This is compounded by the fact that people don’t take care of their teeth so feedback from dentists is almost always poor
I love the way this conversation is usually “What type of toothbrush are you using again?” “Uh, the spinny one you get from the supermarket, it’s disposable so I have to buy one every month, but it seems OK”, “Ah no, what you need is the $250 Philips SuperScrubacare Plus, which has bristles on the end of the bristles, and on the end of those bristles are more bristles, and on the ends of those are little robots with tiny vacuum cleaners and flame throwers. Those really kill plaque. Also stop eating so much sugar.” “Ummm OK” “Anyway, we’re done. Here’s a cheap ass regular unpowered toothbrush. And a starlight mint.”
I find the disposable ones are overall cheaper and the batteries last about as long as the brushes. Unless you are inclined to replace your head often as such people may be than they might be a better option.
They are more like vibrating brushes and reality is quite simple in design. Less complex then the replaceable heads that have moving parts and seals etc. After using both, I find that work just as good and both are noticeably better than non electric brushes.
In my experience the toothbrush handle and motor and batteries are fine to keep for years. The disposable part is only the head, the physical cleaning bits.
Most of the disposable toothbrushes don’t have the ability to replace the heads. Some of them do, as the GP mentioned, but most don’t in my experience.
The ability to replace the heads is not the same thing as actually being able to find the heads in the store that sold you the toothbrush.
The entire assembly costs typically something in the same ballpark as a head replacement anyway.
Most of these disposable systems are cheap in every sense of the word (cost and build quality) and not really intended to be used for a long period of time.
From a consumer standpoint, they make a lot of sense. From an environmental standpoint, not so much. How did we get here? Well, Sonicare would probably argue they make a superior brush and therefore can charge more which may or may not be true. More likely the volumes involved combined with the “Upscale”/“Downscale” marketing associated with each brush makes it genuinely much, much, cheaper to create an all-in-one unit that’s only supposed to last a month compared to the alternatives.
I love the way this conversation is usually “What type of toothbrush are you using again?” “Uh, the spinny one you get from the supermarket, it’s disposable so I have to buy one every month, but it seems OK”, “Ah no, what you need is the $250 Philips SuperScrubacare Plus, which has bristles on the end of the bristles, and on the end of those bristles are more bristles, and on the ends of those are little robots with tiny vacuum cleaners and flame throwers. Those really kill plaque. Also stop eating so much sugar.” “Ummm OK” “Anyway, we’re done. Here’s a cheap ass regular unpowered toothbrush. And a starlight mint.”
disposable electric toothbrushes???
Yeah, most supermarkets have them where they have regular toothbrushes. Usually aimed at kids. At least in the US:
Some examples:
https://www.amazon.com/Oral-B-Pulsar-Medium-Bristle-Toothbrush/dp/B003CP12QG/ https://www.amazon.com/Arm-Hammer-Patrol-Spinbrush-Toothbrush/dp/B07J9W7TP7 https://www.amazon.com/Spinbrush-Proclean-Battery-Powered-Toothbrush/dp/B001J4ID5K
Wow, why though? Why not just let the user change the batteries or charge them like normal electric toothbrushes?
And why would you buy these instead of a normal re-usable one?
I find the disposable ones are overall cheaper and the batteries last about as long as the brushes. Unless you are inclined to replace your head often as such people may be than they might be a better option.
They are more like vibrating brushes and reality is quite simple in design. Less complex then the replaceable heads that have moving parts and seals etc. After using both, I find that work just as good and both are noticeably better than non electric brushes.
💵 💵 💵
In my experience the toothbrush handle and motor and batteries are fine to keep for years. The disposable part is only the head, the physical cleaning bits.
Well that’s not really disposable then, that’s just a normal electric toothbrush.
You have to replace the cleaning bits, no toothbrush head is good to use for more than like 2-3 months.
There are two problems here:
Most of the disposable toothbrushes don’t have the ability to replace the heads. Some of them do, as the GP mentioned, but most don’t in my experience.
The ability to replace the heads is not the same thing as actually being able to find the heads in the store that sold you the toothbrush.
The entire assembly costs typically something in the same ballpark as a head replacement anyway.
The entire assembly often costs less to replace on a regular basis than the heads for, say, the Sonicare - $24 for 3 heads at the time of writing, compare this to the $10 two pack of disposable brushes, $8 per unit (plus the cost of the rest of the system) for the “right” way, $5 per unit for the disposable route (all inclusive.)
Most of these disposable systems are cheap in every sense of the word (cost and build quality) and not really intended to be used for a long period of time.
From a consumer standpoint, they make a lot of sense. From an environmental standpoint, not so much. How did we get here? Well, Sonicare would probably argue they make a superior brush and therefore can charge more which may or may not be true. More likely the volumes involved combined with the “Upscale”/“Downscale” marketing associated with each brush makes it genuinely much, much, cheaper to create an all-in-one unit that’s only supposed to last a month compared to the alternatives.