Oral-B iO series 10 review

We reviewed this toothbrush through several weeks of use, twice daily. It was also taken away on trips to test its portability. All this meant lots of charge cycles as well as plenty of use with the app. All the settings were tried and evaluated throughout use and assessed for cleaning power.

The initial setup of the toothbrush is very straightforward. If you want, you can drop the brush head onto the toothbrush body and press the power button to get started right away, with plenty of charge out of the box. 

Speaking of, the iO 10 packaging is fairly minimal and easy to open and access, as well as to get rid of, with most of it being recyclable.

In the box you get the electric toothbrush, two brush heads, a travel case, a charging cable, a wireless dock, and an extra carry case for two more brush heads.

Plugging in the dock to get started, downloading the app (free from the App Store or Google Play) and connecting the base station to Wi-Fi is the trickiest part, but when achieved the dock will automatically update the time of day – a useful bathroom clock.

From the app, you can connect to the iO Series 10 toothbrush and  change settings on your brush as needed – adjusting the LED light ring from the app, for example.

The design of the Oral-B iO Series 10 is one of the best of any brush we’ve reviewed. Not only is it striking in its elegant lines, but also features an original fleck design.

The shape creates a look that is visually attractive but subtle, with white star dots on the black model and black dots on the white.

In either case there is not a scrap of rubber to be seen, unlike on some models, and that’s a good thing. While rubber can be grippy, it gets dirty easily and is near impossible to keep clean long term.

The iO 10 brush offers all the grip of a rubberised model but without the cleaning issues. Even down to the bottom of this brush there’s a cleaning-friendly design, with a metal finish that wirelessly connects to the base to charge.

It’s worth noting that the iO brush heads use a different attachment to other brushes from Oral-B. As such you’ll need to invest in new brush heads to make sure you’re kept compatible.

But, once again, this has been designed to keep the innards clean and clear with an easy click on and off action for taking this apart to travel, so it feels worth the upgrade.

The most noticeable feature over the competition however, is the display on the bundled dock.

It’s a full colour screen which makes finding the mode you’re on, seeing the timing of your brush, and getting useful feedback, all very easy.

At first we thought it felt like a gimmick, but in use was actually very helpful, looked great and had us more engaged with brushing to hit the dentist-recommended two-minute cleaning mark.

There is an attractive pill shaped travel case included which allows you to place the brush and head in before closing.

The only downside to this portability – being small enough to fit inside your wash bag – is that you can only fit one spare head, so you’ll want to make sure it’s got some life left in it before going away for any length of time.

This toothbrush, even when compared to Oral-B’s Pro range top model, offers a noticeable cleaning improvement over the competition.

The addition of those micro-vibrations to the usual oscillating head movement makes for a stellar clean. After brushing you can run your tongue along your teeth and actually notice a smoothness beyond anything most brushes can offer. 

Run your tongue along your teeth and notice a smoothness beyond anything most brushes can offer

The only accurate comparison would be to that feeling you get after you’ve been to the hygienist for a professional clean.

On top of that cleaning performance there are also a good selection of modes available: Daily Clean, Sensitive, Super Sensitive, Intense+, Whiten, Gum Care, and Tongue Clean. 

This offers more than enough variation for most and means that you can target a specific cleaning goal and have the brush work in a way that will help with that. 

From whitening your teeth to offering a more sensitive clean, this will change with a button press so you can find the ideal brush for your teeth and gums. It even has a tongue brushing setting to get that clean once you’re all done with your teeth.

In terms of stain removal, this brush can work to get out marks from the likes of tea, coffee and red wine. There is a whitening clean setting which will works to polish up your teeth for a pristine and shining finish.

We did find that using this in conjunction with a charcoal based toothpaste offered some of the best results to actively remove stains and whiten teeth to their fullest potential.

In areas where crowns or fillings may be of concern, the brush was surprisingly gentle. Even on the daily clean mode, which is quite strong, it didn’t feel too much around potentially troubling areas.

There were enough brush angles to get into all the areas that might otherwise be missed, but the action and hardness were just right to make sure it was still comfortable.

All that said, this is a powerful brush and after the first few days our gums did feel sensitive after a brush. A simple change of mode to be more gentle for a day was enough to give gums a break, so when back to daily clean the next day, all felt fine.

The point is this may take a little adjustment initially, but with lots of modes that shouldn’t be an issue when the end result is a cleaner mouth overall.

The iO Series 10 toothbrush is very light for all the battery life, display smarts and powerful performance that you get.

As such it’s very easy to hold for two minutes during the brush and since the micro-vibrations and oscillations do all the work for you, there is very little strength required to apply pressure or movements when brushing. 

The brush intelligently lets you know when you’re putting enough pressure on, with the LED light ring on the brush, as well as on the dock, turning red if you are pushing too hard, and white if too soft. 

Having this on the dock is a wonderful addition as you may not otherwise notice it on the brush itself when so close to your face, or when not looking in the mirror. 

By having the dock work with you it also means you don’t need to reach for your phone and the app to get the most out of the brush’s intelligent feedback each time you use it, which is a common gripe we’ve found when reviewing ‘smart’ toothbrushes.

The only gripe we had was that you need to change to tongue mode after you clean which then resets the timer on the dock, giving you a grumpy face for not brushing enough at the end.

Overall, it makes this new addition to this specific model a real winner, and something we now miss when using an older toothbrush again.

The iO 10 app itself is actually useful too, with the main feature being allowed to reorder the brush modes; when using the brush you only have to press the select button minimal times to cycle through to your favourites. 

The app also offers a look at your history of brushing so you can see how well, or poor, your effort is over a period of time. 

The app even adds some gamification to keep you motivated, offering rewards for certain goals achieved like days in a row brushing for the full two minutes, or achieving whitening challenges. 

It may sound silly but the display shows emojis and when you are met with a beaming smile for hitting that two minute brushing mark, it does genuinely feel like an achievement, one that keeps you coming back for more.

It’s worth noting that this is a relatively quiet toothbrush, running with far less noise than the Oral-B Pro range, for example. It’s still not silent but this runs at a more gentle hum than other models which feels a lot more calming to use.

The Oral-B iO Series 10 battery life is excellent. We generally expect at least two weeks of brushing twice a day for two minutes at a time before having to recharge.

This toothbrush did that with ease – in fact we were getting three weeks or more out of it quite regularly.

Then when it comes to charging this is another area the brush excels at. A full charge takes just three hours. All you need to do is pop the brush on the magnetic and wireless dock (which is so easy you can even do it in the dark… should that be how you like to brush) and you’re charging.

Usefully, after each brush with the iO Series 10 the last image on screen before the display turns off is the battery bar, which spans the length of the screen so you can very accurately judge how much life you have left in your brush.

However, if you have the display dock setup in your bathroom (yes, you need two-pin power access) then you will likely pop your brush there after each use, meaning you never need to worry about battery life. 

Crucially, when travelling, the travel cases use the same power cable as the dock so you can easily have that with you to recharge on the go as you need.

You might think that a toothbrush that costs this much can never be value for money – and that’s probably true for many.

But, if you’re willing to invest, the iO 10 offers big upgrades over the previous models –  this really does do it all and in such a wonderful way it makes the asking price slight more palatable.

While many people may struggle to part with this much money for a toothbrush, when you consider it could lower ongoing dental costs, comes with a two year warranty, and leaves you feeling and looking better than ever, the price tag is softened.

Perhaps this is pushing a new generation of higher priced toothbrushes that offer that premium level of performance which everyone will soon see is worth paying the extra for. The iPhone of toothbrushes? Maybe more like the Rolls-Royce.

The big competition to Oral-B is the Philips Sonicare range as this offers sonic vibrating toothbrush heads, rather than the oscillating type. For many it comes down to a simple taste difference in which they enjoy and feel more comfortable with.

If you wanted the equivalent top-end in the sonic range then it’s the Philips Sonicare Prestige 9900, which is crammed full of features and comes in at £300.

While you could try the Oral-B iOS Series 9, for a saving, or the Oral-B Pro for a more basic model, you might want to try another brand entirely, in which case the Spotlight Oral Care Sonic electric toothbrush is an option.

It’s very affordably-priced but still offers sonic cleaning, multiple modes and an excellent battery life.

The Oral-B iO Series 10 claims to be the best electric toothbrush you can buy and at that high price it needs to be. In our long-term testing it really did live up to the claims and the performance was such that it didn’t feel too expensive… which is saying something given the RRP. 

This offers a dentist-level clean that you can actually feel, and is better than anything the competition can manage right now.

With a selection of modes, smart feedback dock, easy to use and clean design, this brush is made to work for anyone and to stay looking and feeling as good as new for long after you start using it.

The Oral-B Series 10 is best suited to those that don’t mind spending more for the very best clean they can possibly get. The inclusion of a display is fun and does make using the brush more engaging in a way that helps you stay committed to that two-minute brush each time. The app is packed full of features, but we found the dock feedback far more engaging, so, you may not find you use the app much beyond setup.

The iO 10 isn’t a brush for those that just want something to clean your teeth without extras, or for those that don’t mind a noisy time in the bathroom or care about heavy vibrations.

This is a premium toothbrush that wonderfully refines every part of the experience… but charges a lot for it.