I’m a huge K-Culture fan, and if you’re like me, you might have noticed how all Korean starlets have perfect teeth. This realisation brought me on a hunt for off-the-counter whitening strips in Seoul about six months ago. (Park Shin Hye teeth, I will have!) I used them everyday for three weeks until my gums started to hurt and the colour of them turned into a worrying red.
Viktor & Rolf Paris Spring 15
Having paper-white teeth isn’t realistic, and sometimes even dangerous to have, so the next best thing to do is to get a good daily clean to keep the plaque at bay, but how much is really enough? Do you brush your teeth up and down or in circular motions? For how long, exactly?
Well, the Oral-B ProfessionalCare 3000 power toothbrush claims to take the guesswork out of teeth cleaning.
First, it boasts a pressure sensor feature to make sure you’re not brushing your teeth and gums too hard. Second, there are three modes for users to choose from – daily clean, sensitive and whitening, depending on their needs. Each mode uses a combination of oscillating, rotating and pulsating movements. Finally, the result of these 48,800 movements per minute – compared to 600 for manual brushing – is cleaner gumlines and naturally whitened teeth in at least 21 days.
BUT DOES IT REALLY WORK?
Having not used a power toothbrush before, it took some time to get accustomed to it, especially in the first week. I’m used to putting a lot of pressure on my teeth and manually brushing it for more than five minutes every morning, so to suddenly switch to gliding a toothbrush along my teeth felt a little odd at first. (The handle flashes red when you use too much pressure.) When I got used to the sensation however, the toothbrush became a real time saver in the morning, with just two minutes needed.
If you’ve used a facial sonic cleansing brush like the Clarisonic, this toothbrush works the same way by alerting you every 30 seconds with a short stuttering sound to move to the next quadrant of your teeth. The round brush heads also make it very easy to maneuver around hard to reach areas like the molars at the back.
Now, if you like your toothpaste to foam – I do because it gives me a fresh breath feel after brushing – it will not happen as much with this toothbrush, but the issue is easily solved with your regular mouthwash, prolonging the minty sensation of your toothpaste.
After two weeks of use, I did not see any significant whitening of my teeth (14 days is too short a period to see the effect), but my gumlines are definitely cleaner, with less yellowing at the edges of my inner teeth surface.
So, should you get it? Yes, if you are serious about your teeth and want a proper daily clean, with those who can’t seem to get rid of stains at the gumlines and in between the teeth seeing the best return on this investment.
The Oral-B ProfessionalCare 3000, $199, and replacement brush heads, from $27, is available at all leading electronic stores and P&G's Qoo10 page. For more information, visit www.oralb.com/en-SG and follow the brand on Facebook.