Sonicare Toothbrush features - The FlexCare Max Care, GoCare and Massage brushing modes and routines.

Higher-end Sonicare products typically offer more elaborate brushing actions than the less expensive, more basic models do. And this fact leads to the question, do the benefits of these enhanced brushing features justify their higher cost?

On this page, we discuss the FlexCare toothbrush line (HX6911, HX6932, HX6972). It features two brushing "routines" and one operational "mode" that are not offered on other Sonicare toothbrush models. These are the Massage mode, and the Max Care and Go Care brushing routines.
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The Massage mode.

The Sonicare FlexCare's Massage function is not really a brushing mode but is instead an action that's intended to create gum tissue stimulation. When this mode is selected, the FlexCare's brush head creates a pulsating action.

We don't have a lot to say about the benefits or use of the Massage mode. We'd be very reluctant to suggest to a prospective Sonicare purchaser that they should opt for a FlexCare model simply because of the availability of the Massage mode.

We did search the PubMed.gov database of publication abstracts for a reference to any study that evaluated the benefits of the FlexCare's Massage mode. We were unable to locate any. Additionally, we did not find any reference to any such studies on Sonicare's website.

The Max Care routine.

The FlexCare's Max Care setting is a brushing routine comprised of the brush running in its full-power, 31,000-brush-strokes-per-minute mode (the FlexCare's Clean mode) for 30 seconds followed by 15 seconds of Massage mode, for four cycles and a total brushing time of three minutes.

Since we've already suggested that we don't see the great benefit associated with the use of the Massage mode, it shouldn't come as any surprise to you to learn that we don't think we'd be all that inclined to use the Max Care routine either.

If choosing between a routine consisting of three minutes of tooth brushing combined with gum tissue stimulation (the Max Care routine) or simply brushing for three minutes with the toothbrush running in Clean mode (it's full-power setting) for the entire time, we would think that the latter would be more beneficial for most people.

The FlexCare Go Care routine.

The FlexCare line of brushes also offers a Go Care routine. This setting runs the brush in Clean mode for just one (a single) minute. This setting is intended for quick, on-the-fly or touch-up tooth brushing.

Sonicare suggests that people using the Go Care routine will produce more effective cleaning than what they would accomplish in the same one-minute time frame when brushing with a manual toothbrush. We don't doubt this statement for a moment.

We would, however, suggest that the availability of the Go Care setting on the FlexCare very well might be interpreted by some as suggesting that a one-minute brushing session, on its own, is acceptable. (Mom: "Junior, did you brush your teeth?", Junior:"I brushed until the toothbrush turned off.") We're fairly certain that very few people can effectively brush and clean their teeth in just sixty seconds. And we don't think anyone should be encouraged to try to do so.

Every dentist is very familiar with that patient who continues to have dental problems (tooth decay, periodontal disease) even though they brush many times per day. Yes, they may brush but no one of their individual brushing events is long enough to produce anything near adequate cleansing. And that's the problem.

Every person needs to understand that oral health can only be achieved and maintained by way of practicing effective home care techniques. And, to us, adding the availability of a one-minute brushing session doesn't help toward getting this point across.

How we see things.

Bottom line, we think that the FlexCare itself is a great sonic toothbrush. It offers a combination of features, many of them state-of-the-art, that all together, as a package, make this toothbrush very appealing. What we don't think, however, is that we would buy the FlexCare just because it offers its Massage mode and Go Care and Max Care brushing routines. We personally would opt to run this toothbrush only in its Clean (full-power, 31,000-brush-strokes-per-minute) mode. A setting that other, less expensive, Sonicare models also share.