If you are looking for a sleek sonic electric toothbrush that offers high performance and is sustainable, then the SURI electric toothbrush is one of the best options available. I personally love it, it has become my go to electric toothbrush over the past few months and the magnetic wall mount is a game changer! In this review, I have tested the cleaning performance of the SURI toothbrush using the AI powered Testmyteeth mobile app and looked in detail at the design and sustainability of the brush.

About SURI

SURI (Sustainable Rituals) is a relatively new company based in London that is focused on developing innovative, quality personal care products that help people live more sustainably.

Design

When it comes to design, the SURI sustainable electric toothbrush is one of the best-looking toothbrushes I have seen. The toothbrush design is very minimalistic and features a slim and robust aluminium body with a matt painted finish, giving the brush a premium feel. There is a singular power button on the front of the brush that can be used to switch between two different cleaning modes (‘Everyday Clean’ or ‘Polish’). A small LED indicator above the power button will change colour based on which cleaning mode is selected (when ‘Everyday Clean’ is selected the indicator will illuminate white and when ‘Polish’ mode is selected the light will be turn blue). A small screw on the toothbrush base allows for access to the motor and battery enabling repairs by SURI in-case anything goes wrong.

Charging

There are two metal pins at the base of the SURI electric toothbrush which are used to charge the brush when it is placed on its magnetic charging stand or inside the travel case (when plugged in). The magnetic charging dock is super slim, particularly when compared to conventional electric toothbrush chargers. It also holds the brush securely and with the stone-effect plastic looks great if left out on your bed-side table. The charger uses a male USB type A connector which is compatible with most USB plugs (note: USB wall charger is not included with the brush to minimise potential electronic waste). I am a big fan of USB charging on an electric toothbrush, as I have to otherwise use a shaver plug adapter. However, if you are wanting to charge your SURI toothbrush from a bathroom shaver socket, there are a wide selection of shaver-socket to USB adapters available on amazon separately.

In testing, the battery took between 3 and 4 hours to fully recharge, which is far better than a lot of other electric toothbrushes.

Battery Life

The SURI electric toothbrush has a battery life of over 40 days which is great and should keep you well covered for most trips away. The SURI toothbrush has a handy feature where it will automatically turn off the brush once your 2 minutes of brushing has been completed which helps to save battery life.

No Pressure sensor

Sadly, there is not a pressure sensor on the SURI electric toothbrush to alert you when you might be brushing too hard. When testing the toothbrush, I didn’t find this to be a significant issue, and when the 33,000 vibrations per minute “Polish” mode was selected, I naturally put less pressure on the brush and let the bristles do most of the hard work.

Brush Heads

The plant-based brush heads are attached to the handle via a steel shaft located at the top of the brush. When pressing the head onto the shaft a light click can be heard once it is securely held in position. The team at SURI have also added a laser etched “keep smiling” to the top of the handle which is a nice touch and shows the attention to detail by the SURI design team.

The brush heads look fantastic, are made from a corn-starch-based PLA plastic and match the colour of the brush body. The tip of the brush head contains 14 clusters of medium/soft bristles (made from castor bean oil) and features a tongue scraper on the back, which can help to keep any bad breath at bay. The bristles are cut into a W shape profile (‘3D wave’) which is designed to cup the teeth and improve interdental cleaning. The SURI toothbrush heads should be changed every 3 months and can be sent back to SURI for recycling instead of ending up in landfill.

Magnetic Wall Mount

The toothbrush also comes with an attractive stone effect magnetic wall mount that uses an adhesive pad to stick to your bathroom mirror or wall. This is a great little addition that helps to keep your bathroom countertop or sink tidy.

Travel Case

When you are out on the move protecting your toothbrush from damage, keeping the brush head clean and making sure it doesn’t accidently turn on is particularly important. SURI’s solution, a sleek minimalist travel case that allows you to charge the SURI electric toothbrush via an included USB type C lead. The premium feeling plastic case snugly holds the brush body and a single brush head, magnetically clips shut and even features a UV-C light that can be used to clean the brush head when the case is plugged in (by pressing the button on top of the travel case). This case looks far nicer, is compact and more convenient to take with you than most other electric toothbrush cases I have used.

Warranty

The brush comes with 1 year warranty and a 100-day money back guarantee where you can get a full refund if you are not satisfied (‘The SURI Promise’).

Performance

The toothbrush is comfortable to hold, despite not having the rubberised grips found on many conventional electric toothbrushes and provides nice haptic feedback every 30s so that you know when to move on to the next section of your mouth. The SURI toothbrush is also particularly quiet to use at only 53-54dB when “Polish” mode was selected and roughly 43dB on “Everyday Clean”.

Plaque Removal

To test out the cleaning performance of the SURI electric tootbrush I used a two-tone disclosing tablet combined with the Testmyteeth mobile app to help identify and monitor plaque accumulation.

Prior to using the SURI toothbrush I obtained an overall Testmyteeth score of 93% for my upper teeth. The surface breakdown revealed that plaque was mostly present on the inner surfaces of my upper teeth with a brushing score of 78%. Three teeth were also found to have high plaque (>15%) ... eeek definitely time to start brushing. After the two minutes were up I had managed to remove most of the visible plaque from my upper teeth and improved the overall brushing score to 100% with less than 5% plaque present on all teeth surfaces visible within the scan.

The overall score for my lower teeth before brushing was slighly lower at 88% with a score of only 77% on my inner surfaces. The inner surfaces of three teeth had high plaque (>15%) and two teeth had low plaque (between 5% & 10%). After brushing using the SURI electric toothbrush, I was able to improve my overall lower score to 97%. There were a few small bits of plaque that I had struggled to completely remove from the inner surfaces of my back molars. Overall, the SURI toothbrush performed very well and I am looking forward to making the switch to a more sustainable electric toothbrush.

Sustainability

There is no doubt that SURI are truly focused on minimising the environmental impact of this sonic electric toothbrush, by using renewable plant-based materials for the brush heads, providing recycling schemes for used brush heads and thoughtfully designing the brush body to be easily repaired if anything goes wrong. However, some additional steps are required by both SURI and the buyer to make sure brush heads are collected, disassembled and recycled appropriately.

Materials and Recyclability

Selecting materials that offer high performance during use, whilst degrading easily on disposal is very difficult and SURI have balanced this very well. The SURI sonic electric toothbrush heads are primarily made from corn starch which is bio-degradable under the right conditions and typically takes between 60 to 90 days to breakdown with industrial composting.

The bristles on the SURI sonic electric toothbrush are made from castor bean oil and are secured in place using a metal staple. Although the bristles cannot be recycled and must be separated from the main brush head, the aluminium staples can be easily recycled. SURI have included a guide on their website to make this clear and provide a recycling facility if you live in the US and UK, where used brush heads can be shipped in compostable bags back to them to process.

Repairability

One factor that is often overlooked when designing consumer products is repairability. This is something that SURI appear to have done very well with their sonic electric toothbrush. The brush features a small screw at the bottom of the device and consists of modular components which can be repaired by SURI. The sonic electric toothbrush comes with a 1-year warranty and if the toothbrush is damaged outside of this period, SURI offer to repair the product for a reasonable price, helping to reducing unnecessary landfill waste.

Packaging

The minimalist, sleek packaging on the SURI electric toothbrush protects the brush well and avoids the unnecessary plastic, frequently found on other electric toothbrushes. The cardboard inserts are easily recyclable and even the brush head comes sealed in a home compostable wrapper.

Carbon Neutral

SURI has also partnered with the climate-neutral organisation ClimatePartner, to offset the carbon emissions created between the product manufacture and end-of-life.

Pricing

At the time of writing the SURI electric tootbrush is available at a retail price of £95. Although this is more expensive than many electric toothbrushes available on the market, if you factor in the brush's beautiful design, premium quality, good performance, repairability and the company's focus on sustainability, then I truly believe that the SURI electric toothbrush is a fantastic option.

Finally, SURI sells replacement plant-based brush heads in packs of three for £14.40 which is similar to the cost of replacement heads on other premium electric toothbrushes.