#autobrush

The Autobrush:

If you’re not familiar, the Autobrush is a u-shaped electric toothbrush that brushes all of your teeth at once, instead of making you brush each quadrant of your mouth separately, so it only takes 30 seconds. It’s ADA Accepted, and I've seen at least one study that suggests it’s at least as good as manual brushing for most people, so it’s legitimately a valid dental hygiene tool.

The Autobrush Sonic Pro (which is what I got, and which appears to be the most common version) comes in two main models - one for kids, and one for adults.

Both models use the same kind of attachment for the brush heads, so either model can be used with any brush head size. The brush heads come in kids sizes (3-5, 6-8, 9-12) and adult sizes (small, regular, XL). There’s a sizing guide on their website.

Having compared my friend's adult model with my children's model (I have a small mouth), they are mostly the same, except that the children's model is a little smaller, and has timer settings that play music whereas the adult model does not play music. Both models have three different vibration settings, and multiple timer lengths, from 30 seconds up to 90 seconds. Both models also have red and blue LED lights that supposedly help improve gum health and teeth whitening, respectively (you can turn on the red, the blue, or both colors at the same time, or you can turn them off entirely).

Because of the way the Autobrush works, they also sell foaming toothpaste that is designed to spread better than regular toothpaste, in order to help cover all of your teeth. Their toothpaste comes in both fluoride and (fluoride-free) NHAP options and, for flavors, they have mint, strawberry, bubblegum, and watermelon.

The Good:

30 seconds is a lot less than 2 minutes, and I find that I get less toothpaste all over my mouth, which is good for my texture issues. I also feel like it's more comfortable to hold in my hand compared to a normal electric toothbrush. Overall, this resolved a lot of my texture issues. I've been far more consistent with the Autobrush than with any other toothbrush I've ever used, and I'm less uncomfortable and overstimulated after using it.

As someone for whom mint-flavored toothpaste is a serious sensory trigger, I can confirm that the Autobrush strawberry toothpaste is not minty in the slightest, and the flavor is relatively mild overall, without much sweetness to it. It's probably not as tasty as the Act kids' watermelon toothpaste I used to use, but it also doesn't really leave a taste in my mouth at all, which is worth the trade-off in my opinion. I find that I prefer the texture of foaming toothpaste to regular toothpaste; it's not as chalky or sticky, and it doesn't leave my tongue feeling like it's coated in anything, so I've been relatively pleased.

I like their customer service. I had a delivery issue with my order, because I received the base unit, but not the brush head (which is packaged separately). Their customer service through Amazon, at least, was wonderful - they were quick to respond, immediately agreed to send me out a replacement head, and got it out to me far faster than I was anticipating. I was able to do all of this via typed chat, and did not have to call and speak to anyone.

The Bad:

Perhaps because of my poor dental hygiene up to this point, the Autobrush caused me some lingering pain in my gums for the first week or so; I was able to manage this with Orajel, and it mostly subsided after the first week. I still get a little bit of discomfort in one quadrant of my mouth during active brushing, but it's a manageable (for me) level of pain and it goes away more or less immediately once I'm done - it's more of an annoyance than a true problem, though on my worst days I still find myself putting it off.

Because of the shape of the brush head and the need to let it dry between uses, there's not a lot of good storage options, and while they sell the main unit on Amazon, they don't sell the brush head storage cases, which have to be ordered from their website. Because my cat has access to my bathroom, I've been unable to store my Autobrush in there, which is a little inconvenient. Once I get a brush head cover, however, I'm hopeful that will change.

The Eh:

I find the song played by the kids' model extremely grating, though there's a timer mode that’s blessedly silent so it's mostly a non-issue unless I push the wrong buttons.

I legitimately don't know if this is related, but it may be - the insides of my cheeks have been a little drier lately, which feels weird and has led to me biting the insides of my cheeks more than usual.

It's a little hard to find non-Autobrush-branded foaming toothpaste, especially that has fluoride if that's your preference (I don't know enough about NHAP to make the jump), but thankfully I don't feel like the Autobrush brand is prohibitively expensive. My friend also has a gel toothpaste that's thin enough to use, as well, so that may be an option for people.

Overall: