Electric toothbrush brush heads explained

Precision Clean is the original Oral B brush head. It is supplied with most Oral B electric toothbrushes as standard.

This head rotates around each tooth to clean away plaque. Most move with a rotating-oscillation action - it rotates in one direction and then in the other.

Some brushes also make this head pulsate to help dislodge plaque.

The Dual Clean essentially offers a two-in-one approach to cleaning away plaque.

The round, top part of the head cleans each tooth with a rotating-oscillating action while the lower section sweeps from side to side.

We've tested how well the Oral B Vitality Dual Clean cleans teeth. You can find out how its cleaning action compares to other brush heads by checking out our electric toothbrush reviews.

This brush head has four flat, rubber-edged flossing strips among the bristles. These are designed to slip between teeth while the bristles are cleaning the tooth surface.

Our expert dentist is sceptical that brushing alone would drive these strips between teeth to clean effectively. We wouldn't recommend using this brush instead of regular flossing.

This brush head has a rubber cap at its centre which polishes teeth surfaces as the outer bristles clean away plaque.

The cap helps to buff teeth in a similar way to a hygienist's polishing tool. But it's unlikely to move fast enough to create similar results.

If you want to whiten your teeth as you brush our dentist recommends using a whitening toothpaste - its active ingredient is likely to have more of an effect than the action of a brush head can. 

The Trizone is shaped like the head of a manual toothbrush and is designed to clean in a similar way.

The dark blue bristles remain static to clean teeth surfaces, while the longer white bristles sweep from side to side to clean between teeth. The bristles at the tip are angled to sweep into hard-to-reach areas.

We've pitted the Oral B Trizone brush head against Oral B's rotating heads in our latest tests - see how it compares by reading our electric toothbrush reviews.

This is the standard Sonicare brush head and comes with most brushes in the range. It will work with all Sonicare models except for e-Series brushes.

Its bristles are trimmed to different lengths - from the tip to the bottom and side-to-side - which gives it a curved look. The bristles are shaped this way to fit to the surface of each tooth as you're brushing.

This head comes in standard and compact size.

Sonicare DiamondClean brush heads have more bristles than ProResults heads. According to its makers it sweeps away more plaque and removes more stains.

This brush head might help to buff teeth to a whiter shine, but if you want to whiten try using a whitening toothpaste - its active ingredient is likely to have more of an effect.

You can see whether the DiamondClean head removed more plaque than the standard ProResults head in our tests by reading our electric toothbrush reviews.

All of these Sonicare brush heads come in standard and compact sizes (see picture, left).

Standard-sized heads clean a larger area in one go, while the compact heads are easier to manoeuvre around hard-to-reach areas of the mouth.