How we test electric toothbrushes

Here's how our experts land on the best brushes for your choppers.

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Last updated: 12 Mar 2019

While you can achieve a good clean with a manual toothbrush, an electric toothbrush can be a great alternative. Electric toothbrushes provide the cleaning action for you, so you only need to guide it along the surfaces of your teeth.

We put rotary and lateral toothbrushes through a series of technical tests and an ease of use trial. This is how we do it.

How we choose what we test

With a range of products on the market, what makes us choose one electric toothbrush to test over another?

As with most of our product testing, our aim is to test the most popular models on the market and what you’re most likely to see in the retailers.

We survey manufacturers to find out about their range of models, we check market sales information and we also check for any member requests to test specific models. From this information we put together a final list that goes to our buyers.

They then head out to the retailers and buy each product, just as a regular consumer would. We do this so we can be sure the products are the same as any consumer would find them, and not ‘tweaked’ in any way for better performance.

We also aim to test a range of rotary and lateral brush heads to cover all personal brushing preferences. That way you can use our results to find a model that truly suits your needs.

How we test electric toothbrushes

Our test looks at the following criteria.

Feel (volunteer trialists)

A panel of volunteers are given rotary or lateral toothbrushes, depending on what they’re used to using at home. They use the brush for 30–60 seconds and answer the following questions:

How does the toothbrush feel in hand? Consider weight, balance, vibration in hand etc.
How well does the brush comfortably reach all necessary areas?
How does the toothbrush feel against your teeth, gums and tongue while in use?

They also have the option to leave additional comments of note.

Ease of use (volunteer trialists)

We ask the trialists to rate how easy it is to remove and attach the heads, adjust modes and turn each brush on and off.

Ease of charging

We assess the charging method, clarity of charge notifications such as LED lights, and how easy it is to plug and unplug each toothbrush to charge.

Operating time in days

We fully charge each brush, then cycle through two minutes on, then two minutes off until either the battery runs flat or we reach 56 cycles. Two cycles represents one day of normal brushing, 56 cycles represents four weeks of normal brushing. So if a brush still has charge after our test, it has enough power to brush your teeth morning and night for four weeks straight without recharging.

Test criteria explained

The CHOICE Expert Rating, our overall score that determines which products we recommend, is made up of:

ease of use (volunteer trialists) 45%
feel (volunteer trialists) 45%
ease of charging (10%).

We recommend electric toothbrushes with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 80% or more.

Rebecca

I joined CHOICE in 2008 as a work experience student while studying my Bachelor of Science (Nutrition and Food) at the University of Western Sydney. I've been with CHOICE ever since. My first job was in a room full of muesli, collecting all their nutritional data. When I completed my course, CHOICE offered me a full-time position as a Test Officer in the Kitchen Lab. In 2009, I moved into the role of household content producer. I write about a wide range of children's and household products, ranging from cots and strollers to ovens, BBQs, espresso machines and electric blankets. I even write about grocery items such as nappies, sanitary pads and laundry detergents. I love my job and the extremely talented and passionate group of people I work with. I love knowing that our research, testing and results go a long way to helping consumers with their buying decisions by highlighting great products – and singling out poorly performing ones. You can find me on LinkedIn.

Peter

When I first walked through the doors at CHOICE, my job was to write about tech for CHOICE Computer magazine. Since then, I've covered everything from home entertainment to personal safety devices, tech for your car and even mattresses. If you want to find the best combination of a bed, 4K TV, soundbar, GPS unit and food delivery app, I'm your guy. The one thing I've noticed across all the product tests I've organised it's that nothing is simple. Mattresses can be just as complicated as computers, and manufacturers as well as salespeople don't make things easy. They either use complex jargon that you just want to ignore, or they oversimplify things to the point where you don't know what you're paying for. My goal isn't just to help you find the best TV, mattress or soundbar, I also want to cut through the nonsense and help you fully understand the products you're considering. That way, you can make an educated, informed decision when it's time to buy without falling prey to a sly salesperson. Plus, when you understand the product, you know how to set it up in a way that best suits your home and can look after it. Nothing is plug and play anymore, and if a complicated smartphone or Bluetooth speaker feels less intimidating after you've read my content, then I know I've done my job. Outside of work I'm very into gaming, I love watching retro classics at the cinema, I enjoy getting up early to spend hours smoking a tasty cut of meat and I'm deeply into home hi-fi. Any music genre from laidback jazz to the loudest, screamiest, most brutal heavy metal ticks all my boxes. I also had a stint as a live music photographer for a number of years. You can find me on LinkedIn.