Bristles with a round tip feel smoother against sensitive gums if left with a square tip, they’ll feel a bit prickly, as was the case with the generics-or “gray market” heads, as Araujo calls them. In both cases, the brand-name brushes’ bristles felt slightly more supple to me than the generics’, possibly because they are longer, and, according to Araujo, might be shaped differently. We covered up brand labels for a head-to-head comparison at a Wirecutter office. For our pick, an Oral-B brush, the monthly cost difference is less than the price of a small coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts, and that price gap is even smaller if you buy the brand-name brush heads in bulk. Moreover, we found that choosing a brand-name replacement head doesn’t cost much more than going with a generic. Though brushes from Oral B and Sonicare and the associated heads have earned the seal, there’s no third-party guarantee that the generics will be good for your oral health, cautioned Araujo. The ADA tests brushes for stiffness as part of its seal certification. The ADA recommends using a brush with soft bristles, as firmer brushes are harsher on gums and can lead to wear and tear and even gum recession.“Soft is a layman term we use to say that safe,” explained Araujo. This sounds like a minor issue, but according to Marcelo Araujo, vice president of the Science Institute at the American Dental Association, brush feel actually matters a lot when it comes to maintaining oral health. Although the generic brush heads will get the job done, the bristles in the ones we tested felt stiffer (and a bit prickly, even) compared with the brand-name ones. After six months of testing generic and brand-name electric toothbrush heads in a literal head-to-head comparison, we found we liked using those from Oral-B and Philips Sonicare best. In several years of using an electric toothbrush, I’ve always gone with brand-name brush heads because, well, why change what is working just fine and is fairly inexpensive? But, as we are wont to do at Wirecutter, we also wondered: Is there a point to paying more for the brand-name thing?
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