Oral-B Wireless SmartGuide

If you have been looking at electric toothbrushes it is quite possible you may have come across brushes from Oral-B which include a SmartGuide.

You may have found it difficult to really understand what a wireless smart guide is and what it does, there is not a great amount of detailed content on this accessory.

Let us help take some of the mystery away and explain what it is.

What is a Wireless SmartGuide?

The smartguide is a compact digital unit powered by 2 x AAA batteries that has been designed to placed in your bathroom.

It is essentially a visual tutor that encourages and guides you to do a better job when it comes to cleaning your teeth.

Acting as as a clock when not in use; but when you switch on one of Oral-B’s Bluetooth enabled brushes (no complicated pairing process required), the display is triggered and shows a timer and visual indicator. It provides real time feedback to you as you use the brush.

This timer counts up, how long you have been brushing your teeth for whilst showing what quadrant of the mouth you should be in.

It will also show the cleaning mode you are on via a symbol at the top of the display.

The principle behind it is to be a tool to you as you clean your teeth, to do so for the correct amount of time in total whilst spending the correct time on each quadrant and generally cleaning your teeth better.

A face appears within the quadrant guide with either a smile or a sad face depending on your performance.  Brush too hard and you get a sad face.  Brush for 2 minutes get a happy face.  

As you complete each quadrant a star appears at the bottom of the display. When all 4 quadrants are complete, 4 stars show.

Oral-B demonstrate and explain this themselves in their very own video below.

Different versions of the SmartGuide

There have been 2 different versions of the Smart Guide developed by Oral-B over time.

They work in a similar way and achieve a similar result, but the current model is more compact and reliable.

It is this newer more compact variant that we refer to throughout this article.

Part code: 3742

It is available in both White and Silver color options.

It is our understanding that there are different variants of the 3742.  Each has slightly different part codes, the latter being labeled with a ‘B’ on the plastic ridge between the 2 battery slots under the back cover.

The older, larger variant has part code: 3741 and looks as per the image below.

This was supplied with what would now be considered my older Oral-B brushes that are no longer produced or sold. This 3741 variant does not work with newer brushes.

Which brushes have a SmartGuide

At the time of writing the brushes that come supplied with or work with a wireless smartguide are.

• Pro 7000

SmartGuide compatible brushes

Not all SmartGuide compatible brushes come with a guide included in the box, in fact only the Pro 7000 does.

But, despite not coming with a Smart Guide in the box, many of the Bluetooth enabled models work with the latest 3472 variant of the SmartGuide.

What are the brushes you can use with the Smart Guide?

They are:

• Pro 3000
• Pro 6000 – See editors note & top of post
• Pro 6500 – See editors note & top of post
• Pro 7500 – See editors note & top of post
• Genius Pro 8000
• Genius 9600

Providing the brush you are trying to use with it is made by Oral-B, has Bluetooth connectivity and you have the latest 3742 variant (stamped with a B inside) then you should be good to go, bar a couple of exceptions listed below.  There (in theory) is no complicated pairing process. Just power the brush on and the wireless guide will begin tracking your clean.

Brushes not compatible with the wireless SmartGuide

• Oral-B Genius X
• Oral-B iO Series
• Oral-B Sense
• Oral-B Guide

Buy a Wireless SmartGuide

If your electric toothbrush does not come with a Wireless SmartGuide, but you would like one, the good news is you can buy one as a separate accessory.

You can purchase them from Braun.

The White Smart Guide will cost $33 and can be bought here, whilst the Silver one costs $37 and can be purchased here.

Whilst you need a compatible brush, if more than one person in the household has a brush you can actually program the smartguide to work with up to 2 different brush handles.

It works with more than 1 brush handle

To do so, follows these steps.

1. Push the «h/min» button in the battery compartment for at least 3 seconds.
2. When SmartGuide shows «L—», turn on your brush handle to start the synchronization process.
3. When finished the SmartGuide will show «L-1-» on the display. Turn off the handle.
4. To assign a second handle to the same SmartGuide turn on the other handle until «L-2-» is displayed. After having synchronized the second handle, «Full» will be displayed.
5. Exit the synchronization mode by pressing the «h/min» or «set» button, otherwise, it will end automatically after 30 seconds.