I am the last person to suggest that an $80 toothbrush should replace a free or <$5 toothbrush but this is one of those rare things that are actually worth it. Your teeth feel 10x cleaner.
I use cheap as chips Listerine/Reach manual brushes, brush hard, and replace frequently. My teeth feel 10x cleaner than when I used an electric.
(But, I'm British, so my teeth must be awful right? Don't listen to me :) (self-trolling aside, I think that basically comes from 'mall'-based mouth-bleaching being less popular here? i.e. it's like saying someone who doesn't go to a tanning place 'has bad skin'...))
2. With a sonicating toothbrush, I reduced my cleaning visits to once a year because there's usually nothing there for the hygienist to remove. Perhaps you tried the wrong kind of toothbrush?
https://www.deltadentalins.com/oral_health/overbrushing.html
I've never been to an oral hygienist; I go to the dentist once every 12-18 months on his advice. (Though currently almost two years due to the pandemic; emergency appointments only.)
> Perhaps you tried the wrong kind of toothbrush?
Yeah, there'd always be someone's preferred brand that I didn't try and would be better even if I was saying I liked the one I did - I just don't feel the need to try multiple expensive electric ones when manual seems fine to me, and in adult life at least check-ups have just been 'all good, see you in 12mo'.
> https://www.deltadentalins.com/oral_health/overbrushing.html
Perhaps I do brush too hard, I'll try (not doing) that. But that's surely an orthogonal issue, one could (I probably did) brush 'too hard' regardless of whether it's manual or electric.
According to my dentist brushing too strongly can cause your gums to recede. And apparently they don't recover so damage is permanent. You are meant to use about 80 grams of pressure, which is pretty much none at all.
A decent electric toothbrush like a Sonicare feels like it cleans much better with hardly using any pressure. The base models are fine, all the additional options are unnecessary if you just want to brush your teeth. Personally, switching to an electric toothbrush has been the best thing.
Cheap hardware is fine, just make sure bristles are soft/ultra soft (packaging will say soft somewhere).
And you only need to brush each tooth ~6x per side.