Thanks to Quip, I Realized I Was Making These Weird Tooth Brushing Mistakes

Even though I love the feeling of clean and freshly brushed teeth, I've never eagerly awaited my two daily brushings.

Brushing my teeth only takes a couple of minutes, twice a day, but somehow it can still feel like a burden on top of my morning and nightly routine.

I want good oral hygiene to be as easy and painless as possible, and that's why I think Quip is pretty cool.

Quip is a subscription service that's all about healthy teeth. Toothbrushing may not seem like an activity that needs its own subscription at first glance, but given that 80% of people use their bristles longer than recommended by dentists (at least according to the pamphlet included with the brush) it makes a lot of sense.

For individual brushes, Quip has different plans depending on whether you want them to send you new brush heads and toothpaste every three months or just the brush heads.

Depending on your needs, you can start a plan starting at just $25 for initial brush if you opt for the plastic option. The first plan starts off at a lower cost at $25 ($40 for upgraded metal option pictured) for the initial brush, brush heads and toothpaste tube and costs $10 for the toothpaste and brush head refills, which arrive every three months. The other plan costs $30 ($45 for metal) to start for just the brush and brush heads, but the brush head refills every three months only cost $5. You can also prepay for the full year for small discounts or buy plans for the whole family.

This may not sound like a huge deal, but for comparison, the popular electric toothbrush I'd been using previous to Quip cost around $65, and getting the individual brush heads from reputable sources costs around $10. And did we mention they come in super cute metallic and matte colors?

One thing I never loved about my old electric toothbrush was the need to keep it plugged into the wall for charging. Even if it was technically safe, I always felt uneasy about an electric appliance sitting precariously over the sink. There were also times that I'd plugged in my electric toothbrush to charge overnight, only to have my mom put it away to get it away from the sink, leaving my brush still sad and chargeless in the morning.

You don't have to worry about that with Quip because it runs on batteries. It needs just a single AAA battery to run for about three months. If you think single-use batteries are a waste, it works perfectly well with rechargeable AAAs, too, and since it doesn't contain a huge battery pack, it's not bulky and strange in your hand. The rounded handle makes it feel pretty similar to a traditional toothbrush.

Like other electric toothbrushes, it's set to do a standard two-minute brush, pulsing every 30 seconds to let you know it's time to move on to a different quadrant of your mouth. Unlike my past electric toothbrushes, the pulsing stops entirely after two minutes, which I enjoy because it takes out the added step of switching off your brush when you're done with it.

And I don't know if it's just me, but I tend to get lazy with electric toothbrushes with swiveling bristles. The fact that the brush has its own brushing motion makes me feel like I can let it do all the work. Quip, on the other hand, simply vibrates, so the process is more manual. Being more actively involved in my brushing has made me feel better about my brushing habits.

The brush also has a sticky backing that's supposed to allow you to stick the brush right on glass or tile. I personally didn't have a ton of luck with this feature, but I also don't have the right surfaces to stick it around my bathroom sink. It clung to the inside of my medicine cabinet—for a while—but seemed to lost its stickiness entirely within a few days.

Quip also comes with a pamphlet that, in addition to explaining what the brush does, also gives detailed explanations about how to brush your teeth. After many years of experience brushing my own teeth, I thought I was kind of an expert. Oh how wrong I was.

Just a couple of pages in, I found out that there were weird things I was doing wrong every morning and night when I brushed my teeth. Thanks to TV commercials, I was putting a massive stripe of toothpaste on my brush, when only a pea-sized amount is required to get the job done. I was also in the habit of rinsing my mouth out with water after brushing, but learned that it's actually better not to rinse your mouth, as the toothpaste keeps doing its work even after you're done brushing.

But does Quip get the job done? After using Quip for about a month, I paid a visit to the dentist just yesterday and was told that my teeth are looking nice and healthy. They're experts, so I'll take their word for it.

If you live by your standard toothbrush and good brushing habits come naturally to you, you probably don't need a fancy electric toothbrush like Quip, but if you're looking for a better, easier way to brush (and you'd like to learn some healthy hygiene tips along the way), Quip might be exactly what you need.

 

Want to get into even more healthy habits? Click HERE to read about how the Hidrate smart water bottle might get you to drink more water.