Toothbrushes

   So I decided to talk about something simple today. Every day we stick a toothbrush in our mouth to try to clean the gunk away. Lately I have been trying a couple of different types of brush thanks to Costco sells.
   Let me start with a few from Oral B. I have used in the last year 3 different types that they make. Advantage, CrossAction and Pulsar.
   The Oral B Pulsar is by far the most expensive toothbrush I have ever used. I felt bad throwing it away actually. Basically it is a disposable powered toothbrush. The cleaning head is split in the middle and has some loose fitted rubber toothpick shaped things on it. When you turn it on they kind of jiggle a little bit. I used this line for about a year. I actually really enjoyed this brush for its ability to give your gums and teeth a nice massage. The split head made it work rather well at cleaning the hard to get to places. Basically what it did is put on cleaning surface on the front of your teeth and another on on the biting edge. It works rather well. The downside is that it is rather expensive. Without Costco or the coupon they are around $6 each. It's a lot of money to ask for a disposable brush. Perhaps the worst part about this was that the battery compartment is sealed. I found that I was normally using the brush long after the battery died simply because the battery didn't last as long as the cleaning head.
   Then there is the Advantage. A lot of the same features from the Pulsar are transplanted onto the Advantage. It has the rubber things on the side and a similar brush layout. It does not have the split head. It also doesn't have the massage power. I used this brush for about half a year. All in all it is a good brush. It's just not great. The bristles maintain a rather flat field. I noticed that it normally didn't reach into the areas between the teeth.
   After using the Advantage I got a coupon for the Colgate 360. It advertises that it cleans all the surfaces of your mouth. I bought a whole pack from Costco because the deal was killer. One new device that is becoming more popular is the tongue cleaner. The 360 employs this on the reverse side of the bristles. Basically it is a bunch of rubber nubs. The first thing I noticed about this device is that I haven't had a single sore in my mouth since then. Maybe it's because I have been cutting back on M&Ms. Still, usually I get some sores at the corner of my mouth and in my cheeks. Since brushing with the 360 I have not. It's been a couple of months at least. The other side is where the criticism comes in. The 360 basically doesn't clean my teeth. There is nothing reaching for your gums. All of the bristles are flat except for a few really tiny ones that poke out ever so slightly from the sides. They basically contribute nothing to the cleaning of your teeth. By the time I had been using one anywhere close to the point where it was wearing out I was tired of it. We went back to Costco and bought a pack of Oral B CrossAction brushes. I threw out the Colgate 360 the day we got the new ones. We now have a bag of unused Colgate toothbrushes you can have if you want.
   The Oral B CrossAction has a lot of the same features that the Colgate 360 has. It has a tongue cleaner on the back. What really makes it work for me is that instead of a flat surface of bristles it has layers of bristles that are angled and staggered in opposing directions. The staggering give the bristles gaps where there are no bristles. This gives them a large range of motion. The opposing directions and angles layout allows the brush to work to clean out deep areas between teeth and allow the brush to be very effective in both directions. One set cleans as you push and another cleans as you pull. This is unique to any toothbrushes I have used.
   My recommendation is clear. The Oral B CrossAction is by far the better toothbrush. It is less expensive than most of the others in this review yet cleans better than them.
   When it all comes down the way I really rate a toothbrush is that the one I prefer is the one that leaves me less gunk to floss out of my teeth after I'm done brushing. Because there is nothing like following one chore with another one.