1.
Oral-B Crossaction by Gillette
($4.89 at major grocery and drug stores)
It sounds like a contraceptive morphed with a running shoe,
but it's actually the new champ of cavity protection. With
the Crossaction,
Gillette is now doing for toothbrushes what it did for razors
with last year's Mach-3: infusing an everyday object with
juicy technology and tacking on a hyper price tag. Is it
worth it? If you're rough on those pearly whites, yes. This
is the Big Red among toothbrushes: After a month of brushing,
its bristles don't become frayed like the ones on that sorry
brush your dentist gave you. The Crossaction's bristles
feature a dense, stiff tip that efficiently scrubs the backs
of incisors and behind molars. Another plus: The fat, cushy
handle gives good grip.
2.
The Preserve by Recycline
($3.59 at natural foods stores)
Do you like spelt and spirulina and still believe that
recycling works? Or do you just need to do penance for all
those beer cans you threw in the river? Recycline
has just the thing to lift your heart out of the landfill.
The Preserve is a recyclable toothbrush that comes with
a postage-paid envelope in which to return the spent item.
(Imagine being the one who has to open the mail!) The Preserve's
green angle is the best thing about this utensil. Its handle
has a backward curve that is helpful when cleaning upper
teeth but makes brushing the bottom row awkward.
The bristles are dentist-recommended soft, but Recycline
has not applied for ADA approval--an expensive process for
any small company.
3.
The Radius
($11.95 at Nature's Fresh Northwest)
Open wide. Really wide. With a 6,000-bristle head the size
of a walnut and a handle as fat as a pickle, the Radius
toothbrush may be too much for some to swallow. But give
it a few days; all those nylon bristles deliver an unparalleled
gum massage and cover every millimeter of enamel. This utensil
is
so advanced it comes in two models--righty and lefty--and
a plastic traveling case is included to help justify the
whopping cost of ergonomic brushing. The large size does
take some getting used to, but after experiencing the Radius'
oral pleasure, converts report dissatisfaction with ordinary
tools.
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Willamette Week | originally
published May 5, 1999 |
