Want Your Teeth To Feel Like They Do When You've Been To The Hygeinist? (Philips Sonicare HX6932 Flexcare)

Member Name: mikebaileyuk

Product:	Philips Sonicare HX6932 Flexcare
Date:	04/11/09 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lightweight, compact, ideal for all the family.

Disadvantages: High initial cost but possibly money saved on dental work

The Philips Flexcare range represents in my opinion the very best in oral healthcare.

The HX6932 with integral UV sanitizer is the toothbrush I would recommend above all others. I have no connections with Philips or any other toothbrush manufacturer whatsoever but I have been able to research and buy the very latest toothbrushes as soon as they came on the market.

As a consumer you are most likely to fall into one of two groups:

You have always used a manual toothbrush but are considering
buying an electric toothbrush for the first time.

You already have an electric toothbrush but you want to get a
better one.

If you have only ever used a manual toothbrush before you will find some things a little strange when you first switch to electric. Firstly they are not a gimmick and they are certainly not "the ultimate in laziness" as some people seem to think!

When you first begin to clean your teeth with a good electric toothbrush, you and your dentist should be able to see the difference. One point to make however is that a manual toothbrush used correctly together with a second to none oral health routine will produce results your dentist would be proud of.

A good electric toothbrush though takes the guesswork out of brushing your teeth. Anyone who uses it properly will get results.

I must stress that you need to buy a 'good' electric toothbrush. Sonicare toothbrushes are not the same as a an electric toothbrush you could pay £10 for on the highstreet. Sonicare as their name implies are sonic toothbrushes. The simplest way to think of them is that the ultrasonic vibrations they produce "shake" the dirt off your teeth, including the areas of your teeth that the toothbrush cannot physically reach.

When you listen to the radio, the sound waves travel through the air, you don't have to have your ears presed up against the speakers. When you brush your teeth, the ultrasound waves travel through your toothpaste and saliva and get right to where they need to, even those places that the bristles can't reach, great for those of us who may have teeth that overlap or are so close together that even mini interdental brushes cannot get between them. (Your dentist would probably not want you to stop using floss though even though you use an ultrasonic. Think how many years your teeth are meant to last for and you may well agree with him).

Flexcare has a built in timer, the standard brushing time is 2 minutes although you can also use a quicker 1 minute setting and a more thorough 3 minute setting. The first time I used a toothbrush with a built in timer I thought it was faulty until I realized just how long 2 minutes is and discovered how long I had always been brushing for with a manual toothbrush, certainly not 2 minutes.

I can compare the Flexcare to two other "good" toothbrushes I have used: the Sonicare Elite and the Oral-B Triumph.

The toothbrush with the very best timer though has to be the Oral-B Triumph. You can see exactly which teeth you should be brushing though with practice you can learn to judge this very well with the Sonicare range.

The predecessor to the Flexcare range was the Elite series. In itself, the Sonicare Elite is an excellent toothbrush both in terms of its features, ease of use and everyday oral healthcare, Flexcare surpasses the Elite in a number of ways however:

The heads on the Flexcare range are very easy to change. The Elite
series use a screw on head which is quite easy to use but
sometimes can become crossthreaded, not so good for children or
people with arthritic hands.

Flexcare uses a push on head system which is much easier to use.

Philips have made the head unit on the Flexcare quite compact in
comparison to previous Sonicare ranges. If you do have arthritis or
any mobility problems in your hands though, you may find it harder to
grip these.

Flexcare warns you if you apply too much pressure as you are
brushing with a loud buzz, this is a great idea because many people
do overbrush and end up brushing away some enamel. This system is
very poor when compared to the Oral-B Triumph though which warns
you when you apply only the slightest bit too much pressure.

Physically Flexcare is a very compact toothbrush, great for taking on holiday. It will last, without needing to be recharged, 1 person brushing for 2 minutes morning and night for 2 weeks or two people brushing for 2 minutes morning and night for 1 week. You would need to take the included travel charger with you if you were travelling with the family though. There is also a luxury travel case too.

The ultraviolet sanitizer "cooks" the bacteria off the brush head when you have finished using it and is a great place to store the heads. Even though this is an excellent feature it only takes 2 brush heads, for a family of 4 each using their own head this is not so great. You can buy an extra sanitizer to get round this problem though. In comparison the Elite series does not have this feature (there are other brushes in the Flexcare range that also do not have it) instead just having a holder for 2 brush heads. The Oral-B Triumph while not having a UV sterilizer does have room to store 4 heads including a protective hard plastic cover that keeps them dust free. The Oral-B also has technology built into the heads that communicates how much wear the heads have had and when to replace them - definately a toothbrush for the space age!

Flexcare comes with two heads, one standard and one mini. If you are one of the people who finds it difficult to clean the back of your upper teeth, the mini head may be just what you need, it is great for getting to those hard to reach areas.

Replacement heads can be purchased singly or in packs of 3. Most supermarkets and chemists sell them but they are often cheaper online. Try your dentist though, quite often they are the cheapest place to buy not just the heads but the whole toothbrush/sanitizer package. If they don't have them in stock try asking them, they often get their stock direct from the manufacturer cutting out even the wholesale middlemen!

For all round teeth cleaning this is definately the best brush for the majority of people. There are other brushes out there that do some things that this does not but on a personal note, my teeth feel cleaner with the Flexcare than with its main rival the Oral-B Triumph.

Lastly, if you go to a private dentist and also see the hygeinist, how much do you pay for each hygeine visit? I would like to bet that after using the Flexcare you will save money year after year in hygeinist fees.

Summary: The best toothbrush on the market today

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