There's a lot of confusion about replacement heads for Oral B electric toothbrushes on Amazon, and I just want to give you all some facts. There are only three kinds of heads for ALL Oral-B electric toothbrushes. Flexisoft EB17, Extrasoft EB17, and Ortho OD17. I prefer Flexisoft EB17, which is what this item is. (The Extrasoft is a little too soft, and the Ortho is overpriced)

The reason I mention this is that the prices are all over the board for what is the same product. For example, this listing is for four Flexisoft EB17 heads for $24.99 (The EB17-4 just means there are four of them). There are other offers through Amazon partners for this exact same item for $12.99. Make sure you find the best deal, because they're all the exact same product, listed multiple times at different prices!

137 of 144 found the following review helpful:

Brush head become loose after short period of time  Jan 19, 2009
By T T
I purchased this Oral-B Precision Clean 4 pack replacement head, I highly doubt if this is original Oral-B product. After few weeks of light use, the brush head became loose and wobbling causing extra noise, it pinched my lips and tongue. I am on the 3rd brush head now (out of the 4 pack I bought), they all broke the same way.

I remembered I bought the 2 or 3 pack replacement brush head from Target before, they worked exactly like the original, but expensive. That's why it was so tempting to get this cheap "thought to be original" alternative. Be aware!

44 of 47 found the following review helpful:

How Something So Basic Can Be Fun  Mar 11, 2005
By Daniel Rutkowski
This review is about the Oral-B Flexisoft replacement heads. Coupled with the Braun electric toothbrushes, this is one of the most effective aids to oral hygiene ever developed. My introduction to Oral-B goes back over 27 years to a USAF basic training briefing; a dental technician held up an Oral-B toothbrush with medium bristles and said "this is the toothbrush you need if you want to keep your teeth" or some such statement like that. Well, I haven't lost one yet.

The motorized mechanicals of the toothbrush do most of the work while you guide the oscillating round head around and over your pearly whites. While the heads are undeniably pricey when looked at just in dollars and cents, there is value in the fact that the total package actually makes a rather mundane chore a little more fun while actually living up to the claim that it does a better job on your teeth than manual brushing.

Since I've always believed the entire surface area of the toothbrush head was meant to be covered with toothpaste and the size of the head on these is smaller than the average brush, I know I'm using less toothpaste to do the same job. While this is no big deal, the long term economic benefit is plaque under control, healthy gums and a bright smile full of natural teeth. It's kind of hard to deny it works since my dentist has confirmed the positive results upon direct examination.

Just be careful what model of these brush heads you are selecting and watch the pricing. Oral-B uses a kind of color code for the bristles, and the ones that have the colored indicator bristles in a line with the shaft are the Flexisoft model that seems to equate to medium hardness.

Enjoy life!

30 of 31 found the following review helpful:

Not Quite Right  Jun 29, 2009
By J. Brown
I had read a few bad reviews of these items before purchasing them. Like those reviewers before me, I found it was hard to ignore the low price. So I asked myself, "How bad can they be"?
The brush heads I received looked correct when compared to the brush heads I purchased locally (at much greater expense). When using them, however, I notice that the motion of the head is not nearly as controlled as the retail example. On the local retail version, the motion of the head is very well constrained to just an oscillating motion (partial rotations, back and forth). These brush heads have very poor motion constraint. The circular brush can easily "slide" around on its base which can very easily pinch your cheeks and/or lips (sometimes quite painfully).
Not only that, but the oscillating motion is much weaker resulting in a worse quality brushing. As poor as the action of these brush heads is, I can only imagine that they are a cheap "knock-off", more interested in looking like the original than acting like it.
My advice is to pay the retail price for the real brush heads. Your mouth and your dentist will thank you.

20 of 20 found the following review helpful:

Initial OralB purchase  Dec 16, 2008
By Richard N. Brandt II
The first two replacement heads exploded at the back of the plastic head and a little metal pin dislodged in my mouth while I was brushing. Yesterday (12/15/08,) I spoke to a rep. at Amazon.com and they were going to contact the manufacturer and get a replacement pack shipped to me. They said they have not experienced this problem before. As long as the second shipment is fine, I'm okay with this purchase. I do appreciate the personal phone call from the Amazon.com tech.

Rick Brandt

See all 230 customer reviews on Amazon.com