Spyke
lemmy.world

I've had a Philips Sonicare brush for ten years at this point. Do they just not make them well anymore, or did I just luck out? I only need to charge it like once very month or two.

22

How often do you brush?

I guess ours last about 7 or 8 years before they start noticeably degrading. I certainly have to charge at least once a month, though.

Years and years ago, we started with Sonicare, and when that died I got an Oral-B. It was categorically worse, and my dentist even noticed. So I went back to Sonicare. My wife never switched.

Sonicare's QC is very poor. My wife's been lucky, but I went through two Airflosses in as many years before I stopped getting them; the first died within the warranty and I got an exchange; the second, just after the warrantee expired.

My current Sonicare is about 5 years old, and the battery is holding up, but about a year after I got it it developed a loose part in the head and it is super noisy; like, you can tell I'm using it from across the house. My wife's is the same age and is almost silent, so I think it's just a QC issue.

However, to stay in topic: the batteries in these are also not-self-serviceable. Is there an electric toothbrush whose battery is?

5
Evoliddawreply
lemmy.ca

It's a loose loctited (red) screw that holds the brush head handle in place, bunch of videos on YouTube how to fix it. Bit of a PITA to get it open - but I cleaned, tightened and loctited again the crap out of it and going another 3 years strong since that fix.

7

That is fantastic, thank you! It's not so bad I considered replacing it - almost nothing short of complete failure or battery death will prompt me to buy a new one - but it'd be awesome to fix the noise issue.

I didn't even think about looking for a fix. IME, they're basically glued together, and I didn't consider they'd have any accessible screws.

2
plz1reply
lemmy.world

1-2/day, using the default 2-minute routine. I do not leave it on the charger after using it. I only charge when it does the little vibrate pattern indicating a need to.

3
Graphyreply
lemmy.world

I have an oral b IO9 that I just replaced the battery with a new 14500

2

Read the article - they do lots of stuff right, better than other well known toothbrush makers, and you can open the brush. But it may hamper the waterproofing, so they don't recommend it.

I will consider this instead of OralB or Philips the next time I need a new brush 😊

18
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Electric toothbrushes are simply superior in terms of dental hygiene, no matter how well you think you brush.

15

Yes they do. Plaque buildup leads to gingivitis and cavities. It is in one's best interest to reduce plaque not because it makes your teeth look good, but because it will help you not have receding gums when you are older which leads to exposed roots, root canals, tooth replacements, etc...

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3652371/

Here is a long term study

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6619286/

Both probing depth and clinical detachment loss of the teeth were improved with an electric toothbrush.

4

Depends. You'll need to check the package.

Only a few of them are 100% biodegradable, with bristles made from animal hair, vegetable oil or straw.

Most of the bamboo toothbrushes have bristles made from recycled nylon, so those aren't 100 biodegradable, but they are still produced a lot more environmentally friendly than plastic toothbrushes.

3

It isn't a massive issue tbh. My wife wanted one. She's had it since December and has only needed to charge it like 3 or 4 times.

A replaceable battery would be a good feature, but after years of different mechanical toothbrushes I don't recommend choosing based on repairability. They almost all seem to just keep working for ages, and by the time something breaks they're so nasty you'd rather buy a new one anyway.

Fun fact, my kid used to call them cannibal toothbrushes. Toddlers are fun.

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You Can’t Even Replace The Battery in the “Green” Suri Toothbrush | Spyke