Perfectly simple and functional battery powered toothbrush
Basic but functional, it helps do more of the work for you, to maximise plaque removal.
You can’t really argue for the price, but if your budget can stretch, consider premium models.
Pros
- 1 cleaning mode
- Long battery life
- Small round brush head
- Low price
Cons
- No timer
- Stiff battery cover
- Long term cost
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Oral-B Pro Health Clinical | 416 Reviews |
$17.99
$12.00 |
View on Amazon |
Which other brushes should I consider?
If you are willing to consider a toothbrush with a built-in battery, we have put together a list of the best electric toothbrushes, which you should take a look at.
The current best all round electric toothbrush is the Oral-B Smart 1500. It delivers dentist recommended features at a good price.
If on the other hand, you want only a removable battery toothbrush, you could consider the winner in our list of the best battery operated brushes.
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Oral-B Smart 1500 - Blue | 4,288 Reviews |
$79.99 |
View on Amazon |
Design, usability, clean & general use
The brush of the Oral-B Pro Health Clinical is essentially made up of 2 key parts, the detachable brush head, and the main brush handle.
The handle, however, breaks into 2 pieces as a result of the base of the brush detaching from the upper part of the handle. By detaching it reveals the inside of the brush handle that offers up a chamber for the supplied 2 x AA batteries.
Place the batteries in, replace the cap and a tight seal is formed between the two halves of the handle.
Made from a gloss White plastic, the Pro-Health Clinical has a single power button on the front of the brush that is Blue in color. A White colored ring is around this button and then a piece of Blue rubber sits around this to offer up grip and direct the fingers to the button.
Above this are a further 3 slim rubber grips that look like a WiFi signal in shape that again helps guide the finger and add more grip.
Far from the slimmest handled brush available on the market today the Pro-Health is in part shaped around the fact that it requires 2 x AA batteries.
The back and sides of the handle is primarily covered in the raised Blue rubber grip with a largish cutout on the back that again exposes the gloss White plastic body.
On the front of the brush are the Braun and Oral-B logos too.
Measuring a maximum height of 21cm and no more than 3cm thick, this brush weighs in at 138g when the brush head is attached.
The detachable brush head provided is known as the Precision Clean head and effectively sweeps over the teeth along the gumline and in between the teeth to help clean them.
When the brush is powered on the combination of the motor and the brush head work to offer a more efficient and effective clean for the teeth and gums than is possible with a manual toothbrush.
Sadly the motor in the brush is not as powerful as more premium models that can give an even better clean but it is certainly good enough.
All told if this is your first electric toothbrush the increased power will likely feel good, whereas to those already used to an electric toothbrush, the Pro-Health does feel weaker.
The resulting clean is good enough, but if you have enjoyed the more premium brushes, then you will want to stick to these.
The brush does not have a timer built-in, which means once powered on the brush continues to run until such time as you switch it off again. Ideally, the brush would have a timer built in to help encourage you to brush for the right amount of time, notably 2 minutes per clean, as you will have likely heard your dentist say.
The power button is not too easily activated and provides a decent level of feedback.
Something found on more premium brushes is a pressure sensor. This is not present here, but do listen out for the motor straining, because if it sounds like it is, you are likely brushing too hard. Brushing too hard can be damaging to your teeth and gums. Relieve the pressure the brush head need only skim the tooth surface.
Precision Clean might well be the name given to the brush head provided with the Pro-Health Clinical but it need not be the head that you continue to use long term.
Heads need replacing every 3 months, sooner if they are frayed or the bristles have split.
Blue bristles on an Oral-B brush head will actually fade in color as it ages giving you another visual indicator that it is time to replace the brush head.
Oral-B have a series of different heads available, all of which are interchangeable and push on and pull off of the Oral-B Pro-Health handle.
The heads available include CrossAction, FlossAction, Pro White, Sensitive and Deep Sweep.
Included with the Oral-B Pro-Health precision clean battery toothbrush are two Duracell AA batteries. As you will read later they last for a long time, but when they do begin to wear out, there is no power/battery status indicator. In this instance, the brush head and motor will start to slow down and won’t perform as well as it usually does.
With this brush, maintenance is pretty simple, all it requires is a wipe of the brush head after use and the toothbrush will continue working as usual. The toothbrush itself isn’t waterproof and issues can be encountered if water makes it into the battery compartment. However, a quick rinse under the tap etc shouldn’t damage it. Do not submerge it.
This is arguably the most powerful battery powered toothbrush from the Oral-B range, and although it may lack in some of the features that other premium toothbrushes have, this doesn’t really limit the toothbrushes cleaning ability.
Summary of design, usability, clean & general use
- Easy grip handle
- No timer or pressure sensor
- One mode
- Alternative brush heads available
- Easy to maintain
Battery life
The Oral-B Pro-Health toothbrush is powered off of 2 user removable and replaceable AA batteries.
These are inserted and removed from the brush via a cap that pulls off from the base of the brush.
When you buy the brush it actually comes with 2 batteries supplied.
The majority of electric toothbrushes have a battery built-in that is not user removable and few last as long as this brush. So, this works well for those who do not want to have to recharge regularly or perhaps are doing a lot of remote traveling — for this reason, we do include it as an option in our post on the best travel toothbrushes
Our testing suggests that Pro-Health will last some 15 hours!
This means that your toothbrush can be powered for 900 minutes, which when used for 2 minutes a day will last you 450 brushes.
If you brush your teeth twice a day as recommended, these batteries will power your toothbrush for 225 days, which is about 32 weeks.
It would be my recommendation to replace the batteries before they run out as the toothbrush will become less and less powerful as times goes on. You do notice the power of the brush decrease.
450 cleans worth of battery life is more than sufficient, and the toothbrush is portable as there is no charging station with it because it is battery powered.
Just to reiterate, whilst this brush has probably the best battery life I have ever seen in a brush the motor is less powerful and capable than the more premium models.
Summary of battery life
- 900 minutes of usage time or 225 days usage based on 2 cleans a day
- Runs off AA batteries
- Portable toothbrush
- Should replace batteries before they run out to prevent a decrease in brush power
Price & where to buy
Aside from a manual toothbrush this has to be one of the most cost effective electric toothbrushes.
The Pro-Health costs just $10 on average and can be purchased from Amazon, Walmart, and Target too.
This brush like every other requires replacement brush heads for each user every 3 months. Replacement heads can be purchased in varying pack sizes with each head on average costing $5.
Using the Advance Power on a daily basis for 3 years will cost the owner roughly $65 for the brush, the replacement brush heads, and the batteries. This is about $0.06 per day.
This price does exclude the cost of water and toothpaste. This also excludes the cost of the batteries required, which will have an impact on price, circa $6-8.
There is a good chance the brush will last longer than the 3 year period and using the same brush handle but switching heads with other users in your household will only help bring the cost down and drive more value from it.
Please note that all prices quoted are approximates and will vary based on location, supplier and time of purchase. These figures were correct at the time of writing and should not be relied upon as hard fact, but used as a guide during your decision process.
Summary of price & where to buy
- Recommended retail price of $10
- Works out at around $0.06 per day over 3 years
- Need to consider cost of replacement batteries too
Reliability & long term use
We like to test the brushes we review as best as possible. We do so not through specialist scientific tests, we do not have the equipment for that. We test by using and analyzing against other brushes we have used.
The Oral-B Pro-Health precision clean battery toothbrush has been tested for a good number of weeks and whilst the brush did not fail or provide any significant cause for concern.
If there is to be a weakness it is the seal around the bottom of the brush where the cap removes to insert the batteries.
It is pretty substantial, but over time it could fail, but this is just a suggestion rather than fact.
Oral-B is one of the largest brands within this space making reliable brushes and whilst anything can fail, the failure rate is very low.
And, should the worst happen, then you have the warranty to fall back on, but from a cost and hassle point of view it is probably easier to buy a new one.
Conclusion
The Oral-B Pro-Health Clinical is far from the best brush available.
But, as removable battery powered electric toothbrushes go, given the relatively limited choice available today, there is a lot to like here.
I make no qualms about it, some of the most desirable features I would want of a basic electric toothbrush here are missing, but the decision process when buying this brush is different to most, I do believe.
With the Pro-Health, you are buying to a budget or you are specifically looking for a brush powered by removable batteries.
For the price it is impressive, it is fairly robust, delivers a good clean and has an excellent battery life.
If you are looking for a cheap electric toothbrush, one powered by removable batteries then this is a great option. But if you are looking for a better longer term solution that will really work to achieve better oral health then the likes of the Smart 1500 is one to go for.
Size Guide
- Height (without head) – 17.2cm
- Height (with head) – 21.1cm
- Width – 3.2cm
- Thickness – 3.7cm
- Weight (without head) – 133g
- Weight (with head) – 138g
All are approximates
I have had multiple of this same toothbrush, (I had to replace my original one a few years ago, and I have purchased additional ones for my family members..) and YES, it DOES have a timer! It’s a little strange, but it will actually pause the motor temporarily, and make a slight beep sound.. (almost silent, but I can hear it) when 2 minutes is up. It’s not a recent update.. and there is nothing on the packaging to tell you that there is, in fact, a timer.
I recently bought a Oral B Pro Health electric toothbrush and mine does have a built-in timer, after 2 minutes it pulsates, letting you know it’s been two minutes.
Thank you for sharing Janice. There could well have been an update since I reviewed it.
I have this tooth brush to use at work once a day, it is perfect for that application. I have one problem, it is difficult to remove and replace the battery cover. I squeeze the marked pressure points in, but I cannot get it to clip and close easily. I takes me many attempts to get it secure.
Any secrets?
No secrets I am afraid. You are not the first to mention how awkward it can be.