Oral-B Genius 9000 Review

Design, usability, clean & general use

Many of us have probably heard the phrase, “you have only one set of adult teeth, so you might as well look after them”.

Many of us may do just this; but life can be cruel and mean that our one set become victim to disease, accident or we may not fully understand the need for regular teeth cleaning and good oral health.

Whatever your circumstance, be that you still have all your own teeth with no fillings or you have dentures or crowns or even braces to get that perfect smile, the Genius 9000 is an electric toothbrush that can really help look after what you have.

Let me start by pointing out some key facts and features about the brush so that you understand what exactly the 9000 is offering and how it differs from many other brushes.

The 9000 is the best of what is available in consumer toothbrushes at the time of writing.  You have a wide range of cleaning modes, 6 to be exact and it comes with a good box contents, pressure sensor, multiple brush heads a travel case and built-in timer.  Now many of these come with other brushes of a similar price point, but all are included here as standard.  Where the 9000 comes into its own needs a little more explanation.

The Genius range of brushes offer Bluetooth connectivity, this is something that has been available from 2014 on select Oral-B brushes, but it has been improved with Genius to take things to the next level.

Pairing with your Android or iOS device via the Oral-B app (download for Android here and iOS here) version 4.1 and above of the app has ‘Position Detection Technology’.

The app uses the front facing camera on your smartphone to track the actual position of the Genius 9000 inside your mouth when in use.  It takes this data and displays this on the smartphone screen, giving instant feedback to highlight and direct you to where you have missed and where you need to clean next.  It is almost like having a dentist or hygienist looking over your shoulder saying good, bad, brush for longer, you missed a bit. There is a gallery later on in this Oral-B 9000 review showing multiple screen shots of the app in action.

Oral-B’s Motion Tracking Study shows up to 80% of people spend insufficient time brushing in at least one zone of their mouth and 60% of people either didn’t brush their back molars at all, or spent insufficient time brushing them, so you can see why the position detection technology exists.

Dr Uchenna Okoye is Oral-B’s Smile Director within the UK and says “Patients are not brushing their teeth correctly, even though they think they are; they brush too hard, do not brush long enough, and miss zones of the mouth. This new brushing system helps us coach patients to brush properly, and improve these three main areas of patient brushing behaviours that affect their oral health…The Oral-B GENIUS and App take digital guidance to the next level by bringing awareness to what’s actually happening each time users brush and giving them real-time guidance to improve every brushing session. Now our patients can continue what’s started in the dental office at home – a professionally guided brushing routine.”

To be able to use your smartphone to track your movements and take advantage of this functionality, so you need something that will hold your phone at mouth height.  Few of us have smartphone mounts by the sink, so Oral-B include this with the 9000.  The suction cup adheres to a flat surface, ideally, a mirror or possibly a tile and adjustable arms hold the phone in place.

The aforementioned pressure sensor looks to reduce and stop gum and tissue abrasions that are caused by excessive pressure application when brushing the teeth. A fairly gentle glide across the tooth surfaces is all that is needed, with some manual brush users applying up to 2 times the amount of required pressure. With the triple pressure sensor technology built into the Genius, a visual notification is provided in red via the Oral-B app and through the LED SmartRing which illuminates red.  The brush will automatically reduce the head speed and stop the pulsation until the pressure is reduced.

Although not new to the Genius range, another noteworthy and easily overlooked design feature, which is actually scientifically inspired, is the rounded brush head.  Small and compact you can generally get the brush head into all the hard to reach areas of the mouth, which is not always possible with some other brush heads shaped differently. The 9000 does now come with a smart travel case which holds the brush handle and up to two brush heads.  When in the case the brush is protected but it can also be charged via the provided USB cable.  A USB port on the case means you can even connect your smartphone to it and charge that too, making it great for travel.

Last and by no means least on the new and different feature is the SmartRing which is a multi colour 360 degree lighting system at the neck of the brush. Featuring 12 different coloured lights, you can customise the illumination via the Oral-B app.

Having now covered these key differences, let’s look in more detail at all of these and more to see what the brush is really like to use on a day to day basis.

Aesthetically the Genius 9000 has seen some improvements in comparison to the Smart Series which it supersedes and there is clearly a link between the design of the Pro and Genius range, it is distinctly Oral-B.

The profile of this brush is slimmed down a little compared to the older Smart Series, so that the Genius has a more uniform cylindrical body, but is larger than that of the lesser featured Pro series which sits below the 9000 in the range.

The physical size is as a result primarily of the larger battery, which will last up to 16 days.

Take a ruler and scales to the brush and you will find that it is 24cm tall with the brush head attached and 2.7cm wide and 3.2cm deep and weighs 140 grams.

Primarily of plastic construction, the finish is either a gloss white or black. The plastic is resilient to the water, bacteria and toothpaste that it will come into contact with.

A fully sealed brush it can be used in the shower, rinsed off under a tap etc without issue. Don’t go taking the brush for a swim, but it is designed to resist water.

The front of the brush has become a little busier, but it actually works in its favour.

A break in the plastic body makes way for a tall, essentially rounded rectangle shaped panel. Within this is a similarly shaped yet smaller rubber panner in the upper third that has the power button and cleaning mode button.

The icon for each is actually transparent and lets a light shine through then powered on.

Below this are icons for the different cleaning modes, well 5 of the 6 available anyway. Each cleaning mode is backlit with a white light when selected.

The panel in which the cleaning modes are shown is black in colour on the black brush, silver on the white, or as with the newer variants rose gold or orchid purple.

Press the power button once to power the brush on and press and hold for 2 seconds to turn the brush off. The button requires a firm push, meaning it is difficult to accidentally power on or off.

To change the cleaning mode it is a case of pressing the cleaning mode button (downwards facing arrow) under the power button and continuing to press until the desired cleaning mode is reached and the indicator illuminated.

Gone is the blue light from the previous Pro 6000/6500 models and now it is white light. I preferred the blue, but white is probably more appealing to all users in general.

The missing icon is for the standard, Daily Clean standard mode. I do not understand why there is no icon for this? Why not have this show in the list of cleaning modes actually on the brush. This is a little odd in my opinion and confusing as it looks like there are only 5 cleaning modes, not the available 6.

To switch cleaning modes you must have the brush powered on and cannot press the cleaning mode button to cycle through them before powering the brush on.

In the lower third of the panel is a Bluetooth icon, a battery icon made up of 3 bars and then finally the Oral-B and Braun logos.

On the rear of the brush is a contoured rubber grip which assists when holding the brush for grip, especially when wet.

The base of the brush is sealed but has a recess into which the prong on the charging stand fits to charge the brush.

On the neck of the brush is where you find the LED SmartRing which will illuminate red when the pressure sensor in the brush is activated and will at other times (when powered on) shine one of 12 different colours set by you through the Oral-B app.

If using the app at the same time as brushing, the screen on the app will also illuminate red and tell you to reduce the pressure should you apply too much to the teeth.

The brushes are available in:

• Black
• White
• Silver
• Rose Gold
• Orchid Purple

Despite my affinity to the colour black, I think the white brush looks better.  Why? Because the brush heads supplied are white.

I know black and white it a  classic colour combination but I think it would look a lot better if the brush head body (not the bristles) were colour matched in black). (Update August 2018: Midnight Black edition now available with colour matched brush heads)

The smartphone holder provided with the black or white brush is white as is the charging stand and brush head compartment, yet the charging case for the black brush is black in colour.  It is a small criticism, after all I should be focusing on the job it does of cleaning the teeth, not the colour, but it would be nice to either have a choice or see a bit more consistency in my opinion.  That said, you may be reading this and thinking you would never want a black charging stand or smartphone holder.

The cleaning modes available on the 9000 are:

• Daily Clean
• Gum Care
• Sensitive
• Whitening
• Pro-Clean
• Tongue Cleaner

All these modes, with the exception of Pro Clean are standard cleaning modes found on previous/other Oral-B models, although not all brush handles have every mode.

The Pro-Clean mode replaces what was known as Deep Clean mode that is available on the Smart Series Pro 6000 and 6500. Pro-Clean provides an intense clean feeling with 3,000 more movements per minute than the more standard Daily Clean mode.

You can choose any cleaning mode you like based on your preference.  It is advisable to use the toothbrush head best suited for each clean and your personal oral hygiene needs.

To find out more about each cleaning mode and the best brush head to use with it, read our Oral-B Cleaning Modes explained article.

Typically the cleaning modes last for 2 minutes each and this ties in with what is recommended by oral health professionals.  The built-in timer has 2 modes, the standard 2 minute or professional.

With the 2 minute timer it signals with a long stuttering sound and a flashing light of the smart ring that the 2 minute brushing time has come to an end.

With the professional mode (came preset out of the box) the quadpacer on the 9000 kicks in.  A short stuttering sound and flashing light of the Smart Ring at 30 second intervals to move to the next quadrant of your mouth.  A long stuttering sound and flashing light indicate the end of the professionally recommended 2 minute clean.

The timer memorises the elapsed brushing time, even when the handle is briefly switched off during brushing. Anything longer than 30 seconds paused and the timer resets

You can change which timer profile you have enabled.  To change this, press and hold the mode button for 2 seconds.  Toggle between timer selection by pressing the on/off button. Confirm the selection by pressing the mode button.  2 LED’s illuminated indicate 2 minute timer and 4 LEDs illuminated indicate Professional timer. More advanced timer options come via the app.

The mouth is made up of 4 quadrants, so you spend 30 seconds cleaning each.  If you are using the app and the tracking, the app will signal to you it is time to move on and where to focus next.

Something I believe is missing from the Genius is the Smart Wireless Guide that is available with Pro 6000 and 6500.  Essentially a portable clock and timer that shows your cleaning mode, how well you are brushing (via a smiley or sad face and star rating) and how long you have been brushing for.  Powered by 2 AA batteries it could sit on a shelf or attach to a wall with an adhesive pad and was a small unobtrusive addition to the kit that worked well.  It does nothing more than what the app does, but I believe a very convenient solution to encourage better cleaning when the app is not in use.  Sadly it is not included with the Genius.

However, if you have an older model with the Smart Wireless Guide it does work with the Genius 9000. We tested with a smart wireless guide from the Pro 6000 and picked up the 9000 instantly.

There is no denying my teeth always feel cleaner with an electric toothbrush clean in comparison to a clean with a manual brush. Independent evidence backs this up.

You should also note that it is vital to clean your teeth at least twice a day.  Always try to leave 45-60 minutes after eating before you decide to brush.

The brush heads provided with the Genius 9000 use an oscillating-rotating and pulsating motion, as demonstrated in this image.

This is a proprietary technology that helps clean tooth by tooth reaching areas that are often missed.  In fact it is worth noting that the brush heads on Oral-B electric toothbrushes, including this Genius 9000 are smaller and round in shape compared to the longer and more rectangular designs of that of Colgate and more.

It is this circular design and smaller brush head surface area which allows for greater movement and reach in the mouth when in use.

The dynamic 3D movement helps adapt to your teeth as it oscillates, rotates and pulsates to break up and remove up to 100% more plaque than a manual toothbrush.

Whilst 4 brush heads are supplied, they are interchangeable and it is advisable to use the appropriate brush head with the appropriate cleaning mode, although any cleaning mode can be used with any brush head.

Is it possible that in the future if you connect the 3D White brush head the brush automatically switches to whitening mode? You may not want to, but a thought for future progression?! Sonicare offers this with its DiamondClean Smart.

The Cross Action brush head relies on hundreds of bristles that are angled in different directions. It has been scientifically engineered, to ensure the bristles cross over different parts of the tooth surface more effectively than those brush heads that have standard straight bristles.

The Sensitive brush head has softer bristles that are not angled and are less abrasive on the teeth and gums.  Ideal if you have or suffer from increased sensitivity.

The 3D White brush head has a polishing cup in the centre of it which helps buff teeth up to give them the dentist shine. It is worth noting the colour of the bristles on the 3D White brush head has changed for the Genius range and may on first glance not look familiar if you are used to the look of these brush heads.

The Floss Action has MicroPulse bristles designed to reach and clean deep between the teeth to give a floss like clean.

You need not be limited to the brush heads in the box and you can use any one of the 6 brush heads that Oral B offers as suitable for this brush.  You may need to purchase these separately.

• TriZone
• Precision Clean
• CrossAction
• 3D White
• FlossAction
• Sensitive

Remember to replace your brush head at least once every 3 months or 90 days if not sooner. You can have the app remind you of this, or why not set up a scheduled delivery through Amazon?

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.

Included in the box with the Genius is a charging stand, but also a moulded piece of plastic complete with a lid which offers a home to additional brush heads.  This protects them from dirt and dust and vies a safe place to keep them.  Ideal if you use different brush heads or have brush heads for different users.

When the brush requires a charge the last battery bar within the translucent battery icon on the lower third of the brush handle will flash red.  It will then light up when charging.

If the power in the handle is extremely low, the battery will require at least a 30 minute charge.

Any electric toothbrush irrespective of the brand will be more effective at removing plaque and this is why Oral-B state that up to 100% more plaque can be removed in comparison to a manual toothbrush.  This is in part due to the power and consistency offered from a powerbrush along with the brush head design and then equally as important is the brushing technique.

As a moulded brush with a virtually all in one design, maintenance is not simple on this brush unless it is a rinse and a wipe. However, maintenance should not really be required. Should something go wrong, there is as standard a 24 month warranty is provided with the Genius 9000.  This covers the battery too. Register the brush online and you get an extra 12 months at no extra cost, so 36 months or 3 years in total.

3 years of assured usage means lots of time to track and build a history of your brushing.

Version 4.1 is the earliest version of the Oral-B app to support the Genius range of electric toothbrushes.  It brings to the app the position detection technology, improved professional guidance, dental care journey and brushing challenges.

The app will run on most Android or iOS devices.  And uses Bluetooth on your phone and the 9000 brush to pair. Your smartphone must have Bluetooth 4.0 as a minimum for compatibility.

You can download from iTunes here for Apple devices and Google Play Store here for Android devices.

The app is very comprehensive with lots of options, too many to go through completely in this Oral-B 9000 review.  It gives you all you need though to not only effectively brush your teeth, but to log the cleans and motivate you.

There are features like integration with your calendar so you can see your days agenda, news, tips and tricks, so you stay interested when cleaning your teeth.  Although for me, on occasions it can be a bit distracting from you ensuring you brush correctly and you may want to customise the settings to avoid some notifications.

Of course, the big part of this is the Position Detection Technology which uses the smartphones camera, the app and the brush to show on screen visually where you have and have not cleaned and shows you how to brush all zones in the mouth evenly and equally.  Anyone of any age can use and learn from the feedback it gives.

Whilst a toothbrush plays a vital role in oral hygiene the routine and way in which you clean does too. This app makes it easy to see and represent in real-time just how good, or bad you are doing.

Challenges are presented to you allowing you to obtain a score based on how well you brush and improve your habits. Brush better and for longer and you ate on the road to success. Gain badges for achievements and share socially if you chose.

If you have perfected your technique you may have less to gain than others, but I was impressed at just how well the app works and monitors you clean, it still had areas where I could improve!

The app is deeper and more intelligent too.  You can customise the brush and personal goals through the app gaining more suitable tips and advice along with product suggestions. For example, if you wish to whiten your teeth the app will advise and amend your routine to achieve the goal.  You can choose from the Fresh Breath Gum Health, Plaque Fighter, Whitening and Ortho Care journeys.

In 2018 ‘Gum Protection Technology’ or ‘Gum Guard’ as it is also referred to as was introduced.

Essentially, this is a software update to the smartphone app (available in version 6.0.1 of the app and above) that offers a special brushing journey, specifically designed to help improve your gum health over an 8 week period.

Bleeding gums are usually a sign of gum disease, which in many cases can be treated with a good oral hygiene routine at home.

The app is geared to help reduce and stop the bleeding of gums and help you turn your red, bleeding, sore and puffy gums to a nice healthy pink, blood free gums.

You run through a series of screens, shown below that collect data and allow you or your dental professional to make custom adjustments to help achieve the end goal.

Naturally, Oral-B recommends selected products to help get the job done, but over the 8 week period, the app will monitor, encourage and help you work towards achieving those healthier gums.

Setting up this Gum Guard mode within the app does disable some other cleaning modes, but you can end what Oral-B call a journey at any point if you like.

Your gums might be in good shape, but other areas of the mouth might need attention, this is where the  Professional Guidance feature allows you and your dental professional to work together.  Actually, share and discuss improvement areas and have your dentist actually program into the app extra brushing time and adjustments to your cleaning modes in your app.

Online backup is another useful feature.  With an Oral-B account, you can never lose data and even share with compatible services for additional insights and benefits. As the app logs data over the days and weeks, it is impressive to see through the logs how your habits and brushing time changes.

Whilst you need to launch the app each time to use it the brush itself can store the data for up to 20 cleans meaning you do not need to always have the app to hand.

The connection and transfer is fairly reliable and I have yet to run into any real problems. Here’s a gallery of screenshot from the app for those that are interested:

Now we have spoken about all the magic that is the Oral-B app for tracking the clean, you need to hold your smartphone at face height to actually do the tracking.  Easier said than done.

You could hold it in your hand, but unless you have some super power that means you can hold your phone perfectly positioned for 2+ minutes and clean your teeth, then the provided smartphone holder will come in use.

Best described as a smartphone holder you would use in a car and attach to the windscreen, used in the home and attached to a mirror!

It is a more clinical and perhaps suitable in white; more fitting for the bathroom scene.  The suction cup will attach to mirrors and in some cases tiles.  Do make sure it is secure before mounting your phone! There is a lever to lock it in place and unlock the hold along with a tab on the suction cup to further release the holder.

Whilst the holder has remained attached to my mirror and not fallen, I know many are concerned of it failing and an expensive smartphone being broken as a result.

The universal holder has the Oral-B logo on it and an arm that can be adjusted to fit many smartphones of varying sizes from 58mm wide through to 83mm wide.  If you are using a Samsung Galaxy S series or an Apple iPhone 6S Plus even, it will fit. There is then a full 360 degree rotation option.  For some phones, the button placement may interfere with the adjustable arms to do consider this when docking the phone.

It is a practical addition and can move with you.  That said, you are likely to mount it and leave it as I assume you are generally going to brush your teeth in the same location each time.

The house proud may not like the holder on show, but for the sake of your teeth and oral health let go any reservations you may have about what the neighbours or family members may think about a smartphone holder in the bathroom. I am wondering if there is another solution?

In my bathroom, I ended up with the suction cup being sort of in the middle of the mirror which was a bit annoying, due to my height and the mirror position.  There is also the fact that if you share this brush with others, although they may have the app on their phone and may need to change the placement of the suction cup, thus making it cumbersome and a lot of effort.

It is also worth noting that whilst it is perfectly possible to share a brush handle, the handle can not differentiate between 2 users, so your data synced to the app will be wrong.

If you want modern technology but want to keep your own logs, this is where the dual handled Genius 9900 comes in.

Even for me, even as someone writing about toothbrushes, I find it hard work and difficult to set up the smartphone in the holder with the app.  It’s a bit of a chore and although it may take 15-30 seconds, that’s around 25% of the time I would spend cleaning my teeth.

It is not to say I have not found a routine, but I have not perfected it and am finding that I may use the app more in the evenings than the morning and probably in total using it 50-60% of the time.

Even with a commitment to use it in the evenings, the app needs to work and whilst up to a point it does, I do feel the position detection technology and the overall experience is not there yet.  Not everyone will take the time to use it.

There are silly quirks, like the smartphone holder having full tilt and swivel capabilities, but the phone must be perfectly upright for the position detection to track, making the holder mobility almost redundant.

You need to be almost statute still for the app to track effectively.

I found it unable to accurately track where I was in the mouth.  It was close but often registered in the wrong area.  I think this was in part by me tilting my head, opening and closing my mouth more or less as I moved around my mouth.

Practice will allow me to get better but how much practice and how ‘still’ should I stay.

As you brush there are fading blue sections on the screen that do act for encouragement and at times the app gets it right, encouraging you to spend more time here and there with a mix of praise and positive feedback.

I found myself at times; spending more time cleaning my teeth (this is a good thing to a point) to try and ensure I got all areas of the mouth. However, in doing so, due to the app not registering the areas quite correctly.  I ended up spending more time in certain areas of the mouth than others.  This resulted in the app thinking I had done a splendid job when I know I had not.

For those who know they have bad habits could use this combination for a few weeks to learn, understand and perfect their clean, but I see very few really committing to this and using everyday.

Even with my desire to make it work it has taken over a week to get close and I still don’t find it perfect.  From that I feel that for most the effort for the reward is too high.

This is perhaps not how Oral-B envisaged or planned the usage, but there is only advantage to be gained from using it occasionally than not at all.  Even a few times a week it reminds you and helps perfect your brushing habits.

The good news is the brush stores your clean history for the last 20 cleans so you can still retain a lot of data even if you do not use the app all that regularly.  The best data will be for those who use the app all the time.

Dare I suggest that using any electric toothbrush and using disclosing tablets like these ones from Amazon will be a cheaper, more efficient and generally more beneficial way for most of us to see and act upon our poor teeth cleaning performance.

The travel case included with the Genius 9000 is branded and can be considered smart given the previous travel cases available for Oral-B products.  Rather than a cheap yet functional piece of moulded plastic, the travel case here is much more capable.

Larger than I expected the case is well designed and colour matched to the brush. Soft touch material all round, a large plastic release button to open it up with gloss plastic end caps to the case.

Containing a USB connectivity this case not only allows the 9000 and up to 2 brush heads to be protected during travel, it also allows the brush to be charged in the case.

This means you do not need to take the charging dock with you if you feel you will need to charge your brush whilst travelling.

In the box comes a multi-voltage (100-240v) power adapter which connects to the proprietary port on the case and charges the Genius 9000.

The mains adapter is the same 2 pin configuration you get with the traditional charging dock, so if you want to charge from a 3 PIN UK mains adapter, you need to purchase an adapter such as this one from Amazon.

Considerably more stylish the travel case goes one stage further. Connect the USB charge cable for your smartphone to it and you can not only charge the brush but your phone too, when the mains power adapter is connected to the case.

You may think why or how silly, but this means if going away you need to take 1 power adapter and a USB cable rather than 2 power adapters and a docking station. Thumbs up all round from us here at Electric Teeth.

If we were to get critical this isn’t a great way to charge your phone up fast, but ideal for overnight and a great reminder to use the Oral-B app (as if you would forget)!

And when you do use the app, the case cover actually has a clip designed to hold your smartphone in place too! Pretty nifty, if your phone is no thicker than 12mm.

It would have also been great if the case used a more standard Micro USB charger, rather than a proprietary connector. This would mean that if you misplaced your Oral-B power adapter it would be easy to find an alternative. I do also think the 2 pin configuration is misjudged considering it is more likely that you will charge the brush via traditional sockets when travelling rather than from the standard shaver socket.

We should also be clear in that there is no battery built into the case it will not charge the brush handle unless mains power is connected.

This is another small oversight generally. Whilst I see and understand the 2 pin connector on the chargers, many homes do not have these sockets in the bathroom and I feel a worthwhile and relatively cheap addition would be a 2-3pin adapter for use with standard UK mains sockets.