Gleem Electric Toothbrush Review

Gleem is a dental hygiene company formerly owned by Procter and Gamble. Aside from toothpastes, they also offer electric toothbrushes: one that can be charged and one that operates on battery. This article will review the latter.

These units mainly operate by vibrating at very high speeds, reaching up to thousands of strokes per minute. It usually has a battery that is either rechargeable or disposable to make this possible. Because of this, users can easily remove plaque and food debris from their teeth by simply directing the brush with minimal pressure. These also usually come with safety measures to avoid the product from brushing the teeth too hard by warning the user or immediately shutting down if this happens. These brushes come with a base unit that lasts for years along with a replaceable brush that can be changed every 3 months.

Aside from having more strokes per minute, these products also have a lot of features on them that can create various cleaning results for different users. For example, they can be especially for whitening the teeth, for cleaning sensitive teeth, and for providing cleaning through various angles and brushing modes. These also come with its partner brush heads to make the whole cleaning process more optimized. Some also come with pressure sensors that tell you if you are using the product too hard, Bluetooth connectivity for your phone, and more.

Upon first seeing the brush, we were impressed with its simple and elegant design. It is dominantly white, from bristle to body. Even with a battery inside it, it is surprisingly lightweight and easy to glide around in the teeth. This makes it very easy to carry around in trips and travels. When we got our toothbrush for the original Gleem Toothbush review we were all surprised by how nice it looked.

Surprisingly, it comes with a travel case even with its very affordable price. Here, users can store the unit and its components safely. It is very durable and reliable for long travels, too, which shows that it is not just an afterthought from the developers.

We tested the cleaning performance of the brush and found it to be average. Given that it runs on triple A batteries, this is only expected as there will be lower voltage to use. Brushing with it felt like a downgrade especially if you are used to Oral B and Sonicare brushes, both which offer the product’s best cleaning performance even for its entry-level products (it's more expensive choices only add features but retain the cheapest ones’ cleaning performance).

Even with this, the product was still able to break down teeth plaque and food debris. It runs for a maximum time of 2 minutes which is just the recommended time by dentists and hygienists. It has a quadpacer which is a feature that tells you to change the quadrant of the teeth that you are cleaning every 30 seconds to ensure that the cleaning is equal for all parts of the teeth.

Pros

The best part about the product is its very low price of $20 at most. This makes it very accessible for anyone who wants to try using an electric toothbrush and only has a small budget. The fact that it can operate on triple A batteries also makes it very easy to carry around because of how cheap these batteries are. The design of the toothbrush, along with its travel case, also make it light yet durable to carry around for trips. For a product priced as cheap as this, the Gleem toothbrush is a good choice if your budget is severely limited to $20.

Cons

However, cleaning performance should always be your priority. With the speed of the product, it is a slightly improved manual toothbrush at best when compared to other electric brushes. Its vibrations are simply not enough for providing the best breakdown of tooth plaque and debris especially within 2 minutes of everyday usage. This is a big deal breaker that can greatly discourage some users who still want adequate cleaning for a budget price. If you are willing to add another $20 to the price, we recommend Oral B’s Pro 1000 or Sonicare ProtectiveClean 4100 which clean better and more effectively.

The brush also only comes with a single brush head option unlike the mentioned brands which have options like 3D clean, sensitive cleaning, whitening, and more. This greatly limits the cleaning options that users can have access to. This is because entry-level products from the mentioned brands can use this brush properly even with a single cleaning mode.

There is also no pressure sensor from the brush. This is an important tool that warns users in case they are pressing the unit too hard on their teeth. This is because this can cause damage to their enamel and cause it to become weaker after brushing every day. Usually, these brushes have an LED indicator that can tell you if this happens or it can just stop brushing.

In the end, the product offers only what you pay for. It has a standard brushing mode, a travel case, and a simple design perfect for camping because of its battery usage. Aside from this, it is not superior to any other brushes in the market. It is a straight forward improvment over manual toothbrushes, however we can't suggest getting a Gleem if your priority is on amazing cleaning for your teeth, if that is your prioirity the we suggest you save some money up and spend a bit more for a mid tier electric toothbrush.