Philips Sonicare electric toothbrushes different cleaning modes available

Are you confused by the different cleaning modes available on Sonicare electric toothbrushes? If so, this is the article for you.

Choosing an electric toothbrush is far from simple.

You see, some brushes come with just 1 cleaning mode, but the most premium models come with as many as 5 or more!Just which ones do you need and why are they important?

different cleaning modes available on Philips Sonicare electric toothbrushes.

I'm going to try and give a little bit more clarity and explain the differences between those modes and why you might want each mode and what things you should bear in mind when selecting or using a Sonicare toothbrush and the relevant cleaning modes.

So, yes, this is a very confusing topic and I'm going to try and explain it as clearly as I possibly can in a  article , but even after many years of testing different Sonicare toothbrushes, even I forget all the little bits of detail regarding the different modes.

So please, do click the link in the description, where you'll be taken through to a full written article that accompanies this  article .

That, hopefully, displays and lays out the information in a nice, clear and easy to understand manner. I've tried to research and present this information as clearly as possible.

Unfortunately, Philips Sonicare are not that forthcoming with the differences between all of their cleaning modes, and it's been really hard to actually understand what the differences are. And even now, I still have a lot of confusion, but I'll explain where that exists throughout this  article  for you.

So, the number of modes available on a toothbrush does depend on the particular model that you have. Some models will just have one cleaning mode, some will have many. At the time of recording, there's a total of eight different potential cleaning modes available on Sonicare electric toothbrushes.

However, let's get this right out the way and say that you only really need one cleaning mode for the vast majority of people. The standard Clean Mode is generally perfectly suitable and adequate for the vast majority.

There may be a few instances, where different modes may provide benefits for other people, but in most cases, the standard daily Clean Mode will work fine. I should also state that these different modes really haven't necessarily been proven to bring that much benefit. Now, I'm not discounting them and saying they aren't useful.

Not at all. I do believe some are, but as I have seen, there is very limited evidence to really suggest that any of these modes have any significant benefit and why you would particularly want a mode over another. I've spoken to dental professionals, who generally suggest that one mode is perfectly fine, and that whitening mode, for example, is not necessarily going to bring you the benefits that you expect and this is in part down to the way that we brush our teeth.

Now, everyone is different, but many people are not actually brushing their teeth correctly. So, the benefits and advantages a particular mode may bring are not actually being realised because the brushing technique is incorrect. Now, there's a separate video on our channel that does show you how to brush your teeth correctly with an electric toothbrush.

Be sure to check that out, so that you can get the maximum effect from any of the cleaning modes available on a Sonicare toothbrush handle. So without further ado, let's jump in to the different modes that are available on Sonicare electric toothbrush handles. As I said, different handles will have different cleaning modes. So, the potential modes available on a toothbrush are Clean Mode, White or White+ depending on which model you have and how it's referred to. Deep or Deep Clean+, you have Gum Health or Gum Care Mode. They're the same thing, basically.

You've got Sensitive Mode, you have Tongue Care Mode and you also have Refresh and Massage Mode. Now refresh and massage, generally speaking, are found on much older models of Sonicare toothbrushes, and it generally isn't seen on the newer or more current models, certainly at the time of recording.

So, some of the modes are relatively self-explanatory in what they're best suited for. So, the Standard Clean Mode is the default mode that you'll find on all Sonicare electric toothbrushes, and it's the one that most people are going to use on a daily basis. So, this cleaning mode lasts for the recommended two minutes.

So, this is the mode that everyone's going to go for. You can use any brush head with this particular cleaning mode. It's no problem at all. In fact, you can use any brush head with any of the cleaning modes. Some brush heads may give particular benefits on particular modes, but as a general rule, you can set any brush head to any mode and get good results. You then have the White or the White+ Mode.

This is a cleaning mode that lasts for a total of two minutes and 40 seconds. During the first two minutes, the brush alternates the speed of the motor from a low to high power, as you complete the regular brushing. The additional 40 seconds is spent polishing the outer surface of the upper and lower teeth.

You spend 20 seconds cleaning each, so 20 seconds on the top, 20 seconds on the bottom. So, the idea is you get a good overall clean and you're spending a little extra time on those front teeth that people are going to see more, obviously when you smile, and try and whiten them and buff them up, so they look really nice. You then have the Deep Clean or Deep Clean+ Mode. This cleaning mode lasts for three minutes. The motion and speed is adjusted to really massage the teeth and the gum tissues, and push the cleaning motion through bacteria and stubborn stains. It's ideal if you want to spend a bit of extra time on your teeth and really make sure you're doing the best you can to keep them clean and healthy.

A small nuance on here is that, if the brush handle has Bluetooth connectivity and is connected to a smartphone, the mode will actually only last for two minutes, not three. If there is no active Bluetooth connection, the mode will run for the longer three minutes. Why? I don't know. You then have Gum Health or Gum Care Mode. This cleaning mode also lasts for three minutes.

On some particular models, it will actually last for three minutes and 20 seconds. During the first two minutes, the brush runs at the standard Clean Mode, and then the remaining minute uses a slower and less powerful combination of sensitive/Massage Mode to stimulate and massage the gums to improve their health. So, the idea is you brush all of your teeth in the first two minutes, and then that last minute is spent focusing on the gum areas.

This is ideally suited to those, who have mild sensitivity in their gums, perhaps with occasional bleeding, perhaps you've been diagnosed with gingivitis or the early onset of gum disease, so this could be quite useful for that. It's essentially a mode to keep your gums in good overall shape and condition. You then have Sensitive Mode and as the name implies, this is a little bit more gentle. This cleaning mode last for two minutes. It uses a lot less power from the brush motor, so it's more subtle and delicate on the teeth and gums.

It's ideally suited to those that have very sensitive teeth or gums. Perhaps you have a lot of bleeding, maybe you've undergone surgery. The Sensitive Mode will be ideally suited to that and is best paired with a sensitive brush head, although you can use any brush head on this mode. So, as I've intimated with various modes, they do alternate their power. As standard a Philips Sonicare toothbrush will offer 31,000 brushstrokes or 62,000 movements per minute. This Sensitive Mode clearly operates at a lower number of movements.

However, even after multiple attempts to direct this question at Phillips Sonicare and get a clear answer of how many movements or brush strokes you get per minute with these different modes. They've been unable to offer this information. So, in my mind, although I know it's a lot less powerful, I couldn't tell you that it's operating at say 20,000 strokes per minute or 15,000 strokes per minute. I just don't know and Sonicare don't seem to be able to offer that information either.

So, running through the last few modes and these are the less frequently seen modes, to be honest. You have the Tongue Care Mode and as the name implies, that's designed for brushing the tongue, once you've brushed your teeth. This last for just 20 seconds, enough time to brush the tongue surface. You then have Refresh Mode, so this is an older cleaning mode, less commonly seen, and this lasts for just one minute. Kind of designed as a quick mode, if you perhaps were brushing your teeth after lunch, or mid afternoon, or even mid-morning.

You just want a quick freshen up or you want to refresh the mouth, but you don't need to do a full thorough clean of the teeth, so it lasts for just one minute. And then you have Massage Mode, which has essentially been replaced with sort of the Gum Care and Sensitive Modes. This is a cleaning mode that lasts for two minutes, and uses less power for the brush motor, as you would probably expect. And again, is ideally suited to those with sensitive teeth and gums. So, whilst this is always subject to change, the vast majority of brushes at the time of recording offer 31,000 brush strokes per minute. You may also see this referred to as 62,000 movements.

 62,000 is double that of 31,000, so the movements refers from the sweeping action of the brush strokes. So, you have two movements to every complete brush stroke, hence 31,000 and 62,000 movements. So, when they're referred to as either 31,000 or 62, they're usually the same thing. It's just the way they're actually referring to the cleaning power. Of course, 62,000 sounds much more impressive than the 31,000. But the thing to note is they are generally very powerful toothbrushes, they're going to give you a good overall clean if used correctly.

Philips Sonicare  are pretty good, in that it's quite obvious which cleaning mode you have active on your toothbrush handle in most cases. On the vast majority of toothbrushes, the cleaning mode is labelled on the toothbrush handle, and it's usually sort of backlit. Now, the way in which you go through these different cleaning modes can differ. Quite often, you'll actually have a dedicated cleaning mode button, which you press to cycle through the relevant modes. Sometimes you'll just have to press the power button, but you'll generally know which mode you've got selected because generally it will be backlit on the handle. Not in all instances, but the vast majority, so it's quite easy to know which mode you've actually got selected. So, to add in a few final complexities to these brushing modes. Some Sonicare toothbrush handles actually have the ability to change the intensity.

So, this is a three stage process. You have low, medium and high intensity and often, no matter what modes you have on your electric toothbrush, you have the ability to change the intensity. So, where the standard Clean Mode may be operating at the full power of the brush handle, if your Sonicare brush handle has the ability to change the intensity, you can essentially change it between low, medium and high, and in a way, this is giving you additional cleaning mode, so you can find the one that's perfectly right for you.

So, if you have one cleaning mode, but the ability to change through three different intensities, you've essentially got three different cleaning modes. You've got clean low, clean medium and clean high. Hopefully that makes sense. A final thing to touch upon is that, for first time electric toothbrush users, many Phillips Sonicare handles have something called Easy Start and this, generally, is activated by default out of the box. And what that essentially means, is that the first 14 brushing sessions, the power of the toothbrush ramps up.

So, you're not necessarily going to get the full power the moment you switch the toothbrush on. You may have to go through 14 brushing sessions to realise the full power of the toothbrush. You usually can override this via a process outlined in the documentation or the manual that comes supplied, if you want the full power straightway. This is designed for new toothbrush users to get used to the increased power that an electric toothbrush brings.

So, there you have it, there's all the information I can offer on Philips Sonicare cleaning modes. I do hope you found this useful.

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