GET your bingo wings flapping and lose a kilogram through a new novel weight loss concept that has been uncovered; brushing your pearly whites vigorously three times a day for the full two minutes burns off more than 3,500 calories a year.
If that's all a bit too much arm fluttering then you may well want to consider an electric toothbrush – but which one to buy? There are two main categories that most electric toothbrushes fall in to – those that just scrub the dirt away and those that vibrate the plaque away (the ultra sonics).
The average person makes about 300 strokes a minute with a regular toothbrush: compare that with a scrubbing toothbrush either the rotating ones or side to siders that move at 3,000 to 7,500 motions per minute. But even that's not sufficient for some rotating brushes, which also combine a pulsing motion to help dislodge stubborn plaque.
Sonic toothbrushes pack the biggest punch as they make 30,000 and 40,000 brush strokes per minute. The bristles on a sonic brush rotate back and forth while at the same time direct fluid between the teeth to get right below the gum line for an extra deep clean.
Sonic brushes are named so because of the ultra-sonic waves that they use. These waves give out a humming noise that is just a faint sound to humans however to bacteria these screeching wails are the sound of imminent destruction as their bacterial chains are broken up by the vibrating waves.
When all is considered, the vast majority of electric toothbrushes are superb and do give a more thorough clean compared with a manual toothbrush. However, there's really little scientific evidence that points to which technology is in fact more effective.
The studies also show that you can achieve the same clean with a manual toothbrush if you are meticulous, which probably is the same as the proportion of people who are super-fit: so, alas, it's probably best just to get an electric toothbrush and have lovely clean teeth.
If you are watching the purse strings reach for a rotating brush and for the top-enders, there's always the world's most expensive titanium toothbrush at $4,000 (which isn't even electric).
