Braun Oral-B Kids Battery Toothbrush - Better than Crest Spinbrush for Preschoolers
Written: Oct 10 '02
Product Rating:
Pros: Very small head, ergonomic handle, quiet, fun patterns, use indicator
Cons: Replacement heads are pricey, may still be too loud for some kids
The Bottom Line: A great battery powered toothbrush for little mouths, highly recommended to get preschoolers' teeth clean and start a lifetime of good dental care!
WorkingMomof2's Full Review: Braun Oral B Battery Toothbrush For Kids
If you've read my other reviews, you already know that I'm famous for buying products for my kids (and myself) and then figuring out what's wrong with them ... after it's too late. Electric toothbrushes are no different, although fortunately with Epinions I'm able to research most products before I buy. Others are new, and I take the risk. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. In the case of the Braun Oral-B Kids Battery Toothbrush, we got lucky.
About the Braun Oral-B Kids Battery Toothbrush
This is a new product on the market, and I was skeptical. My son absolutely loves his Crest Spinbrush, and we've had no problems with it at all. My daughter adores the design, but is a little scared of the motor sound. Even more importantly, the large head size (even the kid's brush head) is still too big to comfortably fit in her little mouth well.
The first thing, then, that I noticed about the Braun Oral-B Kids Battery Toothbrush was that it had a tiny brush head. The head is only (literally) about 1/3" across -- very small, and rounded so it easily fits inside my daughter's mouth.
The second thing I noticed (which was of course the first thing my daughter noticed) was the cute patterns. The model we got has the Disney Princesses on it -- Bright pink handle with blue accents, and a pink brush head with Cinderella and Snow White on it. The boy's brush (yes, I'm gender stereo-typing, and yes I'm sure there are some boys who would prefer Cinderella and some girls who would prefer Buzz....but allow me to generalize here...) has Buzz Lightyear and a solid blue handle with green and red accents.
The handle is fairly ergonomic. It's hot pink, a little bit textured and slightly squishy, and has a inset of blue wavy material on the front. In the blue section there are four little raised bumps, where I guess you are to rest your fingers during use. The top bump is actually the button, and when you depress it the motor turns on, and when released it turns off. You can also get the motor to stay on by holidng down the button firmly for a few seconds, and it will stay on without continued holding.
The brush head section is long, about 3" perhaps, and very slender. The head itself is perfectly round, and very small like I said above. It has a set of very soft bristles, and the middle row of bristles are raised and tinted blue. These are actually indicator bristles and the instructions say they will fade when it's time to replace the head (we haven't had to do this yet). The head rotates (oscillates) when the motor is on, and puts out a fairly quiet hum. I found that my daughter likes the motor off when it's in the back of her mouth, as it scares her, but she is fine with it on near the front of her mouth. Since she was scared of the motor most of the time with her Mermaid Spinbrush, this is an improvement, and the Braun brush does a nice job even with the motor off.
The brush comes with batteries, but they are not in the brush when it arrives. To put in the batteries (or change them when needed) you simply depress a button on the bottom and pull the base off (quite a firm pressure is required, I found, which is probably good since little hands are holding the brush during actual use but surprised me initially).
The brush runs about $14 - 20, although you might find it for less on special and Braun does put out coupons as well. It comes with a two-year warranty, which is impressive for an inexpensive toothbrush. Replacement heads are available in supermarkets and discount chains all around, and I've seen them for about $8 each. Fairly pricey, actually, but not out of range with most competitive brushes.
This toothbrush may appear similar to, but is in fact different from, the Braun Oral-B electric kids toothbrush. That brush is both more expensive and is rechargeable, but does offer a musical melody for a timer and the same squishy type handle and small brush head. For the money, I'll stick with the battery operated version.
Comparison to the Spin Brush
Having owned several Crest Spinbrushes now (including one that I use for myself when I travel, and no it's not a mermaid one -- though I was tempted...) I think I can give you a pretty good comparison of the features and advantages in each that I like.
Crest Spinbrush: Has a larger head, and only one section that rotates. Covers a bigger area per "stroke", and is extremely cost-effective (about $6-8 per brush, replacement heads now available for some models at about $6/pair). Very cute styles, including race cars, rocket ships, telephones and mermaids. Harder to turn on and off, button depression requires more dexterity.
Braun Oral-B Battery Toothbrush: Has a much smaller head, far easier to manipulate inside a small mouth such as on a preschooler. Slightly quieter than the Spinbrush, but far more expensive (about $14 - 20 per brush, replacement heads are about $7 -8 each). Has an indicator on brush head, and styles should appeal to younger children but probably not as much as the Spinbrush designs do. Handle is squishy and easier to grip, button depression is far easier for little fingers.
Overall Recommendations
Although this is quite a bit pricier than the Spinbrush, it is still far cheaper than other electric toothbrushes which might range from $20 -$40 each. The small brush head size is an absolute selling point for your littlest brushers, and though my daughter loves her mermaid toothbrush getting that brush head around the back of her tiny mouth is a chore, and I think I've hit her gums and tongue too many times which is why she won't let me turn the motor on with it anymore. The Braun brush is smaller and easy to manipulate, and in fact she has no problem turning it on and off herself (where she often struggled to depress the mermaid's belly button correctly to keep it on).
I would strongly recommend the Braun Oral-B battery toothbrush for young brushers, or any child with a very small mouth. For bigger kids -- bigger mouths and more manual dexterity (6 and up, perhaps?)-- the Crest Spinbrush remains an excellent and cost-effective product with a variety of "cool" designs and inexpensive replacement heads.
Happy brushing!
If you've found this helpful, please check out these other electric toothbrush reviews:
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