Oral-B Pro 100 Review

Design, usability, clean & general use

The Pro 100 comes packaged in a carboard box with a design similar to that of most other electric toothbrushes from the company.

You get the essentials you need in the box, but I do certainly welcome the addition of a travel case.

Too often this feels a little underrated. Ok not everyone needs it. However it can be quite handy to transport and protect the handle and head should you be away for 1 or more nights.

It is a fairly simple case, made of a white colour plastic, hinged on the left side but it does the job it needs to do well.

For the price, you can’t really complain too much, although an extra brush head never goes a miss.

The brush is relatively easy to hold. It has a tapered design where it is thicker at the top of the handle and thinner towards the bottom.  Oral-B’s more premium models tend to have a more uniform shape down the length of the handle, which I prefer personally.

The body of the handle is made from plastic, which is gloss white in colour.

The colour of the grip does depend on the variant you purchase. Your options are black, pink, blue and a light grey.

It is a 360 degree grip with small dimples all over it that really give the fingers something to grip onto.

You might think how hard can it be to grip onto a toothbrush handle, but if you have limited dexterity or small hands, it can make a big difference.

The gloss white plastic is visible in the lower third of the brush handle and at the neck of the brush, where the brush head attaches.

In the lower third, on the front is the Braun Oral-B logo and on the back is some regulatory information.

Easily missed, but a potentially useful feature is found on the rear of the brush handle. A small raised piece of rubber extends very slightly just below the neck of the handle. This stops the toothbrush from rolling if laid on a countertop.

On the base of the Vitality is a recess into which fits the charging prong on the charging stand.

The Pro 1000 toothbrush handle is sealed, meaning it is water resistant, ideal when it will be exposed to moisture in the mouth.

You can happily rinse it under the tap to give it a clean, even use it in the shower if you like. Do avoid complete submersion in water though.  

The charging stand will resist a few splashes but avoid getting that wet, it is not designed to be water resistant.

Inside the handle is the battery and motor that makes the brush function.

The motor inside this handle is satisfactory.

It provides significantly more movements to the brush head than a manual toothbrush to help you achieve a greater standard of clean.

However, do be aware that the motor is a little less powerful than the more premium models you can buy from Oral-B. This will be very obvious to existing electric toothbrush users, and I think even new users of the Pro 100 might feel it is a bit weak.

Don’t get me wrong, more power doesn’t necessarily equal better cleaning results. But, it can help. Technique, routine and total brushing time all has a part to play too.

Another factor affecting the clean is the cleaning motion. The Pro 100 offers a 2D cleaning action (oscillations and rotations), not the 3D cleaning action (oscillations, rotations and pulsations) of more premium models.

You will find the 3D action on the Pro 500 model and above.

The whole unit is powered on by the one and only button on the front of the brush handle.  In the upper third of the brush handle, the button, complete with a power icon, needs to be pressed to turn the brush on and off.

I should mention the button has a nice resistance. Not too soft that the brush is turned on very easily, but not too stiff that it feels hard work to use it.

This button stands out, because it is a small convex circular button, inside an oval shaped panel, framed with a white plastic oval ring.

When powered on, the brush will launch into the one and only cleaning mode available on the brush.

Unlike many toothbrushes that offer multiple cleaning modes, having 1 mode makes things nice and simple.

You don’t necessarily need multiple modes, so points to the Pro 100 for simplicity.

Of course to make use of the brush you need to have the brush head attached.

The detachable brush heads slide on and off the metal prong on the top of the handle. This prong feeds down inside the handle to the motor.

With the brush head attached and the brush powered on, the timer built into the brush begins to start counting down.

At the time of pressing the power button, you activate the 2 minute timer.

This runs silently in the background until you achieve 2 minutes (120 seconds) of brushing time. At which point, the brush motor will pause briefly 3 times and as such case a change in the brushing sensation and sound.

This is your alert that the 2 minutes has been achieved.

Useful this is, because too few brush for this long. So, you know only to stop brushing when you hear this alert.

However, what the Pro 100 lacks that you get on virtually all other Oral-B brushes is the 30 second pacer.

A what? The quadpacer/30 second timer.

At 30 second intervals, the brush motor will pause briefly causing a change in the sound and motion.  It is this that signals you to change from 1 quadrant to another.

It is just like the 2 minute timer, expect it kicks in at 30 seconds intervals.

The principle is you brush the 4 sections of your mouth (upper right, upper left, lower right, lower left) for 30 seconds each so you essentially give and equal clean to all teeth, rather than focusing just on the front ones for example.

Regretfully the 100 does not have this and for me this is a big oversight.

Those brushes that have this essentially allow users to level up their brushing routine and standard.

Models like the Pro 2 2000 stand out, because they have the 3D cleaning action, powerful motor, the built-in 2 minute timer, 30 second pacer and a pressure sensor.

The 100 does not have a pressure sensor. Whilst in truth it is not a deal breaker, it is a nice to have.

The bristles virtually need only skim the tooth surface. Scrubbing with the brush doesn’t equal better brushing. But, many still do.

A pressure sensor would alert you via an audible warning or a notification light when you were brushing too hard. It would also reduce the motor speed until such time as the pressure was relieved.

It is not all about the brush though. It does rely on you in part, particularly with using the right technique, so do make sure you familiarise yourself with this.

You get 16 cleaning sessions of 2 minutes from the battery built into the Pro 100. As I explain in the battery section, this isn’t really as good as it should be.

Unfortunately, there is no warning from the brush when the battery is low.  

Unlike most other models, there is no battery icon, so it’s up to you to recharge it regularly if you want to avoid it going flat mid clean.

Whether you opt for the CrossAction or 3D White variant of the Pro 100, all brush heads are designed to clean the teeth well, cleaning the tooth surface, including in between teeth and along the gumline where bacteria likes to reside.

There is a range of brush heads available from Oral-B.  They include:

• CrossAction
• FlossAction
• 3D White
• Precision Clean
• Sensitive
• Gum Care

Any of these can be used on the 100 brush handle if you choose. They are interchangeable.

Remember to replace your brush head at least once every 3 months or 90 days, if not sooner.

An Oral-B brush head will actually fade in colour as it ages giving you another visual indicator that it is time to replace the brush head.

If for any reason the toothbrush does stop working, there is a standard 24 month guarantee that comes with it and you do too have a 180 day money back guarantee.