My family and I have still been enjoying the Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide power toothbrush we've been testing out for the last few weeks. You wouldn't think a power toothbrush would be that big of a deal, but now it doesn't seem nearly as hard to get my kids to go brush their teeth as it was with their boring, analog toothbrushes. Our dentist was telling us we need to brush better, not necessarily more often, so this was the perfect solution.
The toothbrush really couldn't be much easier to use. You just put your brush head on the device, press the power button and start brushing. The SmartGuide device immediately starts the 2:00 minute clock and lets you know how you're doing with your brushing. As you can see in the video below that I took of my daughter using the toothbrush, if you start pressing too hard, a red LED on the toothbrush as well as on the SmartGuide will flash letting you know you need to lighten up. I've discovered that I brush way too hard way too frequently.
The 2:00 minute timer is divided into four 30-second periods and identified as a fourth of the completed circle on the timer. Between each quadrant the toothbrush stops for a couple of seconds to let you know to move to a different part of your mouth. I've been dividing my mouth into bottom-right, top-right, bottom-left, top-left, and then add another 30 seconds at the end to do the top and bottom of my front teeth. I'm hoping this is helping me get rid of the coffee stains on my bottom teeth, which it appears to be doing.
As mentioned previously, the rest of my family really enjoys having this toothbrush as well. We've all but ditched our old toothbrushes, and the only reason I say that is because if I'm in a hurry and one of the kids or my wife are already using the Oral-B, I'll just brush my teeth real quick with the old brush.
Speaking of quick, I never really thought how little time I spend actually brushing my teeth each time. Now that I've got the 2 minute timer in front of me, it really helps you make sure you're spending enough effort on your entire mouth. People who want to further improve the appearance of their teeth may consider a teeth whitening treatment. Those who have missing teeth may get implant dentures to restore their full smile.
If you've never tried a power toothbrush, you should check this one out. Oral-B is offering a $10 mail-in rebate on select power toothbrushes April 29 through June 16, 2012. Please visit OralB.com for more information. You can also hit them up on Twitter and Facebook as well.
Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Oral-B and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.