Best Toothbrush For Braces, Electric & Manual (2024) (2024)

Sonicare 9900 Prestige

Why it's good for braces:

Like the iO4, the Prestige has the features we recommend for brace wearers: a timer, pacer, pressure sensor and a travel case.

But it's far more expensive, because of its smart toothbrush technology and only worth buying if you're really going to make maximum use of it.

Read our Sonicare Prestige 9900 Review.

Oral-B Clic

Why we chose it:

The Clic is a premium manual toothbrush. It looks really quite stylish and is available in a number of colors.

The CrissCross bristles help to clean around the brackets and wires of the brace.

Buyer's guide: useful pre-purchase advice

With the help of dentist Dr. Gemma Wheeler, we've added some advice that is specific to anyone shopping for a toothbrush for braces. If you can't find the information you need please leave a comment below.

These electric toothbrush features are useful for braces

A good electric toothbrush for braces doesn’t need lots of features. The most important are:

• 2 minute timer
• Quadpacer
• Pressure sensor
• Travel case

One of the cheapest brushes you can buy that has all these features is the Oral-B iO4, which is why we recommend it as the best overall choice.

In some of the sections below, we've included a few more examples of brushes that have these features. You can also use our electric toothbrush reviews page to filter by specific features if you would like to see more options.

2 minute timer

There is agreement among dental organisations and medical bodies that brushing your teeth twice a day for 2 minutes is important. Having a 2 minute timer built into the toothbrush helps encourage you to achieve this. The majority of electric toothbrushes come with this feature as standard, including our best budget pick above.

People with fixed braces should actually aim to brush for 3 minutes.Only brushing for 2 minutes doesn't leave enough time to cover the additional surface area created by having braces.

Some brushes automatically power off once the 2 minutes are up, so it is a case of turning the brush back on to brush for a bit longer. Oral-B models don't automatically turn off, whilst some ‘smart’ models, like the Oclean X Pro Elite allow you to set custom modes where you control the total brushing.

Quadpacer

A quadpacer is designed to encourage you to cover the mouth evenly during the 2 minute brushing cycle. Most pacers work by pausing the brush motor at 30 second intervals. The pause in the sound and motion of the toothbrush is your cue to move from 1 section of the mouth to another.

The 4 sections (quadrants) are: upper right, upper left, lower right and lower left. If you spend 30 seconds cleaning each, you will achieve 120 seconds/2 minutes total brushing time.

Most electric brushes come with a quadpacer these days, including our budget recommendation, the Oral-B Pro 500.

In a few instances, the pacer is configured differently. Rather than 4 sections, there are 6, known as sextants. The total brushing time is the same, but you spend 20 seconds brushing per sextant. The Prestige is configured this way.

Pressure sensor

A pressure sensor helps to guard against brushing too hard, which can damage the teeth and gums. It's also not a good idea to brush braces harder than is necessary. The implementation of a pressure sensor varies from one brush to another.

In many instances when pressure is detected, the motor will slow down. This limits the bristle movement and potential damage. A visible pressure sensor will illuminate to act as a visual alert.This is common in Oral-B brushes.Usually, a red light is emitted around the neck of the toothbrush.

Some models, notably Sonicare, will vibrate the brush handle to alert you. Whilst models like the Prestige and the DiamondClean Smart vibrate and illuminate a visible sensor.

The Oral-B iO Series are the first brushes to actually light up green, to show you are using the correct pressure. These brushes typically have higher ownership costs as a result of the selling price and cost of replacement brush heads.

Oral-B's Pro 1000 is supposed to have a pressure sensor, but we don't rate it highly. There is no visual alert and it's nigh on impossible to detect the change in sound from the loud motor.

Travel case

When you are wearing a brace for 12+ months, you will find yourself brushing in different locations.It won’t always be possible to brush your teeth at home. A travel case enables you to take your toothbrush with you and keeps it protected.

The cheapest brush you can buy that includes a travel case is the Oral-B Pro 100.

There are certain models that come with travel cases that allow charging whilst in the case. They do not need to be placed on a separate charging stand. Examples of these include the Oral-B iO, SURI and the Sonicare Prestige 9900.

Oral-B's charging travel cases are functional but less desirable. This is because they require a separate proprietary power adapter. The iO Series 9 and Genius X are 2 examples. The best travel cases use internationally accepted connectors like microUSB and USB type c.

Compact travel cases help reduce bulk and weight when on the go. However, one benefit of bulkier travel cases like those supplied with the Pro 5000 and Genius 6000 is that they have a little space inside that you can use to store accessories such as interdental brushes.

You don't need a special toothbrush for removable braces like Invisalign

All of our recommendations above are perfectly suitable for removable braces like Invisalign. Removable braces can be taken out of the mouth and you should brush your teeth after each meal and before putting the aligners back in.Because they are removable, cleaning the teeth and the brace itself is much easier. You are not restricted by wires, so brushes can pass easily over the teeth. Floss and interdental brushes can easily glide between the teeth.

Many Invisalign patients have attachments (also known as ‘buttons’) fitted to their teeth. These are made of white filling material and help move the teeth.They are not prone to collecting food debris or plaque like conventional brackets are. In fact,you brush just like you would if you had no braces at all.Do remember that you will need to brush and clean the brace itself, following the guidance you have been given.

Oral-B makes an Ortho brush head, but you can get by without it

Oral-B has created a set of heads specifically for fixed braces called the Ortho Care. It is available here on Amazon.

The idea is to give you a couple of extra ways to clean around braces, and more precise targeting of the brackets. They are not essential. The normal round heads are fine (excluding FlossAction). It's only really worth considering if you're not getting the best plaque and debris removal with a standard set of bristles.

The Ortho Care brush heads are not compatible with Oral-B iO Series handles. They do work with our budget pick above, the Pro 500, and another brush we strongly recommend, the Oral-B Smart 2000.

Sonicare does not make an equivalent to the Ortho Care brush heads. All their heads (excluding TongueCare+) are suitable for braces.

Brush head shape and size is worth considering, but not critical

The range of brush heads available across various brands is unnecessarily complicated. Unless you have a particularly small mouth, you don't need to pay too much attention to the type that you choose.

Oral-B has two ranges of brush heads — those that fit the iO Series toothbrushes, and those that fit all of its other brushes. The iO compatible brush heads are a little bigger than other Oral-B heads. They are also more expensive.

Sonicare brush heads, and most heads found on 'sonic' toothbrushes are more oval shaped and larger than Oral-B's round heads.

If you have a very small mouth or find it difficult to manoeuvre a toothbrush fully around your teeth, it might be best to consider any Oral-B brush that isn't an iO Series model. Our main recommendation here is the Oral-B Smart 2000.

Almost all Oral-B, Colgate and Sonicare brush heads can be used with braces. Just avoid the Oral-B FlossAction head and the Sonicare tongue brush.

Why brushing and flossing is so important for brace wearers

Thorough cleaning is especially important for people undergoing orthodontic treatment.Fixed braces rely on fixed brackets on the tooth surfaces and wires between them to move the teeth. Not only do you need to clean the tooth surfaces and between the teeth, you also need to clean in and around the brackets and wires of the brace.

There is agreement that having braces slightly increases your risk of things like gum disease, tooth decay and halitosis. These conditions are caused by bacteria found in plaque. The brackets stuck to your teeth increase the surface area for plaque to stick to. The brackets, elastics and wires also trap food debris.

More plaque means that you are at higher risk of decay. The early stages of decay can be reversed. This means you don't need fillings.But you could be left with white marks on your teeth when the braces are removed.Good cleaning can prevent this.

By brushing regularly you also reduce the chances of staining on your teeth. Even when you do not wear a brace, some 35-40% of the tooth surface is missed with regular brushing. Interdental cleaning is advised. It reaches in tight gaps between teeth, cleaning areas normal brushing doesn't reach. Failing to remove the bacteria at the gum level, especially in between the teeth, contributes to gum disease.

Unfortunately cleaning between the teeth is not the easiest when you have braces. If the technique is not good enough, the bacteria are not cleaned away, it can lead to irritation of the gums. Left for long enough, this reversible gingivitis can progress to more severe gum disease - periodontitis. The best approach is to use interdental brushes, but water flossers are a much easier product to use.

FAQ

Is it safe to use an electric toothbrush with braces?

Yes, electric toothbrushes from the leading brands are safe to use with braces.

They will not cause your brackets to detach from the tooth.

The bond between the bracket and the tooth is more than strong enough to withstand an electric toothbrush. The wires and elastics also will not be damaged by an electric toothbrush.

Whether you have fixed metal, incognito, ceramic, clear, invisible, lingual or self-ligating braces, a powered toothbrush can be used with any of these. Electric toothbrushes are also safe to use if you have removable braces, such as Invisalign.

Do dentists recommend an electric toothbrush for braces?

Whilst not everyone needs an electric toothbrush, brace wearers can really benefit from them.

Electric toothbrushes make good plaque removal easier for you to achieve at home. This has significant benefits for the gums, which are often irritated when having teeth moved around with braces.

The wires and brackets can be tricky to clean around. The electric toothbrush can help make brushing around these much easier, by doing the hard work for you.

I have found that patients are more likely to clean their teeth for longer because the timers built into the brushes encourage this.

And because they are proven to remove more plaque they help keep the gums and teeth healthy.