You could say I have a thing for cleaned teeth. There’s the obvious benefits – no one likes morning breath, after all – but your teeth are kind of important; most people have experienced dental pain at one point or another in their lives, and it’s quite disruptive to one’s enjoyment of life.
For this reason, I take my dental care fairly seriously, so I suppose I’m a good fit to be reviewing dental care products. The latest toothbrush arriving here in Australia is from Oclean, and it comes in the form of the X Ultra S sonic toothbrush.
Oclean’s products have done rather well overseas and it’s with this in mind they’ve brought the products to Australia too, and while the products have unquestionably long and confusing names – an AI-powered X Ultra S Smart Sonic Electric Toothbrush is quite a mouthful, pardon the pun – they seem to live up to most of the expectations.
What’s it do?
Primarily, this is an electronic toothbrush, but there’s more to it.
Instead of using a motorised head, it uses a rapidly vibrating head to effectively clean your teeth with the power of sonic waves. The X Ultra S vibrates some 42,000 times a second – emitting a pleasant hum sound when it’s running – which literally shatters everything that shouldn’t be in your mouth, while being gentle on your teeth and gums.
Let’s talk about this part before getting into the bells and whistles. Most sonic toothbrushes work the same way, and what makes the X Ultra S unique is the vibration speed – it’s fast – and the power it delivers consistently from full down to nearly empty charge. There’s little doubt in my mind that this toothbrush removes quantitatively more from your teeth than other brushes with similar technology. Quite often, I felt that “just been to the dentist” feel after brushing my teeth, and that’s a good benchmark.
The bells and whistles make the X Ultra S a little more interesting though; it’s said to be AI powered, for a start, and while that might not quite be the case, the brush is quite smart and does seem to offer some benefits from it.
How’s it do it?
With the partner Oclean Care+ app, you get access to all kinds of analytics about the world’s most fascinating topic – how you clean your teeth! It can show you any parts of your mouth which you’re not brushing often or well enough, as well as the parts you’re doing great at. You also get stats like how long you’ve brushed for (2 minutes to 2 and a half minutes seems to be a sweet spot for most people), and how many times a day (twice is recommended, or after each meal if you’re really diligent).
This morning, I brushed my teeth with the X Ultra S carefully and put the brush back on charge when I was done, and saw the little WiFi symbol light up (indicating that it was connected and sending data). By the time I could find my phone and check the app, the brushing data was there.
Note, though, that some settings are not accessible via WiFi and you’ll need to have the brush in hand and use Bluetooth to get some things working.
When everything is working perfectly – which will be most of the time – your teeth brushing habits can be shared with other services like Apple and Google’s health apps, which is great for keeping track of your habits. You also get helpful reminders from the brush itself in use to keep your brushing effective – for example, if you push too hard, the motor will pause and a voice will encourage you to push less firmly. If you brush too fast, the same. Not enough pressure? It’ll cut out and warn you then, too.
In short, if your teeth brushing habits aren’t ingrained, the Oclean X Ultra S will certainly have you brushing better and more effectively very quickly.
Would I buy one?
At $449.95 recommended retail price – albeit discounted by 50% at the moment as part of the Black Friday sales – the Oclean X Ultra S is a decent investment, but it helps to look at that through a lens of what benefits you actually get. Sure, $450 (or even $225) is a lot for a toothbrush, but if it helps keep your teeth in tip top shape so you can avoid having to see a dentist for problems or even space out your regular checkups, that’s definitely an investment in your own health and has a value.
Many people, though, are quite capable of brushing their teeth just fine with a $10 old fashioned toothbrush, or a cheaper electric toothbrush and for them the X Ultra S may simply not hold much appeal. For me personally, the app integration is interesting but hardly a must-have feature. I’m quite capable of making sure I brush every tooth surface, and I don’t really need a reminder to brush twice daily – I do this out of habit anyway.
So no… I wouldn’t buy it for the bells and whistles, I simply don’t need them. However, I would buy this toothbrush for the quality of clean that it provides. I’ve not used a toothbrush that gives a cleaner mouth feel in such a short time – as noted above, I’ve had plenty of days where this brush gives a “just done by the dentist” feel, and that for me is priceless. I love that feel, and also, this destroys bad breath and leaves you feeling clean and fresh.
That is worth paying for in my books.
