Philips Sonicare Prestige Toothbrush review 6

The Philips Sonicare Prestige 9900 is an electric toothbrush like no other. It’s the champagne of dental care; the Ferrari of the toothbrush world. It’s designed and priced like a luxury product—and it performs like one, too.

What’s in the box of the Philips Sonicare Prestige 9900 toothbrush?

In the box of the Sonicare Prestige, you’ll find a toothbrush that’s similar to other Sonicares… But not quite the same. This toothbrush is a little shorter than my other Philips Sonicare electric toothbrushes, with a pearled handle and a total lack of separate buttons. Its body is one sleek, continuous piece. There are next to no spots for calcium or toothpaste to build up, so your toothbrush stays looking pristine for much longer.

Along with this slightly more petite brush handle with SenseIQ technology, you’ll find a premium brush head, a wireless charging base with frosted charging stand, and a gorgeous travel case-slash-charger wrapped in buttery vegan leather that comes with a USB-C cable for charging on the go. The charging base comes in a matching tone to your toothbrush. This one is Champagne, so the brush and case are a soft pink and the accents are a beautiful, shiny rose gold.

Philips Sonicare Prestige Toothbrush review 7 Philips Sonicare Prestige case vegan leather

What makes the Philips Sonicare Prestige special?

I think this toothbrush delivers a superior brushing experience compared to other electric toothbrushes. I’ll talk about this more later, but the Sonicare Prestige—when used with the Sonicare app—really helps you target your problem areas. It divides your mouth into six quadrants (as opposed to the usual four) and shows you a graphic representation of where you need to brush more. It closely tracks your pressure level, which is important for gum health, and your brushing speed, which plays a key role in getting your teeth clean all over.

The Prestige, with the Sonicare app, even tracks how often you brush your teeth and where you need to be brushing more. It’s rechargeable with replaceable heads, but what makes it so special is its ability to correct your brushing technique and ensure that you’re getting the most out of your toothbrush.

Philips Sonicare Prestige Toothbrush comparison
Philips Sonicare Prestige size comparison. From left to right: David’s toothpaste tube, Philips Sonicare (whitening model), Philips Sonicare Prestige 9900, Philips One by Sonicare, Oral-B manual toothbrush.

What makes the Philips Sonicare Prestige so luxurious?

The other side of what makes the Philips Sonicare Prestige special is its luxury-level experience. It really feels better than using a “regular” toothbrush, and not just because my teeth feel cleaner when I’m done!

Having a button-free toothbrush with wireless charging means that the entire handle stays cleaner for longer. And the wireless charging, while perhaps expected from items like phones nowadays, just feels wonderful when it’s designed for a toothbrush.

Even the charging case for the Prestige feels luxurious. It’s weighty and sleek, and the toothbrush head tucks right in under there. I feel like it should be being tucked into a Tumi suitcase for a weekend trip to Belize! It looks and feels great. I wasn’t sure why the travel case was so heavy at first, but then I realized: it’s also your wireless charger. There’s a discreet USB-C charging port at the bottom of the case, and a hollow space just underneath where your toothbrush goes for a tiny USB-C to USB cable. You can simply pop your toothbrush handle back into the case while travelling, then plug the case in to charge!

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The Sonicare app

While Philips certainly has luxury covered with this toothbrush, practicality is another thing entirely. Not every luxury product outperforms mass-market ones.

This one does. A big part of that is the Philips Sonicare app, which I’ve bemoaned in the past for its aggressive location permissions. But there’s so much to customize for this toothbrush that it feels worthwhile. For the Prestige, not only can you target your problem areas and change your brushing intensity, but you can even customize different starting positions in your mouth so that your toothbrush knows where you’re brushing next. (My guess is that it uses a basic accelerometer to gauge which way your toothbrush is tilted.)

The app guides you through the six sections of your mouth, colouring in the areas that you’ve brushed adequately. It isn’t specific down to the tooth, but instead sorts by region: top right outer edge, top right inner edge, top centre outer edge, and so on. It tracks how often you’re brushing and which areas you’re missing, and keeps an eye on your daily brushing stats and battery level.

You can customize your toothbrush for three different intensities (it recommends using the highest possible; I have sensitive teeth, so I use it on the lowest) and a ton of different modes:

  • Clean
  • White+ (extra time for polishing the front of your teeth to remove surface stains)
  • Gum health (extra time of reduced power to gently massage your gums)
  • Deep clean
  • Sensitive

You can also toggle on adaptive intensity (to protect your gums) and scrubbing feedback, and add focus areas (by the section, not the tooth) where you have plaque build-up, bleeding, gum recession, or potential cavities.

Philips Sonicare app review 1

The downsides of the Sonicare app

For this toothbrush’s hefty price tag, I expected perfection. I think it fell a little bit short of that, but it does come close!

What I would have liked to see is a toothbrush that works even when the app is closed. It’s a lot of information to convey, so I’d understand if that’s not how it works for logistical reasons, but… Well, it’s a pricey toothbrush. I feel like it’s reasonable to ask a lot of it!

I recently purchased an automatic cat feeder that has both manual and app controls. It was very affordable, and it tracks feeding times and amounts from both ends. When I use the manual feed button (as I often do), those times get recorded in the app as well—even if my phone is off. So, it would be nice if the Sonicare app tracked my extra brushing sessions, too!

I like to have the app open for guided brushing, but when I’m in a hurry, I just want to brush and go. Hopefully that’s something that Philips will be able to add to the Prestige in the future!

Philips Sonicare Prestige Toothbrush review 5

My results with the Philips Sonicare Prestige electric toothbrush

The most important measure that I use to determine whether a toothbrush is effective is the feedback that I get from my dentist and oral hygienist. It doesn’t really matter whether or not I feel like I had a perfect experience with a toothbrush—what matters is how healthy my teeth and gums are.

And this one delivers.

I noticed a big difference when I switched from a manual toothbrush to a Sonicare, and another one when I switched from a “regular” Sonicare to the Prestige. In my first two sessions, the app corrected small ways in which I was brushing my teeth wrong. I was still brush-and-wiggling my toothbrush a little bit, which isn’t something you need to do with this toothbrush.

Philips Sonicare Prestige Toothbrush review 9

To get the best results from the Sonicare Prestige, you should be very slowly sliding it along your teeth, close to the gum line. The app wasn’t shy about telling me that, and as soon as I changed my brushing technique, I noticed a big difference—and my dentist and oral hygienist did, too!

I felt like my last dental cleaning was a clear indication that not only did my Philips Sonicare make my teeth feel cleaner, but it really did leave me with cleaner teeth and healthier gums.

I recommend the rechargeable Philips Sonicare line for anyone looking to improve their oral care regimen, and the Prestige for a) anyone looking for a little luxury out of their toothbrush and b) anyone who really struggles with brushing their teeth effectively. The Prestige’s app-enabled brushing assistant provides detailed guidance, and that’s something that you can benefit from for the rest of your life.

Shop the Philips Sonicare Prestige Toothbrush at Best Buy online.

Rae Chen
Rae Chen covers everything from handbags to speakers here on the Best Buy Plug-in Blog. They can also be found at thenotice.net, where they've been writing about beauty & wellness since 2007.

15 COMMENTS

  1. I would love to win the midnight blue! Maybe it will keep my dentist quiet about my brushing. 😀

  2. I love the champagne colour! It’s beautiful. The ability to connect to the app to actually see how you can clean better and more efficiently is amazing and love the pearled finish ❤️

  3. I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to win one of these new sonicare toothbrushes made by Phillips. I like the midnight black coloured toothbrush personally and what really strikes my attention about it is not only how compacted it is built for travelling to take up less space, but the fact is the it has 4 modes for different brushing and it’s got the adapt sensing mode for a better brushing and cleaning hygiene. I’m so stoked to win one of these bad boys. cheers to Phillip’s!!!!

  4. I like the champagne colour best. I also like that the brush is one continuous piece and that you don’t have to wiggle and move the brush around when you brush. Looks good!

  5. Thanks for the detailed review! I like the champagne colour, and it seems to be very popular!

    • Having sensitive teeth, and the dentist noticing I sometimes miss spots, I can see how the tracking on this brush would help with some spots I need to work on!

  6. Love the review and I would love to win the midnight blue! This toothbrush seems like a game changer!

  7. Thanks for the great review Rae. My favorite colour is Champagne. I really like the application which includes the feature of tracking teeth pressure, Im constantly being told by dentist I put more pressure on certain areas of my mouth.

  8. I like the champagen color best. what I like best is to quote your article “when used with the Sonicare app—really helps you target your problem areas. It divides your mouth into six quadrants (as opposed to the usual four) and shows you a graphic representation of where you need to brush more. It closely tracks your pressure level, which is important for gum health, and your brushing speed, which plays a key role in getting your teeth clean all over.”

  9. Have always liked the idea of an electric toothbrush and have used battery powered ones but this is a gamechanger.

  10. I like the pink colour. As someone who really struggles with brushing my teeth effectively and has to go to the dentist a lot, I think it is amazing that it comes with an app that can provide detailed guidance by giving you scrubbing feedback and giving you a brushing result. I also like how you can customize the toothbrush’s intensity and modes.

    Thank you.

  11. I like the champagne color. I love that this amazing Prestige Toothbrush can be set up with an app to actually see and learn how to brush better for better cleaning!

    • Hi Lori. Great question! This toothbrush works without the app, but the app can’t record your brushing sessions unless you open it before you begin brushing.

      I recommend using the brush with the app so that you can take advantage of its extra functions (like brushing recommendations, brush customizations, and tracked brushing sessions), but this toothbrush works without the app as well!

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