Buy an electric toothbrush for the right reasons. Don't be mislead by these four myths.
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Not all of the information you read about electric toothbrushes is accurate. When we created our page "Four 'right' reasons to buy an electric toothbrush" we did some lurking on the web, so to see what other websites were offering on this topic. We weren't impressed with what we saw. In fact, we were so disappointed in seeing what we consider to be partial and misleading information that we decided to create this page that we've titled "Four reasons NOT to buy an electric toothbrush." Don't get us wrong. It's not that we don't think that people shouldn't buy an electric toothbrush. Quite to the contrary, we think powered toothbrushes are wonderful tools that really can assist a person in making it up to the next level in oral home care. But we also think that if a person has bought an electric brush on the recommendation of misleading or nonfactual information, then they'll be less inclined to continue on with its use. And that results in both wasted money and lost opportunity. So, here are what we see as four reasons not to buy an electric brush. |
1) Dental research has not confirmed that using an electric toothbrush is better than using a manual one.
There is no overwhelming body of evidence in the scientific literature that has conclusively proven that using an electric toothbrush is better than just using a manual one. A good job can be done with either one.
Of course the key word in this statement is the word "can." Effective tooth brushing takes both time and diligence. And if the features of an electric toothbrush can help to make a person's brushing task easier or more efficient, then it can be a great choice. But don't buy an electric just because you think that it can provide something that you can't do on your own, because that's not what research studies show.
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[ Actually, the quality of a great deal of the research you may have been exposed to (TV commercials, printed advertising, etc...) that documents the benefits of powered toothbrushes is an issue open to debate. And this really shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone considering the amount of money involved in electric toothbrush sales. A landmark study (Heanue 2003 - The Cochrane Collaboration Oral Health Group) investigated the issue of powered vs. manual toothbrushes by way of reviewing the findings of other researchers. This study created a set of guidelines as to what they considered appropriate methodology for clinical trials. Of the 354 (published and unpublished) trials they found to evaluate, only 29 met their inclusion criteria (Niederman 2003). ] |
2) An electric toothbrush probably won't be the cure-all for your bad breath.
Despite what you may have read elsewhere, buying and using an electric toothbrush probably isn't going to cure your bad breath. Sure, bad breath is cause by bacteria (that produce and release stinky sulfur compounds). And more effective tooth brushing will reduce their numbers. But the vast majority of the bacteria that cause bad breath live on a person's tongue or in between their teeth and below their gum line.
You'll do far more to improve the quality of your breath by way of scraping or brushing your tongue (and using dental floss) than by just improving your tooth brushing effectiveness. And no, electric toothbrushes have not been demonstrated to be more effective tongue cleaners than manual toothbrushes or the inexpensive tongue scrapers you see in the dental products section of your local store.
3) Don't expect an electric toothbrush to do much in the way of whitening your teeth.
We see a lot of ads that promise whiter teeth if a person will start using that brand's electric toothbrush. Oh, we're sure these companies have 'documented research' backing up these claims. But these ads don't really tell the whole story.
The whitening claims that a powered toothbrush can make only relate to tooth surface staining (like that that staining that builds up in between a person's professional dental cleanings). And the reality is that any type of toothbrush (if used effectively) can help to prevent this type of staining from forming.
We will concede that it's easy to see how the increased level of brush agitation that an electric toothbrush creates could make it very effective in preventing tooth staining. We'd also concede that we can see how this same high level of agitation could also produce an effect where it might remove some tooth staining that has already formed on a person's teeth (although unpredictably so). But in terms of an electric toothbrush producing a profound whitening effect in the same sense as bleaching teeth with peroxide compounds (such as whitening strips, a tray-based whitening system or professional in-office tooth whitening), forget it. It's not going to happen.
4) You don't really need a toothbrush sanitizer.
Now to the topic of toothbrush sanitizers. We realize that the discussion of this issue is a little bit "off topic" but you do see some electric toothbrushes that come with an included toothbrush sanitizer unit and some people may wonder if they are really needed.
First off, these are units are just sanitizers, not sterilizers. Yes, they have an effect where they do kill bacteria. But no, they do not kill all of the bacteria that are present on a person's brush. So, bottom line, bacteria still live on your toothbrush even if one is used.
The bigger question really is how harmful are the bacteria that live on a person's toothbrush? Well, we'll start off by saying that it's generally not a good idea that people should share toothbrushes. Doing so could spread microorganisms from one person to another. But beyond that there is otherwise no strong scientific evidence that suggests that the microorganisms that do reside on any single individual's brush will lead to any specific health problems or concerns for them. This stance is confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
