The best… electric toothbrushes

Dentists have long encouraged their patients to swap their manual toothbrushes for electric models. It’s worth shopping around, as you can usually get big discounts on the full price

Foreo Issa The Issa is made entirely from silicone, with soft bristles well-suited to sensitive gums. It’s expensive, but it charges in an hour, and the head only needs to be changed once a year (£149; www.foreo.com).

Colgate Proclinical ▲ Pocket-pro If you’re a frequent traveller, this small, simple toothbrush could be handy. More powerful than most compact models, it charges via USB – so you can connect it to a laptop or Apple charger (£43; www.boots.com).

Oral-b Pro 3000 The Pro 3000 is an excellent-value all-rounder. Quiet and comfortable to hold, it does a good job of breaking down plaque. You’ll need to charge it about every ten days, though (£45; www. amazon.co.uk). Philips Sonicare Diamondclean The benchmark for electric toothbrushes, the Diamondclean is superb at cleaning teeth efficiently and removing plaque. It uses sonic technology (rather than an electric motor), vibrating at up to 31,000 brush strokes per minute (£125; www. boots.com).

Philips Sonicare are for Kids This version of the Sonicare encourages childrend tbto brush hth theiri t teeth th properly lb by slowly building up to the recommended time of two minutes. You can also download a dedicated app, which uses a character called Sparkly to teach brushing techniques (age 3+, £37.50; www.johnlewis.com).