When this new toothbrush arrived for me to test and review for Splodz Blogz my first thought was – “blimey”, what a massive toothbrush!
And I hadn’t even got the biggest one they do!
Radius brushes have easy grip ergonomic handles and up to 300% more bristles than a regular toothbrush. The bristles are much softer & finer and they reach further down into the gap between the teeth & gums. Radius bristles do not absorb water so the bristles last longer – usually 3 times longer! The extra large heads help to massage the gums, keeping them clean and in good health – something we now know is crucial for a strong healthy heart!
It is from mypure, a company I have worked with for a long time now, but this has to be the most unusual thing I’ve tested from them.
I chose the Radius Source brush, which has a handle made out of recycled dollar bills. I chose it because it has green credentials – I liked the idea of the handle being made out of something useless (assuming the dollar bills were no longer able to be spent on anything!). I could have picked wood or flax as alternatives, but I thought the recycled dollar bills would be a the more interesting material.
The description says it has 200% more bristles than a regular toothbrush. Well they’re not wrong there – it’s 200% bigger than a regular toothbrush! Honestly I haven’t been able to get over the size of the toothbrush head! And it’s not even the biggest they do – the original one has 300% more bristles. It is massive.
Being a gadget girl I watched the first episode of the new series of The Gadget Show on Friday, and one of the features was on electric toothbrushes. The expert commented during the test that the most important bit to clean inside the mouth was the gap between your teeth and your gums, as that is where plaque develops and gum disease can form. And that is exactly one of the reasons for the larger head on the Radius range of toothbrushes – to clean that area better than a normal toothbrush.
The challenge was to use this brush for one week and then go back to my normal brush, and then write my review. So I used the brush all last week, a minimum of twice a day.
My little pea sized piece of Oral B Pro Expert Toothpaste looked tiny on the brush for my first go and I was worried it wouldn’t be enough (where as it’s plenty on my normal toothbrush), but I needn’t have worried. Likewise with the size of the brush. I know I’m dwelling on it a bit, but to me toothbrush heads are quite small so they fit in the mouth easily and apparently therefore get in all the places they’re supposed to. Once I was using it, this brush really worked well, and after a few uses I could really understand why Radius have gone for the size and shape they have.
There is no question that my teeth and gums were clean after each use. And my gums were really clean. I did find the medium bristles a little harsh on my gums, so I think I would choose the soft version when buying my next set of replacement heads, but it wasn’t enough to inflict much pain! The toothbrush definitely got in all the gaps, and did the job it claimed to do.
The handle is shaped to make it easy to hold. It is also “non slip” which means even when wet this isn’t going to become difficult to use. Now I don’t struggle to hold a toothbrush personally, but if you did for whatever reason (whether you have trouble with your hands or you are encouraging your children to brush properly), then this is a great idea. To make it left handed you simply turn the brush head the other way around.
After a week I went back to my Oral B Sonic brush as directed in the challenge and found it small! Could have seen that coming hey?! I didn’t find any difference in the cleanliness of my teeth, or the gaps between my teeth and gums. Perhaps a slightly unfair comparison because an electric toothbrush is a lot easier to use than a manual one. Maybe Radius should bring out a powered version? I did also try my usual choice of manual brush and that didn’t feel like it cleaned as well as the Radius. As I use a manual brush when I go away (I don’t take my electric toothbrush on holiday), I will certainly be taking the Radius Source as my travel companion from now on. They do a case for it, I might have to get one of those.
Radius Source is £7.99 for the toothbrush (which comes with two brush heads). Is that about the price of two decent Colgate brushes? It’s certainly on a par with the replacement heads for my electric toothbrush. Replacement heads are available for £5.99 for two. This and other Radius toothbrushes and products are available from the mypure website.
Have you tried this brush? Or one of the other Radius brushes? What did you think?