Dental care without a high price tag

Whenever I am asked by my dentist or oral hygienist, my answer is invariably manual toothbrush. Not that there is a right or wrong answer, but the general consensus is that an electric toothbrush does a better job.

I don’t necessarily disagree on that point, and in the periods when I did use an electric toothbrush my teeth do feel cleaner. When the offer to review Ordo Sonic+ Toothbrush came in, I figured I should give this another shot in life.

First Impressions

The Ordo Sonic+ comes in a variety of eye catching colours. Instead of the standard white (White Silver here), there are Pearl Violet, Charcoal Grey (my review unit), Rose Gold and Mint Green. I went with Charcoal Grey because I know I will at least my daughter won’t try to take it.

There are only so many ways to design a toothbrush that is ergonomic and not too bulky. The Ordo does not aim to track your dental health, peek at your gums or load you up with an app to turn you into a dentist’s worst nightmare.

There is a barrel that is the handle. A replaceable brush head, naturally. A single button on the handle does the job of on and off, and changing the Ordo into the four brushing mode by cycling through them with each press.

Out of the box the Ordo comes with a travel cap to protect the bristles, but an optional travel case can be purchased either separately or bundled with the main unit. And of course there is a base to sit the brush on and acts as a wireless charger.

Unlike other electric toothbrushes that I have used in the past, instead of relying on mechanical movement, the Ordo uses up to 40,000 sonic pulses per minute to facilitate the cleaning process.

In Use

The Ordo’s four brushing modes are Clean, White, Massage and Sensitive. There is only one button which toggles the brush on and off. If you press it again fairly quickly after turning on, it cycles through the different modes.

I have been using the Ordo for the past fortnight consistently, resisting the temptation to grab my manual toothbrush. I can only describe the experience as different. There is a lot of sound, but a lot less movements that I am used to.

The sonic cleaning process is not mechanical or ultrasonic. I would lump oscillations, rotations and or pulses into mechanical. Ultrasonic uses high frequency sound waves to create cavitation bubbles in liquid, which creates a cleaning action. Ultrasonic tooth cleaner are generally not recommended as it can cause damage and trauma to teeth and gum if use improperly.

The Ordo Sonic+ uses vibration to stimulate the brushing, and also to generate acoustic waves to propel toothpaste and water to help dislodge plaque as you brush. Using the Ordo to brush my teeth felt different. I am so used to the mechanical action, or the pressure of bristle on teeth as I move around my mouth. For me the Ordo on clean mode felt a bit tame and lacklustre, which is probably a sign that I go too hard with a manual brush.

By default the Ordo turns on to the “clean” mode. Switch to “white” mode amps up the vibration at the brush head. I am always wary of claims of home teeth whitening. After a spell of dating a dentist, I am well indoctrinated on the thought that the real results can only be achieved professionally.

However I do prefer to use the Ordo on the “white” mode as the brush sensation is a little more intense and rewarding to me.

“Massage” mode puts in a more distinct pulsing in the motion.

“Sensitive” mode is of course, the gentlest of the them all, for if you have sensitive teeth or gum.

The different modes on the Ordo is quite distinctive so you do not have to look at the indicators to know what it is set to.

On the back of the brush is a tongue brush.

A fun side effect of the sonic brush, as my daughter looked at me quizzically and said, it sounds like a robot!

Battery Life

As I mentioned earlier, I have been using the Ordo for the past fortnight and it has shown no signs of needing to charge. Ordo claims that the Li-ion battery can last more than four weeks.

Obviously I have not tested that claim yet but I have not needed to recharge it so far.

The charging base is USB-A driven with a hard wire cable. The base itself is in two pieces with a cover piece that provides a bit of barrier to prevent the toothbrush from being easily knocked over.

Other Features

Like many electric toothbrush, the Ordo has a built-in two minutes timer. It pulses every 30 seconds to give you a nudge in cleaning each of the four quadrants of your mouth.

After the two minutes cycle it automatically turns itself off.

Gripes

There is just one. The button does not take a lot of pressure to trigger. I found myself accidentally turning it off when I am brushing my teeth. A lot.

I did try what the late Steve Jobs infamously said about the iPhone 4, as in “don’t hold it that way” but I still find it happening. This interrupts the cycle of four quadrant timing and is a bit of an issue for me.

 

Conclusions

The Ordo Sonic+ Toothbrush differs from competitors by relying on rapid vibration. My experience is that it works well, leaving my teeth feeling cleaner which is the whole point. I think my oral hygienist will be happy that I have stepped up a notch in my dental health regime.

It is also very competitively priced with the base kit at AUD$99 and four replacement brush heads at AUD$34.99 which will see you through for twelve months. An optional travel case costs AUD$39.99 on it’s own, but if you buy the bundle of the handle and travel case then there is a modest savings at AUD$129.99. It is available from Ordo directly, or David Jones and JB Hi-Fi.

DRN would like to thank Ordo for providing the review unit.