I'm done. A lazy, time-saving device? Maybe, but it also brings enough benefits to make it worthwhile.

© Copyright SWSt 2009

Summary: A good brush at a reasonable price

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