Electric Toothbrush vs. Manual Toothbrush: Which Comes Out the Winner?

Brushing your teeth is crucial to your dental regimen and it helps you feel great. The invention of the toothbrush was instantly popular. However, the high cost of hog bristles to make one, meant that entire families were sharing a single tooth brush. If that thought makes you cringe, fear not, the cost toothbrushes are now far better! 

Electric toothbrushes offer an additional element to cleaning your teeth. The concept was to create a tool which cleans teeth even more efficiently and thoroughly than a hand powered toothbrush. These devices have become smaller and more convenient with smaller charging stations. There are also variants which simply use a battery and eschew the charging station at all. Take this opportunity to learn more about the benefits of manual and electric toothbrushes and which you many wish to choose. 

Benefits of Manual and Electric Toothbrushes

If you’re going to examine your tooth cleaning operation, you will first want to look at the benefits of each kind of toothbrush. First, we’ll examine the benefits of an electric toothbrush:

• Corrects for Users - Many people may not provide the proper motion when they are brushing. An electric toothbrush is always making the right choice. 
• Times Independently - Most electric toothbrushes have a sensor that lets them know when you have brushed for two minutes. The goal is to ensure that enough brushing occurs without over brushing and potentially damaging the enamel. 
• Cleans Better - The main benefit is that an electric toothbrush will clean teeth better. The electric nature helps into tight areas and vibrate away things that are often missed with a manual toothbrush. Depending on the electric toothbrush, it’s possible to remove up to 100% more 

It seems like the electric toothbrush is the winner right? Hold on. There’s actually many benefits to a manual toothbrush as well. Some of these include: 

• Portability - If you travel a lot, a manual toothbrush is really convenient. While some electric toothbrushes, specifically battery operated operated toothbrushes, offer portability, they are still larger and require some form of outside 
• Comfort - Some people are simply more comfortable using a manual toothbrush. This means that they have chosen the perfect bristle strength and know exactly what they are doing with it. They don’t want to convert and have a good thing going. 
• Price - Typically, buying manual toothbrushes for a year is going to be less expensive than an electric toothbrush. For people on a budget, this may signal why a manual is a good choice. 

Which is Better

For most people, an electric toothbrush is probably the right choice. It will increase the level of dental care being taken and help remove more plaque than a manual choice. People who travel, or have incredibly sensitive gums may wish to work with a manual brush so that they can ensure they are extra gentle in sensitive areas. The best situation may be a combination. A quality electric toothbrush at home for mornings and nights, with a manual toothbrush at your office, purse, gym or glovebox. This allows you to brush your teeth based on eating, as opposed to just when you’re available near your toothbrush. 

Popular Brands

When it comes to the toothbrush, there are lots of brands out there which claim to be the best. Many started as manual brushes or as makers of toothpaste. One thing to consider if you’re buying an electric toothbrush is you will need refill brush heads. Make sure your brush isn’t on discount, while the replacements are really expensive! Some of the most popular brands include: 

• Arm & Hammer - One of the big names in cleaning is naturally a big name in cleaning your teeth. Arm & Hammer has a full variety of brushes that are designed for specific types of cleaning. Some electrics for a deep clean, or whitening or gum health. It’s a quality lineup./ 
• Oral B - It’s unlikely you’ve cleaned your teeth and not heard of Oral B at some point. Oral B is well known for their circular dental style brush heads, though they do also have the Vitality Dual Clean model, which has the full head size. Many Oral B brushes come with a pressure sensor so that you can know you will always brush at the right strength. 
• Sonicare - Phillips has created the Sonicare line of toothbrushes including the DiamondClean and the Flexcare Plus models. Their toothbrushes are very good and are known for having excellent battery life.