The Sonicare FlexCare brush with UV Sanitizer not only provides a deep clean using super-fast moving bristles (31,000 brush strokes per minute, to be exact) that deliver a high-powered sonic scrub to break up debris wedged between teeth, but it includes a UV Sanitizer to keep your brushes squeaky clean and bacteria-free between uses. Let’s see your manual brush do that!

Philips Sonicare knows everything about your dirty little secrets. Their recent research with GfK Roper found that 54 percent of Americans will reuse their toothbrush after it falls on the floor—even after 57 percent identified the bathroom floor as the area in their house with the most bacteria. Half of Americans said they’d share their toothbrush with their partner, spouse, friend or family member. Nine percent of men even admitted to using their toothbrush after it fell in the toilet! Dirty boys! That UV Sanitizer sounds like a great idea right about now.

The FlexCare also includes various features to note:
—Three modes of scrubbing in strengths to suit your mouth’s needs: Clean, Sensitive and Massage.
—Two cleansing routines for in-between scrubs—so you can give your mouth a quick once-over before your hot date comes over for a different kind of quickie or anytime between your deeper, three-minute cleanings.
—Improved brush head design to attack more plaque.
—Ultraviolet Sanitizer zaps 99% of bacteria in just 10 minutes between uses. And an automatic shut-off timer will conserve your energy bills.

Philips Sonicare FlexCare, $179, Amazon.com

The most important improvement: the small brush head. In addition to the full sized brush, they folks at Philips include a smaller brush head, as well. It helps you reach those far back teeth where larger brushes struggle to fit between your gums and cheek. My dental hygienest always recommended that I purchase a smaller toothbrush that is meant for children to get those hard-to-reach places. However, when you go that route, those areas of your teeth and gum don’t get the magic scrubbing power of the “sonic” technology that loosens up plaque much better than manual brushes. I guess Philips heard the prayers of hygienests around the world and answered them with the E9000.

I’d also like to add that the E9000 is more powerful than the Oral B Vitality Sonic brush that I mentioned earlier. The E9000 brushes actually move, increasing the scrubbing power, whereas the Oral B Vitality Sonic brush relies on your brushing movements more. I’m not knocking the Oral B brush. It’s great if you don’t want to shell out the cash for the Sonicare.

 Here are some other benefits of the Sonicare Elite E9000:

A programmable timer–The brush automatically runs for 2 minutes, and beeps every 30 seconds to let you know that it’s time to switch areas of your mouth, but if you want to spend an extra 30 seconds scrubbing certain areas, you can do that!

Two Speeds–If you have sensitive areas of your mouth, you can switch the speed to “Gentle” instead of “Max.”

Easy Start– For the first 2 weeks (I think), the brush will slowly increase its strength and speed to ease your mouth into sonic brushing. How thoughtful!