Simon Cowell, eat your heart out! (Braun Oral-B Vitality Precision Clean)

Member Name: dee778

Product:	Braun Oral-B Vitality Precision Clean
Date:	02/08/09 (196 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gleaming Gnashers

Disadvantages: None

When my old electric toothbrush started to make sad, groaning noises every time it saw my teeth, I started to look around for a replacement. My goal was simple - to find a toothbrush on special offer! Having searched Boots (surprisingly devoid of cut price toothbrushes), I found the Oral B Vitality Precision Clean at Sainsburys for half price. I paid £14.74 for it, and went home a happy woman.

In addition to its magnificent price, the toothbrush had a small round single head, which I prefer as it seems to reach the corners of my mouth more easily than larger heads. It also had a timer, which my dentist has told me is essential to ensure that I brush for the correct amount of time.

The packaging had the following attractive selling points:
* Rechargeable
* 2 brush heads supplied
* 2 minute timer
* Gets at hard-to-reach areas
* High speed oscillating rotating motion

This ticked every box for me - even the spare brush head, which costs a lot to replace now days. The brush also had a 2 year warranty.

~~First use~~

The first time I used my new Oral B vitality, I could immediately feel that it was more effective than my old brush. The oscillation was more vigorous and my teeth felt cleaner. I had owned my previous brush for over 5 years, but had not realised how inefficient it had become.

The brush itself is very well designed; the handle is two tone blue - the darker tone is a shiny casing and the lighter tone a rubberised, ribbed grip. The on-off control is a large white area on the handle, also rubberised. The brush feels satisfyingly weighty in the hand, and would be easy to grip if I was elderly or had arthritis.

As I have said before, the head is small and round, making it easy to get to wisdom teeth and around awkward areas. A small round head is recommended by the British Dental Heath Foundation (www.dentalhealth.org.uk) for this reason, and I find cleaning with a small head much more efficient than the larger or double heads that have recently appeared on the market.

I looked forward to using the timer, as I wanted to be sure that I was brushing for long enough. The British Dental Heath Foundation recommend brushing for two minutes, twice a day - and the two minute timer on this brush is perfect for this. The two minute interval is indicated by two short stutters in the rotation of the head. On using my brush for the first time, my Initial thoughts were that the timer had broken! I always prided myself on thorough brushing, and my dentist has often commented that I have excellent oral hygiene - but I have never brushed this long before! The timer seemed to take forever to go off - which tells me that I have not been brushing efficiently all these years. I felt that the timer was a big plus, and would recommend getting one.

~~Conclusion~~

So far I have been very happy with my new brush. It retains its charge very well. The instructions say that it should last for 5 days of 2 minute brushing twice a day - and this has proved to be the case. They also say that overcharging is impossible, and recommend that the toothbrush is stored on the charging unit. I do no do this, as it seems wrong to have the charging unit constantly plugged in for no real reason.

Replacement brush heads are not cheap - a pack of 4 currently sells for £12.99 at Boots and £14.99 at Sainsburys. It is worth looking out for special offers - Boots have just reduced theirs to £8.66. All Oral B brushes have a useful indicator to let you know when the brush needs changing - the blue bristles fade, and when they have faded to half way the head needs replacing.

In general I very much recommend electric toothbrushes over manual ones. Tests have proved that electric toothbrushes are better at removing plaque (a thin, sticky film of bacteria that constantly forms on your teeth, which causes decay if not properly removed) - and an electric brush with a timer provides the whole dental health package, making it both easy, enjoyable and efficient to keep your teeth healthy.

As a final thought, I will refer you to the BBC article, 'Gnashers may be secret of success' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4450754.stm). Researchers from Kings College have proved that you get more jobs, more love, and more success if you brush your teeth properly!!

I think we all just need to look at the gleaming mouthful owned by Simon Cowell to understand exactly what they are talking about!

Summary: Worth investing a bit of money to get happiness, success, and teeth like Simon's

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