Philips sonicare diamondclean 9000 review: It promises to whiten teeth in one day, so we checked

We checked out brush head intensity which increases over a week’s worth of brushing sessions, until it reaches 31,000 strokes (iStock/The Independent)

Launched in the Spring of 2020, the diamondclean 9000 arrived with quite a bold claim: that it could whiten teeth in one day. Reading the small print, it turns out that this is in comparison to previous diamondclean brushes.

However, while it can be difficult to test the veracity of some electric toothbrush claims until you’re sat in the dentist’s chair, here was something that we could quantify, just by seeing if we could notice a difference in the mirror after continued use morning and night.

The brand also claims it removes up to 100 per cent more stains in just three days, in comparison with a manual. Then there’s the less cosmetic and more clinical claim that the brush removes up to ten times more plaque to leave teeth with that sought after, deep clean feeling.

So, it’s safe to say that the 9000 is a toothbrush with plenty to live up to.

It’s currently selling for £149.99, quite normal for most smart brushes these days. But can it really brighten your smile without putting too much of a dent in your bank balance?

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Philips sonicare diamondclean 9000

Buy now £149.99, Philips.co.uk

• Cleaning technology: Sonic

• Cleaning modes: 12

• 30-second pacer: Yes

• 2-minute timer: Yes

• Pressure sensor: Yes

• Travel case: Yes

• Waterproof: Yes

• Charging time: 24 hours

• Usage: 3 weeks

The brush

Like all current sonicare releases, the brush handle is nice and tactile with good balance and even though it’s smooth with no friction points the matte plastic finish doesn’t get slippery when wet. The angled neck makes it easy to access the corners of your mouth, while the brush head itself is the usual, oval sonicare shape.

It’s this brush head that allows the 9000 to make the whitening claims that it does, as it’s densely populated with mildly abrasive bristles that gradually reduce the presence of stains on the teeth surface. Of course, to do so you’re going to need to find the right cleaning mode for you and the 9000 allows you to really tailor your regime with, effectively, 12 different cleaning modes.

You access these using the two indented buttons on the handle, which allows you to power up the brush and to cycle through the four different cleaning modes (when the brush is turned off) and then to choose one of the three different intensity settings (low, medium and high) when the brush is in use, hence the 12 modes.

Read more: 10 best electric toothbrushes that keep teeth healthy, bright and pearly white

The four modes are clean, white+, gum health and deep clean+ and we really liked how the brush is smart enough to recognise, which brush head is attached to sync it with the right mode. For example, as we were testing for the brush’s whitening capabilities we attached the W3 premium white brush head and we knew that the brush would begin in white+ mode, leaving us to choose the intensity.

And speaking of the intensity, for sonic brushing newbies the 9000 features EasyStart, which gradually increases the intensity of the brush head over a week’s worth of brushing sessions, until it’s fully up to speed at 31,000 strokes. This is an especially nice option for those making the jump from a manual to introduce them to the feeling of powered brushing.

The clean

There is something about the super fast, sonic pulsations delivered by the diamondclean that is very satisfying during brushing and it really feels like it’s shaking food loose from between the teeth compared with an oscillating brush head which feels a little more aggressive in its cleaning action. This is why sonic brushing feels better if you suffer from sensitive gums and the fact that you can really fine tune the action of the brush head using the intensity levels means that it’s very easy to dial into the most ideal setting for your teeth.

But what about the claims of whiter teeth in 24 hours? Using the W3 premium white brush head in conjunction with white+ mode we not only seemed to see a difference, but also feel one as the white+ mode seemed to get the balance right in terms of the intensity of the clean, leaving us with that squeaky clean teeth feeling.

Read more: 9 best teeth whitening kits for brightening your smile at home

We say we saw a difference because rather than judging on a brighter smile, which is quite subjective, we focussed on just one canine that was slightly duller than the rest and there did seem to be a difference, not after a day, but certainly after a week.

However, brushing for a week on the white+ mode left us feeling like the routine was almost a little too abrasive and so we mixed things up and reserved the white+ mode to just two days a week, using the deep clean+ mode the rest of the time. Doing this seemed to achieve the best balance between the cosmetic and the clinical.

Battery life

With travel back on the horizon, whether that’s within the UK or farther afield, the retained charge of electrical products can often be a factor and when it comes to battery life, sonicare brushes excel and the diamondclean 9000 is no exception.

Even on the most intense mode, brushing twice a day, we managed to get three weeks of brushing before we were alerted by the brush that it needed to go back on charge.

Read more: Can the Waterpik Sonic-Fusion toothbrush give you a dentist-quality clean?

Obviously, if you prefer the less intense settings you can eek even more life out of the brush, which takes around 24 hours to fully charge. The 9000 also comes equipped with a travel case that has a USB cable attached inside that you can use to charge the brush on the go from your laptop or power bank.

Buy now £149.99, Philips.co.uk

The verdict: Philips sonicare diamondclean 9000

For those of you for whom whiter teeth are a dental priority then the diamondclean 9000 is a product that seems to be effective at gradually relieving teeth of their dullness and restoring a healthy shine without doing any damage. For those of you who are more concerned with leaving teeth thoroughly cleaned, there are enough cleaning modes available to be able to find an optimum combination for good oral health to satisfy your inner hygienist.

Voucher codes

For the latest offers on electric toothbrushes and more tech products, try the discount codes below:

• Boots discount codes

• Currys discount codes

• Very discount codes

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