The Best Electric Toothbrushes For a Better Clean

By Nick Guy

Five out of five dental professionals agree, at least in our research and interviews: An electric toothbrush is a great idea for practically anyone because using one can significantly reduce plaque and gingivitis. The general public seems to agree, as the number of people who use electric toothbrushes has grown—more than 131 million now Americans use one, The Wall Street Journal newsroom recently reported—and the array of features some of these devices offer has expanded too. 

Philips’ Sonicare 4100 Series is the model we recommend because it’s the lowest-price brush to offer the two critical features the pros told us to look for: a 2-minute timer with alerts for when it’s time to move to a different quadrant of your mouth and a pressure sensor to prevent you from brushing too hard. Any additional features may be nice to have but aren’t necessary for a proper cleaning, the experts say.  

We like Oral-B’s Smart 1500 Electric Rechargeable Toothbrush as an alternative if the Philips model goes out of stock. It has the same key features, but at a higher price. If having more bells and whistles appeals to you and you’re willing to fork over some dough for them, consider the Oral-B iO Series 9 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush. Yes, it’s a $300 toothbrush, and its extras don’t guarantee a better clean. But for people who might appreciate, say, a color display for selecting your brushing mode or a smartphone app that tracks how effectively you’re cleaning each part of your mouth, it delivers. And for travel, we recommend Quip’s Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush 

Best overall electric toothbrush

Philips

Sonicare 4100 Series Sonic Electric Toothbrush

$50 at Amazon

$50 at Best Buy

This electric toothbrush features a two-minute timer and pressure sensor, the two most crucial features in this category, at a relatively affordable price.

Pros

• 2-minute quadrant timer with auto shut off

• Pressure sensor with haptic feedback (vibration alerts)

• 14-day battery life

• Brush head cover

• Slim design

Cons

• Doesn’t come with a USB power adapter

• No carrying case

Philips’ Sonicare 4100 Series Sonic Electric Toothbrush is our top recommendation because it offers all the features dentists, dental hygienists and periodontists told us to look for without unnecessary extras that drive the price up. The single most important feature of any electric toothbrush is the 2-minute quadrant timer that lets you know when it’s time to move between sections of your mouth. Philips’ brush accomplishes this with a distinct buzz in the vibration every 30 seconds. It also stops after two minutes, which is helpful if you forget how many quadrants you’ve been through. 

A pressure sensor is also crucial because brushing too hard can damage your gums. Philips’ brush uses a rumbling vibration alert to let you know if you’re applying too much pressure. You don’t have to be looking in the mirror, or even have your eyes open, to know when you’re pressing too hard, like you do with most other brushes, which have light-based notification systems. 

In terms of design, the 4100’s handle is the slimmest we tested, and it both looks and feels more premium than its price would suggest. As with most electric toothbrushes, this one is waterproof; Philips even says you can use it in the shower. The charge is powerful too. In our tests, the battery lasted for a staggering 146 2-minute sessions, or 73 days of morning and evening brushing, far longer than the promised 15 days. 

The only major omission of the 4100 is a wall plug, which the company says is for ecological reasons—with USB-A chargers being so commonplace, the company figures you already have several at home and don’t need another, much like cellphone makers who’ve stopped including chargers with new phones. The charging base’s cord ends in a rectangular USB-A connection so you should be able to use pretty much any phone charger you might have lying around, or you could spend a few dollars on a slim option like this one. And because it’s USB, you can also recharge your toothbrush from a power bank when traveling. While you don’t get a carrying case with the 4100, which is the norm for this price, it does come with plastic brush-head cover and there are also plenty of third-party cases for under $15.

Brush head replacements from Philips cost about $10 each; you can also try third-party replacements for as little as $2 or less, though we can’t guarantee their quality. Either way, you won’t have to keep track of when to order a replacement—an icon on the handle lights up and the unit beeps, letting you know when it’s time.

Runner-up electric toothbrush

Oral-B

Smart 1500 Electric Rechargeable Toothbrush

$80 at Amazon

Oral-B’s most affordable brush offers the necessary timer and pressure sensor.

Pros

• 2-minute quadrant timer

• Pressure sensor

• 14-day battery life

• Sensitive mode

• Comes with wall plug

Cons

• Brush doesn’t stop automatically after two minutes

• Pressure sensor is only a light alert, not a vibration 

Oral-B’s Smart 1500 Electric Rechargeable Toothbrush is the closest correlate to the Philips 4100, and a great alternative if our top pick goes out of stock or if you prefer round, oscillating brush heads to Philips’ more traditionally shaped brushes. It does have some minor downsides and costs more than the 4100, which is why we deemed it the runner-up. 

The Smart 1500 vibrates every 30 seconds to let you know when it’s time to switch quadrants, but the brush doesn’t automatically stop after two minutes, so if you’re mindlessly brushing, it’s easy to lose track and not realize you’re done. 

The pressure sensor is a similar story. Rather than using the vibration motor to give a buzz when you’re brushing too hard, the Oral-B brush has a light-up ring where the brush and handle meet that glows red when there’s too much pressure. We prefer the haptic feedback on the Philips brush, which is easier to notice even when you’re not paying attention. 

The Smart 1500 has three brushing modes: standard, sensitive and whitening. Our expert sources agreed there’s generally no reason to choose a toothbrush with an array of brushing modes, but this one’s sensitive mode can be useful if you’ve found that electric toothbrushes are too aggressive for your teeth or gums. 

Best high-end electric toothbrush

Oral-B

iO Series 9 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush

$300 at Amazon

$ 330 Save $ 30

$300 at Best Buy

This is the most premium ADA-accepted toothbrush on the market. It’s the model to choose if you value a multitude of features, including a color screen and Bluetooth connection to a smartphone app.

Pros

• 2-minute quadrant timer

• Pressure sensor

• 14-day battery life

• Smartphone app

• Color display

• Comes with wall plug

• Includes four brush heads

• Portable charging case

• Sleek design

Cons

• Among the priciest electric toothbrushes 

• Pressure sensor is only a light alert, not a vibration 

The Oral-B iO Series 9 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush costs six times as much as our top pick from Philips, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to clean your teeth six times better. What you get for that price are more features and an elevated design that can motivate some people to brush more regularly and for the full two minutes. 

Much like our other picks, the iO Series 9 has a quadrant timer and a pressure sensor, the latter of which is indicated by a light-up ring where the brush head and handle meet. It glows green when the right pressure is applied and red if you’re pressing too hard. Beneath the pressure indicator is a small color screen. Using the buttons above and below it, you can toggle through different brushing modes—most of which, including “whiten” and “intense,” aren’t actually so helpful—and monitor your brushing time. The brush doesn’t automatically stop after two minutes, so the screen’s timer offers a nice visual reminder if you forget how long you’ve been at it. 

This model is also a “smart” toothbrush; you can pair it with the Oral-B app (iOS, Android) using Bluetooth. If you brush with the app open, it’ll show you how long and effectively you’ve cleaned each section of your mouth and let you know if you missed any areas (it turns out I don’t spend quite enough time on the inside surfaces of my teeth). There’s a score based on your brushing time, coverage and pressure, and you can track the history over time. You can even complete challenges to earn “medals” to fill your “piggy bank”—the gamification of toothbrushing, in a sense. Is any of this necessary for a better brushing experience? Maybe not, but you might find value in it if you’re the type who could become a better brusher spurred by this analysis and encouragement.

Aesthetically, the Oral-B excels. While neither of our other picks look cheap, the iO Series 9 stands out for its style, especially the matte black and chrome-accented version we tested. Even the magnetic charging base feels like a step up from the rest. And the Oral-B also includes four brush heads and a carrying case that can charge your brush when you plug it in. 

Best travel electric toothbrush

Pros

• 2-minute quadrant timer

• Ultra-slim size

• 3-month-plus battery life

• Combination travel cover/mirror mount

• Optional automatic brush head refills

• Lifetime warranty with refill plan

Cons

• No pressure sensor

• Very gentle vibrations

• Doesn’t come with a USB power adapter

Quip’s Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush is the best option for those who travel often and want a brush that doesn’t take up much space in their bag. The brush itself is far smaller than anything else we tested at just under 0.6 inches in diameter and about 7.6 inches long, and the rechargeable battery lasted for 239 brushes nearly four months of twice-daily cleanings in our tests.  simple but convenient plastic cap that doubles as an adhesive mirror mount and the necessary 2-minute quadrant timer.

Compared with other brushes we tested, Quip’s vibrations are much gentler. Rather than the brush doing the work, you still have to stroke back and forth “in short, tooth-sized strokes,” according to the app. This will take some getting used to if you’re expecting a more aggressive brush, but at the same time, it may be more welcoming for someone who finds the default mode on other brushes to be too aggressive. Because it’s ADA-approved, we’re not concerned that it’s not strong enough. It’s also the only brush we recommend without a pressure sensor. That’s something important to keep in mind if you tend to brush too hard, but with the softer vibrations, it may not be as big of a deal as it is with other brushes.  

The base-model Quip Rechargeable doesn’t include Bluetooth connectivity to communicate with a smartphone app. You can pay a $20 premium for the Smart version upfront, or add on the Smart Motor down the line if you decide you want it. The app keeps track of your brushing duration, tooth coverage, the number of strokes per minute and the intensity of your brushing, with target range to help you improve. You can also earn achievements and points that can be redeemed for rewards including other Quip products and retail gift cards.  

Quip has a subscription-based business. You can buy the brush on its own, and then order replacement brush heads as needed, but the company’s site encourages signing up for automatic brush head delivery every 3 months by discounting the initial brush purchase if you do. Replacement heads cost $5 a piece, plus $2 for shipping. The brush is warrantied for life if you have an active refill plan.  

Others you should know about

Oral-B’s Pro 1000 CrossAction Electric Toothbrush is extremely popular and priced the same as the Philips Sonicare 4100. It lacks a pressure sensor but is otherwise a good choice. 

Oral-B has more than a dozen other ADA-approved brushes in its lineup across the Pro, Smart, Genius and iO Series, all of which have timers and pressure sensors. While the additional features these brushes offer, such as extra brushing modes and mirror mounts, are likely unnecessary for most people, we’re confident enough with the Oral-B brand to recommend any as a worthy purchase. 

Philips has said the rest of its electric toothbrush lineup is built to the same standards as its ADA-approved brushes, but because none of them carry the seal, we didn’t test any for this guide.

CVS Health’s EasyFlex Pro Premium Rechargeable Toothbrush offers most of the features we want in an electric toothbrush, and there’s a good chance you can pick one up on your way home from work if you need to, but we found it significantly louder than our top picks. Additionally, the pressure sensor indicator is only a light at the base of the handle that’s easy to miss, and while it buzzes to let you know two minutes are up, the brush doesn’t automatically stop. 

We were excited to test Shyn’s Sonic Toothbrush, which is ADA-accepted and, at least on paper, competitive with the Philips Sonicare 4100. We ordered one directly from Shyn after the company declined to send a test unit, and after two weeks, it still hadn’t shipped. When we emailed our customer service contact to ask if the company would be remaining in business, we did not receive a reply. (There’s no public-facing phone number to contact the company.) 

How we picked

Trust us

I’ve been reviewing tech products at national publications for more than a decade, and an electric toothbrush is essentially a specialized gadget. I spoke to five dental professionals from across the country, pored through the specs and features of more than 40 ADA-approved models and checked in with my own dentist at my biannual cleaning to better understand the specifics of oral hygiene and how to get the best clean from an electric toothbrush.   

We tested

There are dozens of electric toothbrushes on the market, at prices ranging from $8 to $380. We narrowed our search by focusing on ADA-accepted brushes. To earn the ADA Seal of Acceptance, a brush must be safe to use and effective in removing plaque, all of which needs to be tested by an independent facility. “The test results provided by the manufacturer and in house testing data is critically evaluated by an independent body of scientific experts,” an ADA spokesperson told us. From there, here are the key features we were looking for in our research and testing.

• Quadrant timer:

  The dental professionals we spoke to agreed a 2-minute timer is crucial. “If you said to me, ‘What is the main feature you want?’ it’d be the timer,” says James Jacobs, a periodontist in New York City. A quadrant timer gives some sort of alert every 30 seconds, letting you know when it’s time to move to the next section. We preferred brushes that stopped after two minutes so that you don’t need to keep track of how many quadrants you’ve been through when you’re still groggy in the morning.

• Pressure sensor:

  Many people brush too aggressively. “With too much pressure, you can cause damage” to the gums, Cheryl Lee, a dentist in Washington, D.C., told us. A pressure sensor gives an alert if you’re pressing too hard so you can correct the behavior. This can be via haptic feedback (specific brush vibrations you can feel), or a glowing light on the brush handle. 

• Rechargeable, long-lasting battery:

  Electric toothbrushes are powered by either replaceable batteries, usually AA or AAA, or a rechargeable battery. We preferred the latter for convenience’s sake, and favored those with long battery lives. This ruled out the popular AAA-powered

  Quip Electric Toothbrush

  , among others. We ran the battery down on our finalists to see how long you should expect them to last. 

• Look, feel and sound:

  We brushed with each of our finalists to see how they performed in practice, paying attention to how pronounced the buzzing was in our hands and our ears, and the overall aesthetics. 

• Everything else:

  We also took into consideration how many brush heads come in the package and any extras—for example, whether there’s a mode for sensitive teeth, an included travel case or an app-pairing feature. 

What doesn’t matter as much? Our experts said they’ve seen no notable difference between sonic vibrations, with bristles that move side-to-side, and an oscillating brush that rotates. “All of them are effective,” Dr. Jacobs told us. Having a range of modes, like “deep clean” or “polish,” generally isn’t important either, according to the pros, though they did acknowledge that a sensitive setting can be useful for people who find the vibrations too strong. 

Our experts