I finally discovered the Apple of toothbrushes.
For 13 years, I used the same model toothbrush.
An Oral-B electric. It was loud. It buzzed like a lawnmower. It made my gums bleed. I ignored it.
Here and there, I would try different brush tips.
I told myself it was “good enough.” It was expensive after all.
I used it every morning. Every night. Sometimes half-asleep. I flossed now and then. I used a Waterpik. I even scraped my tongue.
And for toothpaste? Colgate Total 12. Classic. The kind you see everywhere.
But nothing worked.
My breath still smelled bad.
Not always, but often enough that I noticed it. And I hated that I noticed it. I hated that it made me self-conscious in conversations. I hated backing away mid-sentence because I wasn’t sure if I could trust my own mouth.
Every 6 months, my dentist would discover a new cavity that seemingly came out of nowhere. Was she lying? I changed dentists. Sadly, she wasn’t.
This wasn’t a hygiene issue. It was deeper than that.
It was something my current tools just weren’t solving.
My toothbrush felt more like a guilt trip than a tool for wellness.
It was too aggressive, so I got lazy. I didn’t actually brush tooth by tooth — I just let the thing buzz around my mouth for two minutes, trying to hit the timer.
I wasn’t brushing. I was going through the motions.
My head thinking of other things.
It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t effective. It definitely wasn’t beautiful.
One day, frustrated, I typed into ChatGPT:
“What’s the most dentist-recommended, gentle toothbrush in the world?”
It replied:
Curaprox 5460.
