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Comment by AlbertCory | Hacker News Reader

I have one, but it never occurred to me to want to hack it.

"But how do you know when it's time to change the brush?"

Well, how about when it starts getting soft?

How about when the blue part goes away, as documented? :-) I've used a Sonicare for, what, ten years or more? And I don't think I've ever seen an indication that the NFC is communicating anything to me. That's not to say that it isn't, but if I'm going to ignore something[0] and replace the head when I damned well please, I just ignore the blue part of the bristles. I could probably adjust my behavior to ignore whatever flashing LED the NFC sets off, but after so many years I'm just going to continue ignoring what I always have.

[0] I'm either easy on toothbrush heads, or Philips is lying, because when the indicator says "buy a new head" it still has plenty of life IMO. Bristles straight and tall, just like a new one, but no blue left being the only difference between that and new. So I ignore it and get a new one when the bristles go a little wonky.

I just change the brush head on the 1st of every month. They say it lasts for 3 months, I must press too hard. So it goes.

...I must press too hard

Could be. My wife presses so hard, I hear the motor bog down. "JFC, honey, let up a bit", to no avail. She's constantly replacing her heads. I literally can't remember the last time I popped a new one on mine. I could easily believe it's been six months (and, yeah, it's about due).

That’s probably really bad for your wife’s teeth.

It's mostly bad for your gums. The plastic bristles and abrasives in toothpaste aren't meaningfully wearing healthy tooth enamel in the amount of time most people spend brushing.

I just got a new Sonicare. It actually has a feature that detects the over current condition, stops the motor, and buzzes.

OT but said that I was brushing too hard and told me that holding the brush at the tip (so that you have less physical leverage on it (instead of gripping it like you would some other appropriately shaped bodily appendage)) will result in the right amount of pressure.

> I must press too hard

a dental hygienist told me to hold it with just the thumb and forefinger.

I can't quite manage that, but if you look at how drummers hold their sticks, it's never in a fist. Their arms wouldn't last through one show like that.

So if you at least take your little finger off it, the amount of pressure goes down.

> but if you look at how drummers hold their sticks, it's never in a fist

Watch Roy Mayorga.

> "Reversed, the way the weight of the stick meets the head is just insanely loud. It makes your drum project so much more, if that’s what you want. That’s when you’ve really got to stretch your arms out, because the weight of the stick makes for a lot of wear and tear on your forearms."

  https://drummagazine.com/roy-mayorga-the-soulfly-interview/

I'm not a drummer, so I shouldn't make blanket statements like that, I guess. I always thought they held the sticks loosely.

Look at Ginger Baker & Elvin Jones, from 0:56 on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFTvZl8G9Z4

Or Roy Haynes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBeBnnqpOcs

The version of the brush I have buzzes at you if you’re brushing too hard.

Mine does too, a light on the bottom lights up as well. I sometimes absentmindedly activate that feature but it's not normal.

Pressing too hard likely makes it much less effective. With the Sonicare brushes you're supposed to let the vibration do the work, and just like holding the cone of a speaker still you're not getting the vibration that does the job.

what is this "as documented" of which you speak? /s

toothbrushes come with documentation???

Brush for 2 minutes.

No more, no less.

One is not enough.

Three is too much.

Four is right out.

good brushing is technique independent of time

if you brush for 2 minutes but don't get enough passes over each square mm of surface area, you have done a bad job of brushing

instead of watching the clock, imagine each of those surface areas and make sure you hit them

plus gums, tongue, roof of mouth, etc.

the SonicCare has this "quad-pacer" feature where every 30 seconds it makes a sound to remind you to change quadrants of your mouth, and after 2 minutes it shuts off.

Probably depends on which body you are using. In mine it both flashes a tiny LED and does an extra little buzz-buzz buzz-buzz signal with the ultrasonics when you turn it on (or off, can't recall which) when the head has 'expired'. Continues to work fine, though.

You might be interested in this YouTube video from Applied Science with electron micrographs of 'new' and 'worn' toothbrush bristles - there is a very marked invisible change that happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwN983PnJoA

Mine was doing that, but after a few weeks it stopped the special vibe. It only blinks now.

AB testing showed that sales increased after indicating the head should be removed earlier than necessary.

I swap toothbrush heads 4-5 times a day (a couple times per brushing session) and one of my major issues until now was that I didn't know how long I had used any individual toothbrush head and when to replace them (I didn't start using all of them at the same time). With per-head usage tracking this is much easier... I wasn't expecting it, but I'm glad Phlips is considering and supporting my use case.

wtf?

Hahaha thanks for the laugh

Well, I do that, too. Single brush body and multiple brush heads.

I think the use case is a family using the same electric toothbrush with a different head for each member.

They used to provide color rings to attach to the head, in order to differencing.

but that's not what he said. He said a single brushing session.

If this is serious, why?

I replace brush when I feel it's the time. Every time after I replaced it, the difference is bigger than expected. I should replace it earlier. Maybe I should buy this Philips.

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