Philips Sonicare FlexCare electric toothbrush review

Can this get your pearly whites white?

28 September 2007 13:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

While some toothbrushes promise to give you a superior clean Philips' latest model the Sonicare FlexCare's main focus is on its UV sanitiser that promises to keep your brush clean after it has cleaned your teeth. We get brushing to find out whether it lives up to its claims.

According to Philips, the FlexCare is clinically proven to remove significantly more plaque than any other premium power toothbrush and the company also claim that the FlexCare will deliver naturally whiter teeth and improved gum health after only 2 weeks use.

A bold claim, however, I am smiling while I write this, we would have to agree, our teeth, although only marginally, do seem to look whiter. With personalised care settings including three brushing modes and two routines, you can choose a brushing experience to suit you, whether it’s a quick brush before you head out or a more thorough clean the morning after, but either way what we did notice was the vibration of the brush is very powerful.

The three modes are Clean, Massage and Sensitive designed to clean and simulate depending on what you are after and the two routines are Max Care; a 3-minute complete mouth clean and a Go Care option for a 1-minute quick clean for that "my mouth feels dirty and its only three in the afternoon feeling".

Over our 3-week testing period so far and we haven't really veered off the main settings, but are pleased with the results. In fact the only complaint we've had is that it can be a bit too brutal in its vibration for early risers; waking you with its extreme oscillation - the motor however is very quiet.

The brush itself doesn't come with a LCD display like Braun's Triumph range, however will let you know when you've been brushing for 30 seconds so you can move on to the next quadrant in your mouth. Furthermore, as with most electronic toothbrushes, the FlexCare comes with switchable heads for different sized mouths.

Taking into account that your toothbrush isn't the cleanest thing on the block, FlexCare comes with a first-of-its-kind UV sanitiser that helps eliminate potentially harmful germs on your brush head to make sure your oral health is tip top. Coming in the stand (there is a small stand for travelling) you can clean your brush head in 10 minutes, but also makes for a great place to store them without worrying about dirt or pet hair.

Verdict

As a toothbrush, the Philips FlexCare does an amazing job. As for the UV clean chamber, it's a great idea and one that will no doubt appeal those particularly interested in oral hygiene, but for us we found that we haven't really used it beyond testing for this review.

Perhaps it's that for the past 30 years our toothbrush has sat in a cup on our sink rather than in an specially designed chamber.

Overall it's a big smiles up from us.