Best Colgate brush heads 2024

Our verdict

Best overall: 360 Deep Clean / Amazon / ~£18

Quick summary

Where once Colgate had a wide variety of brush heads, in recent years, this has been reduced to just 2 primary choices compatible with the ProClinical electric toothbrushes. They are the 360 Deep Clean and Whitening, in black or white colour options.

The Deep Clean heads are the best all-round option, suitable for the vast majority of users.

Do be aware that you will get more benefit from brushing twice a day for 2 minutes with the correct technique than you will be worrying about which brush head style to choose.

If you want to know more about each brush head or the other choices you have, this guide tells you all you need to know.

Colgate 360 Deep Clean Brush Heads – 4pk – White

£18 Amazon

Best all-round Colgate toothbrush head

The 360 Deep Clean is the best all-round brush head option.

There isn't such a thing as the 'best' as everyone has different opinions on what suits them. And, in reality, there is minimal difference in the cleaning performance between each head.

Thus the widely stocked Deep Clean head is a very sensible choice as it focuses on providing a good overall clean to the teeth and gums.

Bristles are not too firm or too soft with tapered ends to clean effectively at the gumline.

Colgate 360 Deep Clean Brush Heads – 4pk – White

£18 Amazon

Best for sensitive teeth

Whilst many of us enjoy pain-free brushing, if you are one of those who find the whole experience to be uncomfortable due to the sensitivity you have in your teeth and gums, you need something that as best as possible eases that pain, but still cleans effectively.

Where Colgate once offered a specific 'sensitive brush head' they no longer do. Thus, the 360 Deep Clean becomes the next best option.

If you find this too firm or uncomfortable you may need to consider an alternative toothbrush brand entirely or switch to one of Colgate's soft bristled manual brushes.

If you regularly experience sensitive teeth and gums, you should seek further advice from a dentist as you may need to consider a change in diet, specialist toothpastes or even dental work.

Best for whitening teeth

Having white teeth can often give us an extra confidence that allows us to smile and feel better within ourselves.  Often when we look good, we feel good.

Whist you might have to undergo professional whitening to get that ‘Hollywood smile’, it is perfectly possible to improve the shade of your teeth from the comfort of your home and at a much lesser price.

Using the Colgate 360 Whitening brush head alongside a good quality whitening toothpaste can improve your tooth colour by 2-3 shades.  Those with heavily stained teeth will see the greatest improvements.

Depending on your model of brush there may too be a more suitable cleaning mode, such as Optimum which delivers more power to help buff those teeth to give them that gleam you desire.

Colgate 360 Whitening Brush Heads – 4pk – White

£22.5 Amazon

Best for braces

It is easy to think that you need specialist brushes, and they do exist. However, with a Colgate electric toothbrush, you can use any of the brush heads safely with braces, you do not need a special brush head.

Which Colgate brush head should I use?

Only you can decide which is the best brush head to use.

My recommendation for all-round cleaning is the 360 Deep Clean brush head.

However, if you are on a mission for whiter teeth there is potentially a benefit in opting for the whitening head. 

All brush heads will help to remove more plaque than a manual toothbrush whilst improving gum health and your overall oral hygiene so it is not like any will clean terribly, some are just engineered differently to achieve a slightly different result.

Cleaning your teeth properly twice a day for 2 minutes each time is the most important part here.

Our full article on how to brush your teeth with an electric toothbrush explains the correct way to brush your teeth as a poor teeth cleaning approach is more damaging than the incorrect brush head. The reality is each brush head can just give that extra bit of focus in achieving and assisting oral health care goals.

Colgate Omron and ProClinical toothbrush heads explained

Today, Colgate electric toothbrushes are primarily branded 'ProClinical' but once carried Omron branding too.

The Deep Clean and Whitening heads fit and are compatible whether you have Colgate ProClinical or Colgate Omron ProClincal model.

The range of heads has previously consisted of 4 different heads:

• 360 Deep Clean
• 360 Whitening
• Triple Clean
• Sensitive

The Triple Clean and Sensitive heads are no longer available.

You then have different pack sizes:

Assuming you will be able to decide which brush head is for you, you will then need to consider what pack size to buy.

Typically the 4 different brush heads come in packs of 2 or 4.

In many instances what you can buy is determined by the retailer and the availability.  Not all stock all the range in both pack sizes for example.

Typically purchasing the larger pack works out more cost effective.

Interchangeable heads

At the time of writing the Colgate ProClinical line of electric toothbrushes have a one size fits all approach to their brush heads.

This means that one brush head fits a ProClinical 150, 250, 350, 600 or Pocket-Pro toothbrush handle.

Just push them onto and pull them off of the brush handle.

One of the biggest benefits of this design and interchangeable nature is that it allows you to take advantage of the different benefits both brush handle and head bring.

If your oral hygiene goal is whiter teeth, you can select a brush handle and appropriate brush head that help achieve this goal.

It also accommodates the needs of families where a brush handle may well be shared amongst different users.

No longer does one person in a household need to have a different brush to another.  Share the same handle, just swap the brush head.

How to replace your Colgate electric toothbrush head

The brush heads on Colgate ProClinical brush handles push on and pull off.

Existing brush heads can be removed from the brush handle, by gently pulling the head away from the brush handle.  By pulling the handle the opposite direction to the pull of the head the 2 pieces will detach.  Little force is needed.

To fit a head, push the brush head onto and over the shaft that extends from the top of the brush handle. By pushing the handle and head towards each other they will come together.

Once fitted, the head should sit securely in place.

What does each brush head do?

Now for a little more detail on each of the the different brush head types and what they are used for.

360 Deep Clean

The deep clean brush head is designed to target 4 key areas when brushing.

At the top of the head are soft tipped bristles to sweep and clean along the gumline.

Powertip bristles to clean deep in between teeth and hard to reach areas.

A soft rubber cup polishes teeth, to buff them and help make them whiter.

On the back of the brush head is a rubber tongue and cheek cleaner.  The textured surface helps remove odour causing bacteria from the surface.

This brush head clips on and off your brush handle for a secure fit and easy maintenance and cleaning.

It fits all Colgate ProClinical electric toothbrush handles.

This head also has reminder or indicator bristles which fade over time as you use the brush head.  These reminder bristles begin begin being Blue in colour but fade to white.  This helps you monitor when it is time to replace the head.  For optimal results, replace your brush head every three months.

360 Whitening

The 360 Whitening head is one of the newer options available from Colgate specifically focused on achieving whiter teeth.

There are 4 key features to this brush head and the bristles that form a part of it.

At the top there are Blue and White spiral bristles that help remove surface stains.

A soft rubber cup in the centre of the brush polishes teeth to achieve that dentist like clean finish to the teeth.

Thin tipped and soft bristles sweep along the gumline to remove as much plaque and bacteria as possible to leave a clean and fresh feeling in the mouth.

On the back of the brush head is a rubber tongue and cheek cleaner.  The textured surface helps remove odour causing bacteria from the surface.

This brush head clips on and off your brush handle for a secure fit and easy maintenance and cleaning.

It fits all Colgate ProClinical electric toothbrush handles.

This head also has reminder or indicator bristles which fade over time as you use the brush head.  These reminder bristles begin begin being Blue in colour but fade to white.  This helps you monitor when it is time to replace the head.  For optimal results, replace your brush head every three months.

Other Colgate electric toothbrushes

Colgate manufactures a number of other toothbrushes with fixed rechargeable batteries inside as well as handles with removable batteries, which still fall under the banner of electric brushes.

As a general rule, the ProClinical brush heads, be that the 360 Deep Clean or Whitening are not compatible.

hum by Colgate

The hum is a newer range of toothbrushes from Colgate that incorporate smart features not found in the ProClinical range.

The heads used for the hum are designed specifically for these models and typically have a more colourful design to match the handles offered.

The bristle style and configuration is essentially identical to the Deep Clean heads for the ProClinical models.

Colgate 360 battery powered brush

The Colgate 360 battery powered toothbrush is an exception to the compatibility rule.

There is a separate range of compatible heads, but the Deep Clean and Whitening heads do fit and work with the handle But a brush head made for the Colgate 360 battery toothbrush is not compatible with ProClinical brushes with a built-in rechargeable battery.

Colgate E1 electric toothbrush

Colgate has also manufactured and sold another model, the Connect E1. This uses its own style of replacement head and these aforementioned heads are not compatible.

When to replace your Colgate electric toothbrush head

Replace your brush head every 3 months.

What might appear to be a perfectly acceptable and usable brush head can be doing more damage than you may think.

It is vitally important that the brush head on your Colgate toothbrush is replaced every 3 months. This is a general consensus in the dentistry profession.

A new brush head should last on average 3 months, but for some users, you may need to replace the brush head sooner.

As a head is used, the bristles become worn, they can fray and become softer and less effective.

What might appear to be a perfectly acceptable and usable brush head can be doing more damage than you may think.

As a head is used, the bristles become worn, they can fray and become softer and less effective.  When new bristles are normally quite tightly formed in a group together but over

weeks of use will gradually start to part.  It is at this stage that the brush heads lose their effectiveness.

Reminder bristles will act to encourage you to replace them when necessary if you do not mark the replacement date in your diary or subscribe to services that deliver new heads every 3 months to you.

Fading indicator & reminder bristles

It is all too easy to forget when the brush head on your handle was last changed.

Reminder or indicator bristles give you a guide to the usable life left.

Particular bristles on the head will start out Blue and will over a 3 month period fade to White.

The lighter the bristles, the older and more worn the brush head is.

At first glance, it may not be obvious, but brush heads lose stiffness and gradually wear down over months of normal use.

For optimal results, replace your brush head every three months.

Bristle condition

Your teeth and gums are important and using a brush head with bristles in poor condition is almost as damaging as not cleaning your teeth at all.

It is important that the bristles remain in good condition.  If they are splitting, fraying or becoming misshapen, look at replacing them.

Take a look at the bristles, are they still fairly uniform in their direction and look.  Does the bristle layout look similar to when the brush head was new?

Are the Blue indicator bristles now white?

All of these things are signs to potentially change your brush head.

Brushing with too much pressure is often a cause of wearing out brush heads quicker than normal.