We all know the importance of good tooth brushing to maintain good oral hygiene, but how many of us really brush thoroughly for the entire 2 minutes (or more)?
Brushing your teeth is an essential daily task — not just to maintain a pretty smile, but for your overall dental health and hygiene. Dental experts say everyone should brush their teeth and gums at least twice a day, and let’s not forget flossing and rinsing with mouthwash, either!
Whether you’re a child learning good dental habits or an adult who may have gotten lazy over the years, everyone could use a refresher on how to brush their pearly whites properly.
Several apps available in the App Store help us learn and maintain the best ways to brush our teeth! Brushing with an app can help you transform your brushing behavior and improve your oral health by keeping you on-track for the dentist- recommended 2 minutes.
Most of these apps offer timers for your Apple Watch that beep and vibrate (via the watch’s haptics) every 30 seconds, so you change the tooth quadrant you’re brushing to get a more thorough brushing of all your teeth and gums.
Keep reading to see some of the best Apple Watch apps for brushing your teeth.
Contents
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Brushout
Brushout is a toothbrush timer app available on the iPhone and Apple Watch. It is compatible with Apple Health and records your toothbrushing sessions in the Health app. It also sends notifications to remind you to brush your teeth!
The app recommends brushing your teeth twice daily for at least two minutes. It teaches a technique that separates your mouth into quadrants, where you brush each section for thirty seconds.
Their method takes some getting used to, especially if you find out you’ve been lazy when it comes to brushing your teeth! Luckily, there is a pause option so you can take a break to spit in between without running out the timer.
The iPhone app is really nice and visually appealing. A clear diagram of an average mouth is easy to follow while you brush.
The Apple Watch app mirrors the iPhone app. However, the diagram isn’t as detailed as the one on your phone — but that’s not a big deal!
A complication is also available for your watch face, which is just a shortcut to the app. Also, when you use the app’s timer on your Apple Watch, Fitness will turn on while you brush. Not sure why that happens…I guess brushing your teeth is a workout!
Colgate Connect and Colgate Smile: best app for Colgate toothbrushes
Colgate Connect and Colgate Smile are two separate apps and free apps, but they are essentially the same app. The only reason they are two individual apps is that they pair to different Colgate brand Bluetooth toothbrushes.
The Colgate Connect app pairs with their Hum toothbrush collection, while the Colgate Smile app connects to the Colgate Smart Brush. However, using these apps does not need one of these toothbrushes.
Both apps have a guided brushing service that includes a typical mouth map showing users where they should brush and for how long. It separates your mouth into sixteen sections, and you brush each section for 30 seconds.
There is also a pause button. The apps also remind you to turn the faucet off, so you do not waste water while you brush your teeth. Additionally, you can set up reminders to notify you to brush your teeth.
You can also connect Apple Music to the app, playing music while you brush your teeth. The apps can also connect to your Apple Health app and record brushing sessions.
In both apps, you can earn points every time you use the app to brush your teeth. Points can be used to redeem various Colgate products, and if you have enough smile points, you get items for free! You can also join challenges.
Get personalized insights to improve your brushing
These Colgate toothbrushing apps are great, but they are even better if you own one of the compatible Colgate smart toothbrushes. That’s because sensors are embedded in the smart toothbrush handle that tracks your brushing progress and learns your style.
When using a Colgate toothbrush, the app connects directly to your toothbrush and monitors how you brush your teeth. The app then lets you know where you missed a spot and offers real-time guidance to improve your brushing technique.
However, both of these apps’ Apple Watch app counterparts need some work. 
For some reason, neither the Colgate Connect Appel Watch app nor Colgate Smile Apple Watch app synced with my iPhone, and I had to login in separately for each app on my watch. There is also no watch-face complication.
The Apple Watch apps are just a simple timer that vibrates each time you should move into a different section of your mouth., although Colgate Smile offers a few more insights on the Apple Watch.
Toothy: Teeth Brushing Timer
Another great tooth brushing app is Toothy! This app is especially good for children.
The app gives you daily tips for good dental care and any potential dental issue or situation — which is super helpful!
The app also has a great brush timer! The timer goes for two minutes, and it gives you instructions while you brush your teeth. The app also reminds you to brush your gums and tongue gently!
Toothy also connects to your Apple Music app and shuffles your music while you brush! You can connect the app to your Apple Health app to record your toothbrushing data. There are ads in the app that pop up after you finish a brushing session.
There are also videos in the app that you can watch that offer additional dental hygiene tips!
The Apple Watch app is very similar to the iPhone app. You can access the timers straight from your watch, check your stats, and even read their tips for brushing, flossing, and rinsing.
The app also includes timers for flossing and rinsing, but these features are only available in the premium version of Toothy. A Toothy premium subscription also includes reminders and removes the ads.
A Toothy subscription costs $23.99 per year, $2.99 per month, or a one-time purchase of $35.99.
Toothbrush Time 
Toothbrush Time is a toothbrushing pay-to-download app that costs 99 cents. The app is a simple timer app with a tooth theme.
This app is especially good for kids with its different and fun animations, which are pretty cute.
The app has a basic design that utilizes pictures for each function: a toothbrush, a sun/moon, and a gear for settings. You can tap on the sun and moon picture to switch from daytime to nighttime.
The timer lasts two minutes, but you can adjust it to whatever suits you best. There is no pause button.
Fair warning, your iPhone may go to sleep while using it; the app does not keep your phone awake, especially if you utilize your device’s auto-lock feature.
You can easily access the brush timer in the Toothbrush Time app for the Apple Watch.
The timer for the Apple Watch gives you some commands like to switch, which I did not notice in the iPhone version. There is no complication available either.
Teeth Time (Apple Watch only)
Teeth Time is a very simple toothbrush timer app available only on the Apple Watch, and it is free to download!
The timer works for two minutes and alerts you when to switch areas to brush at different intervals. On the downside, there is no way to pause the timer in the app.
Brush – Toothbrush Timer (Apple Watch only)
If you want a more robust toothbrushing app for your Apple Watch, check out Brush – Toothbrush Timer. You can even save and track all your tooth-brushing activity in your iPhone’s Apple Health app.
Unlike our previous apps, the timer on this app doesn’t countdown; instead, it counts forwards!
It goes for two minutes and alerts you in 30-second intervals when to switch the brushing area.
And if you want to pause, all you have to do is double-tap the screen. You can even change the timer’s duration (brushing goal) and customize its color!
Your watch’s screen stays on while using the app and shows your timer, so you don’t have to worry about your screen turning off midway through brushing.
Once you’re done brushing, the app gives you an option to do a mouthwash rinse next. You can also review your history log in the app or the Apple Health app or add a complication to your watch face.
iPhone only apps for folks that use Sonic or OralB smart toothbrushes 
Both Sonic and OralB offer iPhone-only apps for their smart toothbrushes. And both of these apps now link to the Apple Health app!
- The Oral-B app connects to Oral-B iO, Genius and Smart Series toothbrushes. There’s also a separate app called Oral-B Connect for Sense and Guide brushes.
- For kids, Oral-B also has the Disney Magic Timer app which makes brushing a fun experience as kids brush along with favorite Disney characters from Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney!
- The Sonicare app connects to Sonicare 9900 Prestige, DiamondClean Smart, FlexCare Platinum Connected, DiamondClean 9000, and ExpertClean toothbrushes. You must have a connected toothbrush to use the app.
- There’s also a Soniccare app for kids that uses fun animations, characters, and incentives to build good oral hygiene habits. There’s also a parent dashboard to keep track of your child’s brushing.
Both of these apps offer timers and brushing guidance. And, depending on your toothbrush model, you also see a mouth map with position guidance and missed area notifications.
The OralB app includes something special for your gum health called Gum Guard for iO Series, Genius 10000 and Genius X models. This technology keeps track of any gum bleeding to help you improve those areas for better oral health.
The downside of these apps is that you need to have your phone with you. They do not offer apps for your Apple Watch, which makes them a lot less convenient in our book.
Final Thoughts
It’s never too late (or too soon) to pick up good dental hygiene habits, and downloading one of these toothbrushing apps is a great start!
All these apps offer personalized insights, guidance, brushing reminders, and tips to improve your brushing habits so you achieve a healthy mouth.
Plus, these apps are great for adults and even kids — but which app is the best?
The Colgate apps are great and free to use, plus you get rewards! While you don’t need one of their Bluetooth toothbrushes to use the app, it works even better if you pair a Colgate toothbrush to the app for personalized guidance and recommendations to improve your oral health.
Brushout is a good option, especially if you don’t own a smart toothbrush. Their guided brushing was detailed and easy to follow. Plus, the app was the only one that offered a watch face complication!
For the paid apps, the Brush – Toothbrush Timer Apple Watch app was the one worth the price. It gives you a few more features compared to the other apps.
Do you use a toothbrushing app? Let us know your recommendations!
Hi
Why don’t talk about app delivrered with sonic or oralB toothbrush ?
Hi Baptiste,
Yes, those are good options if you own a Sonic or OralB toothbrush.
We tried to focus on apps that worked with Apple Watch and also didn’t require a branded toothbrush to work with the app.
But you’re right, we should add them in as options for iPhones and folks that own these toothbrushes.