My dentist is expenive enough...

November 10, 2007 7:11 AM

I have a Sonicare HX7300 toothbrush, which is great. But the heads for it are so expensive, which isn't so great.

I usually buy extra heads off ebay, but they're still very expensive. Is there either a] somewhere I can buy the heads from for less (preferably significantly less) than £12 each, or b] somewhere I can buy heads that will fit, but that aren't necessarily manufactured by Sonicare?

I'm in the UK, but I'm open to shopping online or in a physical shop.

posted by Solomon to health (5 comments total)

£8.09 per head plus £4 shipping. Found using froogle.google.co.uk.
posted by grouse at 7:27 AM on November 10, 2007

Solomon, , a tangential answer to your question.

I had the same problem with my Sonicare and so changed to the Colgate Microsonic (which is about £5 or less in Boots/Superdrug) on the recommendation of my dentist (it's not available in the US, I think, so yay to the UK for being one step ahead for a change). The hygenist also recommends the Oral B Pulsar, which is slightly cheaper but which has a built-in battery, so has to be discarded when the battery runs out, unlike the Colgate, which takes AAA batteries. (Pulsar is available in the US, which is where I first came across it).

Just a thought, if you find the Sonicare is turning out to be too expensive. (I also found with my Sonicare that, after a while, the battery unit lost its efficacy, and it was just too expensive to replace it, hence the quest for a new and cheaper sonic toothbrush which led me to the Colgate Microsonic.)
posted by essexjan at 9:26 AM on November 10, 2007 [1 favorite]

Can I second essesjan's recommendation for the Colgate Microsonic? I got mine at a local market for about £4 along with a bag of spare heads thinking that it would tide me over until I got a "proper" one. Heh. I won't be getting the replacement Sonicare now.
posted by ceri richard at 11:42 AM on November 10, 2007

Sorry, essexjan's.
posted by ceri richard at 11:43 AM on November 10, 2007

It might be a good time to switch to a electronic toothbrush with cheaper heads and replaceable batteries. I picked up the lowest-end Oral B, some rechargeable batteries, and some brushheads ($5 each, or at current conversion rates maybe 3 pounds) for less than the cost of two Sonicare heads. It's provided good service for more than a year, despite failing seals in the battery compartment. I recharge the batteries whenever they feel weak, and the heads last for around four months. The two AA batteries provide more power than the smaller electronic toothbrushes powered by a single AAA.

I've bought the Oral B Pulsar and wasn't impressed - there's no sonic technology, the whole toothbrush just sort of vibrates. The non-replaceable battery is, on the whole, a negative: it gets weaker as you use it, meaning that after a month, the toothbrush will be significantly less powerful than new. Also, the first time you accidentally leave it on, you have an expensive (and large) normal toothbrush.
posted by meowzilla at 8:38 PM on November 10, 2007