Oral-B Pro 2000 Review

Design, usability, clean & general use

I and the team here at Electric Teeth will be the first to tell you, that you don’t need to go and spend hundreds of dollars on an electric toothbrush.

Bluetooth, extra cleaning modes, travel cases, and color options are all nice to haves and do arguably add to the overall package, but they are not essential.

From the benefits that an electric toothbrush brings, the Pro 2000 has those ‘essential’ items in a slim and lightweight body.

The 2000 is not bogged down with lots of unnecessary extras.

What is in theory considered as an upgrade on the Pro 1000, the 2000 benefits from an extra cleaning mode and a visible pressure sensor. Those are the 2 fundamental differences.

It may well look a bit clinical with an all white color scheme, but that can be forgiven with the light and slim in-hand feel of this brush.

The handle is approximately 2.3cm wide and 2.9cm thick, with a cylindrical esq look and feel to it.

At 129g it is not heavy and this size combined with the grips on the handle make it easy to keep hold of in hand and move around the mouth.

Made up of two parts, you have the brush handle and the detachable brush head.

The handle contains the battery, motor and other high tech stuff that allows the brush to perform so well.

Fairly minimal in its appearance, there is a single power button in the upper third of the brush handle.  A series of small ridges sit above and below this, direct the finger of thumb to that button.

In the lower third is the Braun and Oral-B logos and battery status icon.

This is for the battery sealed inside the brush, that offers up to 1 weeks usage time.

The indicator changes color to give feedback on the charge remaining in this battery.

Running down the front of the handle is the White rubber strip which offers a nice textured surface to grip onto, with a slight softness to the touch.

On the rear of the handle are more grips, this time molded plastic ridges.  Firmer to the touch they serve a purpose.

The plastic is a gloss white color on the handle and the detachable brush heads are too made from this same plastic.

At the neck of the brush, on the back, is an orange/red plastic panel, this is the pressure sensor.

The 2000 will sit upright on a worktop.  If you take a look at the bottom of the brush handle you will find a recess into which the supplied charging stand fits.

The look and feel of the brush handle is essentially identical to the Pro 1000 and 3000 that sit either side of the 200o in the Oral-B range, just with a couple of small aesthetic differences.

To begin cleaning the teeth with the Pro 2000, you need to press that power button and this will launch the brush into the Daily Clean, cleaning mode.

This is the 1 of 2 modes available on this brush.

Press the power button again and this will change to the 2nd available mode, known as Sensitive.

Daily Clean is the default mode and offers the full power of the brush motor, whilst the Sensitive mode is a more gentle option.

It is these 2 modes that are most desirable to users.

Daily Clean offers that deeper feeling, more invigorating clean whilst Sensitive mode is more gentle, stimulating the gums.  It does not feel as harsh or powerful, but still brings the benefits of an electric toothbrush.

There are just 2 of 6 different cleaning modes on offer from Oral-B. If you want to learn more about these, check out our article that explains the Oral-B brushing modes in detail.

Known as 3D cleaning, the small round brush head of the 2000 has an oscillating, rotating and pulsating action, to clean the teeth really well.

With the Daily Clean mode selected, the Pro 2000 will offer 8,000 oscillations and 20,000 pulsations per minute.

This sounds a lot less when you see Sonicare claiming 62,000 movements, but do not get too worried about the amount of movements and power. More important is actually using the right brushing technique.

Most electric toothbrushes are going to be more efficient at plaque removal if used correctly.

Brushing with an electric toothbrush is different to a manual brush, so do familiarise yourself on how to brush correctly.

Essential to the brush is the brush head and the Pro 2000 comes with 1 included in the box.

Provided is a Sensitive clean brush head. This is a soft bristled toothbrush head that is gentle on the teeth and gums.

Quite often, Oral-B brushes come supplied with the CrossAction brush head, the Pro 1000 is an example of this. This is the ‘standard’ brush head if you like, but the Sensitive Clean provided with the Pro 2000 is fitting given that the handle offers that Sensitive cleaning mode.

There is a lot of debate about which brush head is best or better. They each have their pros and cons, but ultimately all do a good job. The benefit of the Sensitve head, as the name implies, is that it is a bit more gentle on the teeth and gums, which is useful if you find toothbrushing can irritate your gums.

The other brush head options that Oral-B offer are:

• CrossAction
• FlossAction
• Precision Clean
• Pro Gum Care
• 3D White
• Deep Sweep
• Ortho

Sold separately any of these will fit onto the brush and work with either cleaning mode on the 2000.

Make sure the head of the brush is replaced every 3 months to avoid doing damage to the teeth.

It can be difficult to remember when you last changed or replaced the heads.

Thankfully the blue bristles you see on the head will fade over time.  When they are a very pale blue or white, you need to replace the head.

All official Oral-B heads have these fading bristles.  Other brands may not, so be aware of this, if not buying manufacturer originals.

The small round brush heads for me personally allow for better control and reach to the back of the mouth than the likes of Sonicare heads which are larger.

It is worth noting that when running the brush does produce a vibration through the handle and a sound as do all electronic toothbrushes.

The Pro 2000 has a bit more of a mechanical sound and is a bit louder than Sonicare models which tend to be quieter but produce more vibration in the hand.

Sadly many people brush their teeth with too much force and this can over time lead to damage of the teeth and gums.

A neat feature that is not present in many other brushes, particularly competing brands is a pressure sensor.  The Pro 2000 has a visible pressure sensor built-in.

This is a fantastic feature and works particularly well for new electric toothbrush users.

When the internal sensor detects that too much pressure is applied through the brush head, the sensor is activated and the pressure sensor on the back of the brush handle lights up (red), catching your eye.

As the sensor is activated, the brush will reduce the power of the motor, until such time the pressure is relieved, at which point the motor increases in speed and goes back to full power.

The pressure sensor is, therefore, a safety mechanism.

If you listen, there will be a change in the sound emitted from the Pro 2000 when brushing too hard, that is the motor adjusting.

Over time you learn how much pressure you need.

Bristles should skim the tooth surface.

Even if you don’t activate the sensor all that often, it’s good to know its there.

You probably know that you should be brushing your teeth twice a day for 2 minutes each time, it is what dentists recommend.

To help make sure you brush for the right amount of time, the Pro 2000 has a timer built-in.

This timer is activated when the power button is pressed.

It also has a quadpacer.  This breaks the 120 second cleaning cycle down into 4 x 30 second chunks.

This timer and pacer are what I consider essential to a good electric toothbrush and can make a significant difference to the way you brush.

You should Imagine your mouth broken up into 4 sections. Upper right, upper left, lower right, and lower left.

The idea is that you spend 30 seconds cleaning each section.  The pacer helps you keep an even brushing time on these 4 sections.

At the 30 second intervals, the brush will provide an audible warning via a slight pause in the brush motor.  This is your cue to change quadrant. Once the 2 minutes are up 3 brief pauses in the brush motor will be heard and felt.

The brush will continue to run at the end of the 2 minutes, you then need to turn it off, it will not do this automatically like Sonicare toothbrushes do.

Maybe you expected this, but the handle is completely sealed, meaning it is water resistant.

I don’t suggest you go submerging it in the bath, but a rinse under the tap isn’t going to do any harm. In fact, it is important to rinse the brush head off in particular, to ride the brush of excess bacteria and debris that may have gotten caught up.

You don’t need lots with a toothbrush but sadly the Pro 2000 does not come with any useful accessories like a travel case.

You get the essential brush handle, head and charging stand.

If you don’t travel regularly the case, or lack of might not be an issue, but has one been included it would be a welcome addition, t protect the head and stop accidental activation in a bag.

Given the price an extra brush head would have been nice too!

As is standard for Oral-B models, the 2000 comes with a 2 year/24 month warranty.

Providing any fault in this period is not as a result of user damage then it should be repaired or replaced at no cost to you.