Peter Griffin: Good vibes from a brush with attitude

I had uncomfortable braces on my teeth as a kid, with the result that now I have an aversion to regular dental visits.

That and my penchant for sweet things means I'm likely to have the sticky goo - apparently used to make golf balls - filling most of my teeth before too long.

But if the words root and canal chill you like they do me, you need to bite the bullet and rethink your brushing habits.

I had an electric toothbrush but stopped using it because it was too jarring and sounded like a post hole borer. Brushing your teeth is supposed to be a peaceful activity, one where you stare at yourself in the mirror and think about your life.

But for the past few weeks I've been trying the Oral-B Triumph. It's a top-of-the-line model so you'd think it would allow you to slip into that peaceful brushing mode I'm used to. It allows no such thing.

On clean mode the Triumph is vigorous to say the least. My gums bled for the first few days and the sensation of having a rubbery brush vibrating in my mouth didn't really endear me to the Triumph. But I stuck at it.

After a week I started to get used to the two-minute morning and night routine.

I also finally sat down and read the manual to find out what the different brush heads and brushing modes do.

There's a computer chip in the Oral-B Triumph that automatically detects what brush head has been slotted on to it. That means the whole family can use the same toothbrush and have their own brush heads with individual settings. The only problem you'll find with that is when someone goes away for the weekend and wants to take it with them.

The Flossaction head is supposed to be as effective as manually flossing and means you don't have to pull that waxy string between your teeth, something I despise even more than brushing.

There's an LCD screen on the Triumph that tells you how long you have left to brush.

Unfortunately you can't see the LCD when the brush is in your mouth, so you end up with toothpaste flying off your buzzing brush on to the bathroom mirror while you check to see how much longer you have to put up with the buzzing.

The Triumph seems to change gear from time to time, probably as it switches between modes. As well as cleaning, there's a soft mode for sensitive areas, massage for cleaning your gums to stop gingivitis, and polish for whitening teeth.

Using it morning and night I managed to get a bit over a week's worth of cleaning out of the Triumph before it needed a recharge. It's a pricey little gadget, but let's face it, you're buying it to save yourself trips to the dentist.

I'm still waiting for the toothbrush that scans your mouth to pick up the tiny cavities before they become gaping chasms, and uses ultrasonic pulses to eliminate brushing altogether. Until then, I'll stick with this.

Price: $160.