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Brush your teeth on a budget, with the Oral-B Vitality Plus. This is one of the cheapest Oral-B electric toothbrushes available. You won’t get much for your money, but then you’ll spend very little in the first place. Is it worth spending more, or could this budget brush do everything you need it to do?
First Glance
There are so many different Oral-B brushes to choose from. The Vitality Plus is amongst the cheapest electric toothbrushes you can buy. You won’t spend a lot, and in return, you’ll get a brush that offers just the basics. That said, when a manual toothbrush can do the job do you really need to stretch beyond Oral B’s cheapest electric one?
Pros
- Round toothbrush heads for effective cleaning
- An electric toothbrush for buyers on a budget
- Two-minute timer, with quadrant split
Cons
- Comes with a two-pin shaver plug so you might need an adaptor
- Relatively limited battery life
- Chunky, and not particularly ergonomic
About the brand
You’ll no doubt have heard of Oral-B, and will already recognise the brand. Launched by a dentist in 1950, Oral-B has become a household name. Now part of the Proctor & Gamble umbrella, this dental hygiene brand produces toothbrushes, toothpastes, mouthwashes, floss products and a lot more.
Oral-B is the brand that many dentists recommend. You might see adverts for Oral-B products in your local dentist’s office, and may even be able to buy Oral-B brushes and toothpastes whilst you’re waiting for your checkup.
Amongst Oral-B's offerings are a wide range of very different electric toothbrushes. The feature-packed brushes at the top of the range can cost up to £500, whilst the Oral-B Vitality Series is the cheapest and most basic.
Your Oral-B Vitality brush could cost less than £20 to buy online. Is it a worthwhile purchase, or should you stretch your budget a little?
What’s in the box?
For your money, you’ll only get the basics. Open the box to find your Oral-B Vitality brush and a charging stand. The charger comes with a 2-pin shaving plug, so you’ll need an adaptor to charge your toothbrush from the mains where these aren’t available.
The box includes two brush heads. All Oral-B toothbrush heads will be compatible with the Oral-B Vitality Plus. You should expect to replace your toothbrush head roughly every three months, with more frequent replacement if the brush head looks damaged or after periods of illness. As a result, what’s included in the box should get you through your first 6 months of ownership. New toothbrush heads are likely to cost around £12 for a box of four.
Oral-B's Vitality brushes come in black, white, blue or pink.
Look and Feel
The Oral-B Vitality Plus is a very large and chunky brush. It has a fantastic rubber grip, but even still can be quite uncomfortable to hold. The larger body of this Oral-B brush means that it’s quite hard to manipulate and that it’s less suited to younger users than some other Oral-B brushes.
Looking at the Vitality Plus on a bathroom shelf, it’s easy to see that this is a budget model. Whilst Oral-B's other brushes all look quite streamlined and sleek, the Vitality Series has noticeable differences that make it stand out from the rest.
Effectiveness
The Oral-B Vitality Plus is a very basic electric toothbrush, but even still has a two-minute timer that alerts you at 30 second intervals. This means that you can focus on quadrants of your mouth, giving every tooth the attention it needs and brushing for the right amount of time.
Like other Oral-B brushes, the Vitality Plus has the rounded oscillating Oral-B head. These are particularly effective, helping to get in to narrow gaps between teeth, and are small enough to quickly access those back molars. All Oral-B toothbrush heads are compatible with the Vitality Plus, so even though you’re getting a very basic brush you will still benefit from the same product where it really matters.
The Vitality Plus has only one brushing mode. This should be suitable for most users, though you’ll need to spend a little more for a brush that specifically accommodates the needs of those with sensitive teeth. Despite this, you can still customise your brushing experience by carefully selecting which Oral-B toothbrush heads you use.
Don’t expect fancy features like pressure times or Bluetooth connections, though you might decide that you need little more than a slight upgrade from your manual toothbrush. If that’s the case, the Vitality Plus might be effective enough.
Battery Life
Oral-B brushes, from the cheapest to the most expensive, seem to have problems with battery life. The Vitality is no exception. Battery degradation could mean that your toothbrush won’t keep working for years. Many people find that theirs won’t hold charge after about a year of use, and often after only six months.
For the price you pay, you may be happy to put up with long-term battery issues. This becomes a bigger problem with Oral-B's most expensive brushes, as nobody wants to deal with battery issues for a toothbrush that cost £300! With the Vitality being so affordable, many people are more comfortable with the idea that they might need to charge their toothbrush nightly.
At first, you can expect to get a little less than a week of use from one charge. Oral-B advertises an 8-day battery life, though it’s more likely that you’ll need to charge your toothbrush after roughly 4-5 days. This isn’t a fast charging toothbrush, so you will need to remember to charge it overnight so that it’s ready the next day.
Price
Expect to pay around £20 for the Oral-B Vitality Plus. This makes it one of the cheapest electric toothbrushes available. This is a step up from using a manual brush but comes with very few features.
Invalid table id.You can expect to pay around £2 for a standard manual toothbrush. Replacing every three months, that’s £4 for half a year. The Oral-B Vitality Plus comes with two toothbrush heads, so you’re paying an extra £16 for the power of electric toothbrush cleaning. It’s a small cost increase, for a better cleaning experience.
Oral-B's replacement heads cost about £3 each. That’s the same whether you’ve invested in a more expensive brush or bought the Vitality Plus. This means that after six months of ownership, it’s not really more expensive to own the Vitality Plus than buy manual brushes.
Other electric toothbrushes will almost certainly help you to improve your dental hygiene even more, though the Oral-B Vitality is a good starting point for anyone. That said, you could upgrade to the Oral-B Pro 2 for around £15 more, getting a much less cumbersome brush that also features pressure sensors and much better battery life.
Using the Oral-B Vitality Plus with clear aligners
The Oral-B Vitality Plus isn't just for cleaning teeth. It's also a handy tool if you use clear aligners. Your aligners must be cleaned daily if you want to keep them fresh. If you don't keep on top of the cleaning, they can start to change colour and become more visible, removing one of the major benefits of clear aligners. They can also cause bacteria and acid to get trapped against your teeth, damaging them.
Your aligner provider will tell you the best way to use an electric toothbrush to clean your aligners. Sometimes you'll only need a little warm (never hot!) water, but other manufacturers might tell you to use toothpaste, as long as you rinse the aligners thoroughly before you reinsert them.
Some aligner providers will tell you to avoid using an electric toothbrush altogether. Not every aligner is the same, and some are more delicate, so make sure you always follow the manufacturer's guidance on how best to clean your aligners. Even if an electric toothbrush is recommended, don't use too much pressure or you could damage and warp the plastic.
Final Verdict
The Oral-B Vitality Plus is a very basic electric toothbrush. The price is low, but even still this might not be a worthwhile purchase. For just £15 more, you could get a much better Oral-B toothbrush.
The Oral-B Vitality Plus is lacking in almost all areas. It suffers from the typical Oral-B battery problems, but also runs for just a few days on one charge whilst other brushes last longer. It also looks like a budget option, without any of the sleek styling that other Oral-B brushes boast. It’s a large, chunky and hard-to-hold toothbrush, though does have good grip working in its favour.
The Vitality Plus does use standard Oral-B toothbrush heads. These are the rounded, oscillating heads that Oral-B brushes are known for. You can choose from any replacements.
If your budget is really limited, the Oral-B Vitality Plus will certainly be better for your dental hygiene than a manual brush. And, after a year of ownership, the costs will have almost balanced out. However, if you can stretch a little further then the Pro 2 will serve you far better.
