Are electric toothbrushes better?

While we recommend electric toothbrushes and offer them in our office, we believe that something is better than nothing of course.  Electric, or Sonicare, toothbrushes do part of the work for you by creating the circular motion or vibration of brushing with a regular toothbrush. For kids, we like them to get used to the motion of electric toothbrushes, and we find that these kids behave better at their appointments because it's not as big of a difference for them. Electric toothbrushes make it more likely to brush for the recommended amount of time since they all generally have a timer on them for 2 minutes.

So why do we suggest them? Not because they clean your teeth better than if you brushed properly with a manual toothbrush. But it makes the process of brushing more consistent and for the appropriate time, each time. Also for children, some electric toothbrushes can be paired to a phone app. This makes it engaging and less like a tedious task that they have to do and more of an enjoyable experience to have fun with. We have also seen other ‘toothbrushes’ in different shapes that generally we won't recommend at all due to the fact that they rarely even reach the gumline in most cases and can lead to decay, gingivitis, and even periodontal disease.