Suri Toothbrush Review | What Me & My Dentist Thought After a Year
At the end of 2022, I had my first dentist’s appointment since before the pandemic. Contrary to my worst fears, my teeth weren’t falling apart. But my dentist did ask me something new: “Do you use an electric toothbrush?”
I had always dismissed electric toothbrushes as unnecessary - extravagant, even. But after almost 30 years of ‘manual’ brushing, my actual dentist had just recommended I get one, and she wasn’t in a TV advert.
If I was going to become an electric toothbrush person, I wanted to make a conscious choice. As luck would have it, Buy Me Once had just launched the Suri Sustainable Electric Toothbrush. Because of its repairable design, it could be my first and last.
My colleagues were already big Suri fans - in fact, you can check out our CEO Tara Button's review here. So I went for it, shelling out for the toothbrush and travel case (this wasn’t a company freebie). It’s now been a year - and around 1,500 minutes of brushing - and I’ve just been back to the dentist. Here’s my honest review.
Suri toothbrush review: quick summary
In my opinion, the two best things about the Suri electric toothbrush are its huge battery life and the fact that the company can and will repair it. Thanks to the plant-based recyclable heads, you can also eliminate toothbrush waste from your life completely.
It’s whisper-quiet, simple and sleek. Most importantly, the Suri cleans incredibly effectively, making your teeth feel like they’ve been at the hygienist every time.
|
PROS |
CONS |
|
|
About the Suri Sustainable Electric Toothbrush
A more sustainable alternative to both disposable 'manual' toothbrushes and the other electric toothbrushes on the market.
Every year, we throw about 4 billion toothbrushes in the bin. Suri - short for sustainable rituals - are trying to change that. Their solution comes in the form of a closed-loop system.
The first part of this is the repairable, recyclable aluminium body. Other electric toothbrushes - even other ‘eco-friendly’ electric toothbrushes - are glued shut, making them impossible to repair. Suri offers free repairs for the first year, and for a reasonable fee after that.
The Suri toothbrush heads are also made from recyclable plant-based materials, namely cornstarch and castor oil. After saving up your brush heads, you can freepost them back to Suri for recycling.
The Suri electric toothbrush has won multiple awards, including Best Electric Toothbrush Under £100 by The Independent. It doesn’t have bells and whistles you’ll never use (e.g. Bluetooth), prioritising things like battery life instead.
What is a sonic toothbrush?
The Suri is a sonic-type electric toothbrush. That means it cleans your teeth with a vibrating head, which moves bristles side-to-side at high speed. To be precise, the Suri generates 33,000 sonic vibrations per minute, providing a properly deep clean.
You may also be familiar with oscillating rotary brushes - these are the ones with small circular heads that rotate back and forth. This type of electric toothbrush tends to be louder and less battery efficient. However, multiple studies support the use of both types. It just comes down to personal preference.
The Suri toothbrush: performance and use review
Unboxing
The original box is long gone, but here's a Suri replacement toothbrush head in its compostable paper packaging.
I still remember opening up the Suri for the first time. I chose the pale green Winter Fern colour, and I was instantly impressed by the elegant design. Compared to other brushes I’d handled, the aluminium body felt premium.
This carried over to the sleek compostable packaging. Included in the box were:
- The Suri toothbrush body
- One plant-based brush head (I also bought an extra pack of 3 Suri replacement heads)
- A magnetic mirror mount that sticks onto the wall
- A USB charger
- A travel case (which was an additional purchase)
Brushing and noise
As someone unaccustomed to electric toothbrushes, using the Suri took a little getting used to. The vibrations are so fast they become a hum, gently buzzing into your mouth - but it’s barely audible to someone in the same room. It’s much quieter than my partner’s Oral-B Pro.
I immediately noticed a difference in how clean my teeth felt. With the Suri, my teeth feel slippery and polished after every brush. This might say more about my subpar technique, but that wasn’t consistently the case with a manual brush.
I can also confirm that those recyclable plant-based heads won’t turn to cornstarch mush. They’re very durable, with medium soft bristles that aren’t too firm. They look and feel like a normal brush head, and I’ve had no loose bristles or flattening.
Controls
This is a really simple brush to operate, with just one button and two modes. Turn it on, and press again if you want to switch from ‘clean’ to ‘polish’ (more intense vibration). Every 30 seconds, it will briefly pause to tell you to move on to the next quadrant. Then it turns off after 2 minutes. Easy.
Something Suri toothbrushes don’t have is a pressure sensor. This might be a problem for some, but because I’m new to electric, it’s not something I miss. The feeling of the sonic vibrations assures me I can go gently. I just bear in mind a past dentist’s advice: “Pretend you’re polishing a tomato.”
Battery life
The Suri charging on my nightstand. It's a USB-A charger, so you'll need a converter to plug it into the wall.
Everyone loves having a device with a long enough battery life that means you basically don’t think about it. The Suri truly just keeps going and going. It’s advertised as lasting for 40 days, but I’m pretty sure I charge it every two months.
It also fully charges in just four hours. Seeing as my partner has to charge his Oral-B toothbrush every week or two, I’m seriously impressed.
Travel
Snug inside the UV travel case.
I opted to spend £20 extra to get the Suri with a sleek UV travel case. It charges your brush (with a USB-C plug, which is handy), and contains a UV-C light that kills 99.9% of harmful bacteria in one minute. Reassuring, when you’re on the hoof with a damp brush.
Because of the Suri’s huge battery life, I think you could get away with travelling without the case. I’d just be concerned about the brush turning on in my bag, due to the large and sensitive button. Either way, the slim design of both the Suri and the case makes them very convenient for travel.
Repairs
Here you can see the Suri's two gold charging contacts, which should be kept dry. You can also see the tiny screw which allows the Suri to be opened up and repaired.
Clearly, I’m a fan of my new toothbrush. But it wasn’t entirely plain sailing. Eight months in, it stopped being able to charge. I got in touch with Buy Me Once customer service, and Suri were very responsive (they didn’t know I was an employee).
It turned out that because I hadn’t been keeping the Suri on the magnetic wall mount, constant contact with water had corroded the charging contacts on the base. I was sent a replacement immediately, with a free label to return the old one for repair or recycling.
I’ve been using the wall mount, and all has been well since. This just seems to be the price of having a repairable product. In other electric toothbrushes, the electronics are completely sealed in - they’re waterproof, but impossible to repair.
The Suri does claim to be waterproof, but if (like me), you keep it in a puddle on the sink for months, it seems the metal parts can degrade. Keeping it high and dry on a magnetic mount is the ideal solution. To be clear, it’s included with the brush, and it happens to look smart too.
High and dry on the magnetic wall mount, lording it over the other toothbrushes.
Cost
At the time of writing, the Suri Sustainable Electric Toothbrush costs £75, plus £20 for a travel case and £14.40 for a pack of three extra brush heads. As a lifelong stick brusher, it did seem steep.
However, some shopping around quickly showed me this is a mid-range price point. Budget electric brushes can set you back about £35, mid-range ones around £70 and the fanciest can cost £150 and above. Looking specifically at sonic toothbrushes, the Suri is on the cheaper end.
As with any Buy Me Once product, the Suri’s value becomes more and more apparent the longer you own it. So long as Suri will repair my toothbrush, it’s a worthwhile investment in quality and longevity. Not to mention the mountain of disposable plastic brushes I won’t be throwing in the bin.
Me and my dentist’s verdict
You can tell that Suri designed their toothbrush as an antidote to what’s on the market. They asked people what they actually wanted from an electric toothbrush - and surprise surprise, no one wanted an app. They wanted more battery life, less plastic waste, a slimmer design and a great clean.
The Suri does all of that, with the extra assurance that it can be repaired far into the future. Switching to the Suri sustainable sonic toothbrush has been one of my biggest recent everyday life upgrades. And with its sleek look, it’s the envy of my household.
But what did my dentist think? A year after I switched to the Suri, I went back for my annual appointment. Unprompted, she said my teeth were markedly cleaner. That was when I knew I’d be sticking with Suri for good.
On the fence about switching to a Suri toothbrush? Thanks to their 100-day money back guarantee, you can get a full refund if you don’t get on with it. Try the Suri brush risk-free here.
