REASONS TO BUY
Comfortable
Exceptional cleaning power
REASONS TO AVOID
Little less convenient to use
Lackluster battery life
Philips Sonicare HealthyWhite+ Review
This brush is a good bet if you want maximum adjustability when it comes to brushing modes
Philips Sonicare HealthyWhite+
Credit: Philips
By David Wise ⋅ Senior Review Editor ⋅ October 11, 2018
Contributions From: Austin Palmer
RELATED: The Best Toothbrushes of 2025
Our Verdict
The Sonicare HealthyWhite+ is marketed directly as improving the whiteness of your teeth. While it would be necessary for clinical trials conducted by dental professionals to verify or refute the authenticity of these claims, we did find that this model performed extremely well throughout our testing process. It delivered one of the best cleaning scores we have seen and is quite comfortable to use. On top of that, it offers some of the finest control out of all the brushes we tested with respect to regulating intensity. Unfortunately, it is still on the expensive side and was overall outmatched by a handful of much less expensive toothbrushes.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The HealthyWhite+ outmatched the performance of the Sonicare DiamondClean and scored just a little bit better than the Oral-B Pro 1000. The HealthyWhite+ and the DiamondClean are quite a bit more comfortable than the Oral-B, but all three of these brushes clean about the same. The HealthyWhite+ does have the best battery life of this group and has a list price of $120, which puts it right in the middle, costing about $80 less than the DiamondClean and about $50 more than the Pro 1000.
The HealthyWhite+ offers some of the most adjustability out of all the models that we looked at.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Comfort
The HealthyWhite+ was well-liked among our panel. The majority of our judges found that the brush head is on the shallower side, making it quite maneuverable and relatively easy to reach even the hardest-to-clean spots in your mouth, without being uncomfortable at all.
This brush stood out from the rest as being one of the favorite options for those testers that have sensitive gums. The side-to-side cleaning motion is much less abrasive than the rotation-oscillation brushes and found that this brush had one of the gentlest brushing modes we have seen so far. While this brush doesn't have a dedicated sensitive mode, it does have plus and minus buttons to adjust the intensity of both of its cleaning modes — Clean and Whiten. Our testers with the most sensitive gums found that the Clean mode on the lowest intensity to be less abrasive than the sensitive modes on other models, making the HealthyWhite+ their preferred brush.
This brush was also one of the quieter models. Our sound meter recorded this at 58 dBa about 2" away from the mouth when the user was brushing. However, a few testers did feel that the tone is slightly annoying and loud enough to be distracting.
It also lacks a pressure sensor, leaving it up to you to regulate your brushing pressure and make sure you aren't pressing too hard.
Cleaning
For our cleaning tests, the evaluation of the brushes was based on before-and-after brushing photos, taken after the user had used a plaque-disclosing tablet to identify areas with significant plaque accumulations.
These tablets would stain plaque a vivid red color, allowing us to clearly see which portions of the mouth had been cleaned effectively and which portions had been missed.
The HealthyWhite+ did a great job, missing very few spots. This performance tied with the DiamondClean (making sense, as both brushes use the same brush head).
The HealthyWhite+ had a matte finish, making it comfortable to hold.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Ease of Use
Using the same snap-on/snap-off attachment style as the majority of the brushes that we reviewed, it was easy to change out brush heads. While this model only has two different cleaning modes (clean and whitening), you can adjust the intensity to three different levels, giving you six possible unique combinations to find the perfect feel for you. The interface is split between two buttons: power/mode select, and a plus/minus rocker button to adjust the intensity. This was intuitive from the start, and gives you the option to adjust the intensity while brushing.
Here we show the multiple button interface on the HealthyWhite+.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Unfortunately, this additional button and the presence of a large number of cracks and crevices around the handle do a fantastic job of trapping toothpaste grime, making this product much more difficult to clean. The charging base for this model is on the small side, making it somewhat prone to being accidentally knocked over. It also lacks any additional toothbrush head storage.
The small charging base on this brush makes it prone to being tipped over.
Credit: Kat Elliott
This model also comes with a travel case (non-charging), though there is space to store two toothbrush heads.
The HealthyWhite+ comes with a convenient travel case.
Credit: Kat Elliott
This brush features a two-minute timer, with notifications every 30 seconds to help you pace your brushing evenly. The visual appeal of the HealthyWhite+ doesn't quite stack up to the DiamondClean, with the latter coming in a wider variety of colors and having a much sleeker, more polished overall appearance.
Battery Life
It lasted for 22 days in out test — more than enough to take a short trip and not have to worry about bringing the charger with you.
Value
This model performed well in our testing, but it isn't necessarily a great value. It has an MSRP that is about $50 higher than the top scorer.
Conclusion
While this brush seems to be primarily marketed at whitening your teeth, we would suggest consulting with your dentist before purchasing this model solely for that reason. Upon consulting with our dental experts, they stated that toothbrushes only will really remove surface stains, but to look at a dedicated whitening product when it comes to actually whitening your teeth. Aside from that, this brush might be a good bet if you have extremely sensitive gums, but at that point, you may also want to consult your dentist about whether or not you should even be using an electric toothbrush in the first place.
—David Wise and Austin Palmer
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