Monday, May 14, 2012

Oral B is the One for Me!


Do you remember that old TV show Green Acres. You know, the one whose theme song said "Green Acres is the place to be"? Well, since last week I have a new take on that song. My new song is "Oral B is the one for me"! Actually the "Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide" is the one for me. Read further to find out why.

About six months ago I was greeted with some disturbing news. I had gum disease. Gingivitis to be exact. Not something usually discussed over a lovely meal with your friends, but something I can blog about and get the information out about proper caring of your teeth.

I had gone into the dentist because I knew I needed at least one filling. During their routine check, they tested for Gingivitis and, you guessed it, I had it. They had to do the whole nine yards - deep cleaning and everything. It was not a pleasant experience. At the end of the first session, however, the dental hygienist taught me proper dental hygiene and gave me a "professional rotary toothbrush" that cost way over $100 (I can't remember now but I think I was quoted a price of over $200). And, when you add in the cost of replacement heads every so often the price gets even higher. I'm still paying off the bill for all of my dental work and dental hygiene supplies.

Anyway, I loved the toothbrush. It really changed my dental habits. Before, my teeth cleaning habits were hit and miss. I would brush regularly with a standard hand held toothbrush but I would never floss and never use a mouth rinse. I hated flossing because I never could get my hands situated the right way to floss properly.

Now, however, I am properly flossing (using one of those disposable plastic pitch fork looking floss pics), rinsing and brushing. The new toothbrush really made my teeth feel clean and gave my gums a workout. The only problem...it took soooooo, loooong. To go through all of the steps would take well over 15 min.! I actually had to schedule brushing into my day! I would floss, then rinse for at least one minute, then use a special rotary toothbrush head that went between my teeth, then switch heads for regular teeth cleaning.  I never really knew how long I was brushing because I would count down the seconds that I was supposed to spend on each quadrant of my mouth. It was actually hard work! Still, I knew I was doing what I was supposed to do. My gums didn't bleed anymore and my mouth actually felt clean.



When I was invited to participate in a new campaign for an Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide I was skeptical. Would it work as well as my dentist prescribed toothbrush? Would it actually make my brushing habits any better? My teeth are clean but not as white as I would want. Would this new power toothbrush make my teeth whiter? I decided to sign up and find out. After all, I could always go back to my old toothbrush after the campaign is over.

Well, last week it came. At first glance I was impressed. It looked like a very sturdy well built rotary power brush. I liked that it was easy to put together and that it came with a small clock ("SmartGuide") that timed how long you were brushing in each section of your mouth. But, would all of this fancy technology work? I was going to find out that evening.

I plugged it in and waited for it to charge enough to brush. A few hours will give you one or two brushes and a full 24 hours will give you days of brushing. Finally it was time to test it out. I went through my usual flossing and rinsing...but where was the in between the teeth head? It didn't come with one. Instead it had an unusual brush head with some long bristles and some short bristles. Supposedly it would clean between the teeth while brushing the surface of the teeth. Hmmm...interesting. I put the head on the toothbrush and turned it on. Immediately the small clock that was sitting on the counter changed from showing the time to counting down the seconds until I needed to switch to a new quadrant of my mouth. Neat! No more counting down in my head.

Because I am sort of a teeth cleaning nut now, I chose to switch it to the 45 second per quadrant setting instead of the usual 30 second per quadrant. Immediately the small clock switched to counting down from 45 seconds! It also has a Sensitive Mode, a Whitening Mode, and a Massage Mode as well as the Daily Clean (30 second per quadrant) Mode and the Deep Clean (45 second) Mode.



The SmartGuide also had a picture of a circle divided into four sections with one section blinking to represent the first section of teeth that I was brushing and four stars with one blinking to represent the first quadrant. When I was done brushing the circle would be complete and the four stars would all be filled in. In addition to that, the power toothbrush would turn off briefly when it was time to switch to a new section of my mouth. Very easy to follow and use. So far I am very pleased.

The true test, however, is how my mouth felt. Did my teeth feel clean? Yep! Did my gums feel like they had a good workout? Check! My teeth and gums felt just the same as when I used my dentist prescribed brush and spent 15 min. brushing. Actually, though, with the new Oral B brush, I only spent half of that time brushing! It's a winner for me. I might even have to try the Whitening Mode or the gum Massage Mode. With the really neat SmartGuide I can keep track of time and brush more quickly and efficiently. Now I feel like I have the time to brush more than once a day. This could really improve my oral care habits!

So am I going to keep using the Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide? So far it's a yes but check back in in a couple of weeks for an update post to see if I still like it and to see if my teeth are actually whiter.

I really do like this toothbrush so far. Oral-B has several power toothbrushes in various price ranges and for various needs that you can choose from. Right now they are even offering a $10 rebate on select power brushes. Please visit OralB.com or click on any one of the links above to find out more.

Don't forget to also check out their children's power toothbrush section. I'm always trying to teach my children proper dental hygiene, especially after my gum disease incident. I don't want them going through the same thing I did. I may have to check into that rebate for a power toothbrush for them.

To find out more about Oral-B and their line of products check out the following links as well. Happy brushing!



“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Dad Central Consulting on behalf of Oral-B and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

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