Oral-B Electric Toothbrush

What it is

Oral-B's entry into its iO line — the iO Series 3, sold as a rechargeable handle with three cleaning modes (Daily Clean, Sensitive, Whitening), a lithium-ion battery, two brush heads and a travel case. It uses Oral-B's small round oscillating head rather than the rectangular head of a sonic brush.

The feature worth paying for is the iO LightRing: a full-range visual pressure sensor that glows white when you are pressing too lightly, green when the pressure is right, and red when you are pressing too hard. It also runs a two-minute timer. That is the whole feature set. No Bluetooth, no app, no screen.

Why it's on this list

Brushing too hard is one of the most common ways people damage their own gums and wear their enamel at the gumline, and almost nobody knows they are doing it. A pressure sensor is the one piece of technology in a toothbrush that changes behavior. Everything above it in the range — the app, the color display, the AI coaching — is instrumentation for a two-minute task that does not need instrumentation.

So the reasoning is simple. The iO3 gives you the magnetic drive and the pressure sensor. The iO5, iO7 and iO9 give you the same cleaning action plus software. Buy the cheap one. Put the savings toward replacement heads, which is where the real cost lives.

To be clear about what a toothbrush can and cannot do: an electric brush is a tool for removing plaque more consistently than most people manage by hand. It is not a treatment for gum disease, and no toothbrush replaces a dentist.

What to know before you buy

• The heads are the real price. iO replacement heads cost roughly twice what standard Oral-B heads do, in the range of eight to ten dollars each. Over the life of the brush that will exceed the handle. Budget for it.
• iO heads only. Your old Oral-B round heads do not fit the iO handle. If you have a drawer full of them, that is an argument for staying on the older Pro line.
• No app, no travel-case charging. If you want session tracking or want the case to charge the handle, you are shopping further up the range.
• If you prefer a sonic brush, buy a Sonicare. Some people cannot get on with the round oscillating head, and the clinical case for one technology over the other is not decisive. Preference is a legitimate reason to choose.
• A manual brush used properly still works. This is a tool for consistency, not a cure for not brushing.