Now – you may be thinking – “An entire blog post dedicated to a toothbrush? That is a bit extreme, no?” And I can assure you that you are wrong, it is definitely worth it.
Because this is not just any old toothbrush…. This is a M&S toothbrush… This is the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Deep Clean toothbrush and oh my god its AhhhhhMAZING. I am so proud and excited to be collaborating with Philips in reviewing the Sonicare toothbrush and I could genuinely write 4000 word essay about everything I’ve learnt about teeth, gums and toothbrushes over the past few weeks that I have been working on this campaign. But I will try to keep it to under 2000… just.
Ok – so – I like my teeth. They have always seemed to be healthy and happy (as far as teeth go). I mean we aren’t talking Simon Cowell-esque smiles, but they seem to be happy little pegs. And apart from what felt like a decade of braces when I was younger, (and living with the pure panic of kissing my braced-up boyfriend at the time, JUST INCASE we would get our traintracks stuck together and have to make the world’s most embarrassing trip to the orthodonist…), I have never had any negative tooth related experiences and never had to deal with anything like fillings etc. So I just assumed that my teeth and oral hygiene was hunky dory.
So when I was approached by Philips to work on their new #Sonicarefeeling campaign, I was super excited. I would be trialling their Sonicare DiamondClean brush, and to see if this toothbrush (of dreams) actually lives up to its claims of improve the health of you teeth and gums in 2 weeks.
As I said before – I was feeling pretty confident that I already had healthy teeth and gums. I brush my teeth twice a day (as I hope everyone else does…), I don’t eat THAT much sugar and I have never had any issues with my teeth.
However, I am pretty lazy with going to the dentist and scheduling regular check ups with my hygienist. I also am a manual toothbrush user, I have been for years and years. I was given an electric toothbrush for Christmas a few years ago – I used it until the battery died, but I don’t have a cool bathroom / toothbrush / razor plug socket – so I didn’t charge it and long story short – RIP that brush.
I know in this day and age, having a manual toothbrush is a cave man sorta vibe. Everything is a gadget or electronic nowadays – why on earth was I still wasting arm-energy in physically brushing back and forth, when I could use an electric toothbrush to clean my teeth SO much more efficiently than I ever could. But hey ho – I was a manual girl through and through because I thought it was a good, reliable, cheap option for oral health.
So – to test my current oral hygiene – I was invited to have a teeth check up with the MEGA babe that is Anna Middleton – aka – the London Hygienist. She is the queen of oral health and is not only a multi award nominated dental hygienist (woop) but a Philips Key Opinion Leader – (find and follow her on social media = @LondonHygienist).
I popped down to visit her at the Chelsea Dental Clinic (@chelseadentalclinic), which is a multi award winning practice in Fulham, for my initial assessment, and to check the health of my gums and my current oral hygiene routine. See – I was in great hands and felt really excited by all the ‘multi-award-ness’ going on.
I honestly thought that I would pass with flying colours – but actually – I really didn’t. On the whole, my teeth are fine but I have appeared to be neglecting my gums – just by not being educated enough on how to keep my mouth as healthy as possible. And aren’t I glad I was given the opportunity to find this all out now, before its too late and I lose some teeth down the drain.
So basically – I had areas of plaque and bleeding (neither are things you want, and both of which I had no idea about) and these were all recorded and noted down, plus where these areas were. They were mainly around my molars and along the gum line – which is apparently a really common area that is often missed when brushing. I also had some plaque that had hardened over time, which is known as calculus, on my lower front teeth (gross – sorry – TMI – grosssss), which Anna removed for me.
And basically – because of using a manual toothbrush, and not holding the toothbrush at the correct angle and just general lack of precision and LACK OF FLOSSING, I was in danger of gum disease – which is just something I do not want. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Now – and I quote what Anna said to me – because she knows what she is talking about – “The residual plaque when left over time causes inflammation of the gums known as gingivitis and this is where the bleeding comes from. You had some bleeding around your back teeth and inbetween some of the teeth – brushing only cleans 60-65% of the Tooth surfaces so it’s important to clean inbetween the teeth either with floss or little brushes – after a few days the bleeding eventually will stop and you should expect to see a full recovery in 2 weeks (usually between 4-7 days everything stops). “
So that is where the fun started. I was gifted my new baby – the
Philips Sonicare toothbrush – and yes – it is white and ROSE GOLD. Yeah – thats correct – it is rose gold. It is beautiful.
Anna showed my how to use it, how to angle it to make sure I was correctly brushing both my teeth and my gums (as I used to just brush the actual teeth rather than my gums) and I was told to use the toothbrush everyday, twice a day, to try and reduce the inflammation of my gums and keep that pesky plaque at bay.
She showed me all the different settings: there is a standard ‘clean’ setting for everyday cleanliness; a whitening setting, sensitive setting, a gum care setting and a deep clean – for those days when you drank 5 cups of coffee and ate 17 packets of sweets and biscuits.
1) it is pretty
2) It is one of the strangest feelings ever. It isn’t like normal electric toothbrush, like the one I occasionally steal when I stay at my boyfriends house. This one doesn’t just buzz like a rotating round head one – it really vibrates – I can’t really explain the feeling – apart from it is the “Sonicare Feeling“.
The first time you try it – it does make your lips feel super funny, and don’t even get me started on how ticklish it is on the roof of your mouth – but honestly after 2-3 goes, you do not even notice it. It’s so weird how your body just adapts to things.
3) It is truly amazing and so clever. Honestly. It is a totally different experience than anything I have ever used before. For example – you don’t brush with this toothbrush. You glide. The toothbrush does all the work for you. If you scrub back and forth – you are doing it wrong. Just glide the toothbrush all around the mouth, nice and chilled. It has a super flexible
AdaptiveClean brush head which can bend and fit around all your teeth and all the angles, but all the bristles are programmed to get such a better clean on. It also removes up to 10 times more plaque in hard to reach areas vs a manual toothbrush, which is why it improves your gum health in just 2 weeks! Now – without getting too techy – “the Sonicare head ‘vibrates’ at certain high speeds and frequencies to break down plaque as well as agitate the toothpaste and fluid in the mouth to clean between teeth and along the gumline.” This is from
Anna’s post about which toothbrush to buy – so I will link that
here for you to read if you want a bit more detail.
4) It had a gorgeous rose gold charging stand. Which is MEGA cool. PLUS it has a pink travel case – which is perfect for me as I am constantly on the road. The travel case also doubles up as a charger and can be charged with a USB point – which is just genius. This means that I can literally charge my toothbrush from my laptop… GENIUS.
So after my two week trial – I honestly felt like a new woman, with better teeth. I had a follow up assessment with Anna, and I was actually super nervous incase my gums had failed their 2 week test of improvement. HOWEVER – and I quote “there was no noted areas of residual plaque or bleeding – where you previously had,especially that build up on the lower Front teeth – proof your new routine is a winning routine!” WINNER WINNER Sonicare DINNER.
I will also share with you some very VERY helpful advice/ words to live by from Anna – “In terms of the technique, when brushing your teeth – key things to remember are always let the brush do all the work – place the head half or the tooth and half of the gum and angle the bristles at a 45 degree angle down (for the lowers) and up (for the top teeth) and slowly work your way around the mouth in a systematic path – totalling 2minutes, twice a day, morning and night.”
So now – lets talk price – the
Sonicare DiamondClean retails for about £299 direct from Philips and places like Boots. HOWEVER – if you follow this link to the Philips website –
click here – then it also links you to John Lewis and Amazon where it is retailing at £149.99?? SO head over there to get 50% off and thank me later!
It still isn’t a cheap, manual, disposable product. It is an investment. But, in regards to skin, hair and teeth – I am constantly learning and advising to invest the money into those places. Having good teeth is so much more important that having a new jumper or handbag. Your smile is SO important. And if I were to lose my teeth to gum disease, I would be pretttttyyyy angry I didn’t invest in a proper toothbrush – and now end up paying thousands for fake teeth.
The brush comes in black, white & silver, white & rose gold and also in pink. THEY ARE SO PRETTY.
So, this badboy fulfilled and excelled in its claim. It completely transformed my oral hygiene, but not only that – the experience has made me really understand that you gotta value those toothiepegs – and not just wizz a toothbrush round your mouth and hope for the best.
I highly recommend reading Anna’s blog for all the best hygiene tips and tricks of the trade. To make your pearly whites – every pearlier and whiter.
I really hope you enjoyed this post – and if anything, you have booked yourself a regular dentist/ hygenist appointment, just to check what is going on in there – and if there is anything you could do better to save you knashers.
I have also popped in my mini morning routine – that obviously started with my Sonicare 🙂 Enjoy!
This post is written in collaboration with Philips – however, all the teeth, gums and opinions are my own.
xx
