Oral-B iO9 Electric Toothbrush

Summary

If you want an electric toothbrush that does more than clean, one that actually helps you fix the way you brush, the Oral-B iO9 sits at the top end of the iO range. A single handle brings together an interactive display, a pressure control with a visible warning and a connection to your phone. It’s designed for people who want to improve their technique, not just get through the two minutes.

It’s worth being upfront about this. We haven’t tested this model ourselves yet. Our rating is based on the technical specifications, the manufacturer’s data and verified owner reviews, and on how it compares with the rest of our ranking. We analysed it from Spain, where it’s sold as the iO 9n; on Amazon.co.uk the listing is for the iO9 in Rose Quartz, a Special Edition with one brush head, a charging travel case, a magnetic pouch and a UK two-pin plug. As soon as we’ve run the three tests we use for this category, we’ll update this review and, if needed, the scores.

On paper, its strengths are tooth-by-tooth cleaning and the sheer number of aids to help you brush better. The area that raises the most questions is battery life, which is exactly what we want to check first. The overall score of 8.8 sums up that balance, with cleaning out in front and battery life as the weakest of the three criteria.

It makes sense if you’re moving up from a basic electric toothbrush and want one that guides you while you brush, or if you find it hard to judge how much pressure you’re putting on your teeth. If you’d rather have a one-button brush with no phone and no screens, you’ll be paying for features you won’t use.

Analysis and verdict

Cleaning – Score: 9.2/10

The brush head is small and round. It rotates and oscillates around each tooth while adding gentle micro-vibrations. The idea is to cup each tooth individually rather than sweep across several at once, as an elongated head does. That changes the technique compared with a manual brush. You guide the head slowly from one tooth to the next and let it do the work, without scrubbing up and down.

The second cleaning aid lives outside the handle. The brush connects to the Oral-B app over Bluetooth, and an AI position detection system follows your route across all three surfaces of your teeth, the outer, inner and chewing surfaces. When you finish, you can see which areas you’ve covered and which ones you’ve rushed, which tend to be the back molars and the inner surfaces. The app can also send your data to Apple Health. It’s an aid designed mainly for the first few weeks, before the routine becomes second nature.

The timer marks the two minutes of brushing, the minimum recommended time to cover your whole mouth. The cleaning score reflects what the round head and zone tracking promise. It’s still waiting on what the plaque-disclosing tablet shows, which is the test that really decides this criterion.

If you’ve never used a round head, it takes a few sessions to get used to going slowly and not scrubbing. It pays to give a few extra seconds to the back molars and to the inside of your lower front teeth, where plaque settles most easily and where a rushed brush usually falls short.

Battery life – Score: 8.3/10

Oral-B doesn’t say how many days the battery lasts on a single charge. Without that figure, and without our own test, we can’t tell you whether you’ll make it to the end of a week away without plugging it in, which is usually what worries frequent travellers.

Where there is data is on charging. The base is magnetic and delivers a full charge in 3 hours, so leaving it there for a while in the afternoon is enough to have it ready. The travel case has a built-in charger, which means you can charge the brush inside the case and leave the base at home.

The display on the handle also shows the battery level. That way the battery won’t run out halfway through a brush without warning, something that does happen with brushes that give no alert and simply lose power bit by bit. The 8.3 is a provisional score that we’ll review once we’ve counted the days per charge.

Until we have that figure, if you’re going away for more than a few days, plan to charge it during the trip. It isn’t a serious problem, but it’s better to know before you leave home than to find out halfway through your trip.

Pressure sensor and modes – Score: 8.8/10

The pressure control is visible from any angle, through 360°, and it tells you three different things. It warns you if you’re pressing too hard, if you’re not pressing enough or if the pressure is just right. The fact that it also flags too little pressure matters. The usual mistake when moving from a manual brush is pressing too hard and punishing your gums, but some people press so lightly that the head barely does its job. If you’re coming from a brush with no pressure control, this is the feature you’ll notice first.

It has seven brushing modes, ranging from daily clean to gentler programmes for delicate gums and more vigorous ones. You don’t need to use them all. The practical approach is to stick with daily clean and keep a gentle mode for days when your gums feel sore.

A practical way to get the most out of it is to rely on the app for the first few weeks, until you’ve corrected the habits you’ve picked up over the years, and then brush using just the handle as a guide. That way your phone stops being essential every morning, and you still have the pressure warning, which is the aid people use most once their technique has settled.

The interactive display on the handle tracks time and pressure while you brush and reminds you when it’s time to change the brush head. It gives you the information without looking at your phone, which isn’t always within reach in the bathroom. The score for this criterion reflects how many aids it brings together; we’ll adjust it once we’ve checked how the warning behaves when you press hard and how the gentle modes feel.

Replacement heads and what’s in the box

The iO9 uses heads from the iO range. Only heads from that series fit, so replacement heads for other Oral-B rechargeable brushes won’t work, and iO heads won’t fit them either. If it shares a bathroom with another Oral-B that isn’t an iO, each brush will need its own heads. Bear that in mind before you buy, because looking after the brush means buying those replacements for its whole life.

The iO range includes heads with softer bristles, designed for sensitive gums, as well as the standard cleaning head. If your gums bleed easily or you’re new to electric toothbrushes, starting with one of those heads and a gentle mode makes the adjustment easier.

The head should be changed every three months, and the display reminds you when the time comes. The Amazon.co.uk listing we link to is the Rose Quartz Special Edition with one brush head, the charging travel case and a magnetic pouch. If you plan to share the handle with someone else, you’ll need to buy extra heads from day one.

Who we recommend it for

• If you want guidance while you brush and don’t mind having your phone nearby in the bathroom.
• If you tend to press too hard or, the other way round, so lightly that you can hardly feel the head.
• If you travel often and like to charge your brush inside its case.
• If you’d like to keep a record of your brushing and see how you improve over the weeks.

It isn’t for you if you just want a brush that switches on and off, or if you don’t want to be tied to one particular type of head. In that case, a single-mode model whose heads fit more handles covers the basics with less fuss.

Pros

• Round head that rotates, oscillates and adds micro-vibrations, designed to clean tooth by tooth.
• Pressure warning visible through 360°, which tells you whether you’re pressing too hard or not hard enough.
• Seven brushing modes to match the intensity to how your gums feel.
• Charging travel case and a full magnetic charge in 3 hours.

Cons

• Oral-B doesn’t state how many days the battery lasts, so for now there’s no days-per-charge figure to plan a trip around.
• Zone tracking needs the app and a phone connected over Bluetooth; without it, the brush can’t tell you which parts of your mouth you’ve missed.

Our test

Test 1: Cleaning – disclosing tablet before and after two minutes

We haven’t tried the iO9 yet, so there are no results of our own in this review. The cleaning test will involve staining the plaque with a disclosing tablet, brushing for two minutes with the technique set out in the manual and disclosing again, paying particular attention to the molars and the inner surfaces of the teeth, which is where any brush tends to leave something behind.

What matters to you is whether any stained areas remain after those two minutes, and which ones. Until we have that result, the cleaning score is based on the specifications, and we’ll update the review with what we see after disclosing.

Test 2: Battery life – two brushes a day until the battery runs out

We’ll fully charge the brush and use it twice a day, two minutes each time, without recharging until it switches off. We’ll count the days it lasts, time a full charge from empty on its base and check whether a week’s trip is covered without taking a charger.

It’s the figure we miss most on this model, because it decides whether you can go away for a few days without worrying about plugging it in. Once we have it, we’ll add it here with the conditions and review the battery life score.

Test 3: Pressure sensor and modes – pressing against a finger and going through the modes

We’ll deliberately press the head against a finger to see whether the warning comes on and how clearly it shows, try the modes one by one and check whether the quadrant timer is noticeable while brushing. We’ll also look at whether the vibration feels too much on sensitive gums.

What you’ll want to know is whether the warning comes in time to correct your hand and whether the gentle programmes feel easier when your gums are delicate. We’ll update the review with what we find on each point.

If you’d like to know more about what to look for, take a look at our guide to the best electric toothbrushes, where you’ll find the top models in our ranking and help choosing the right one for you.