We could all use a little extra flossing. Let’s face it – while most of us brush regularly our flossing habits could definitely improve. We wondered if the Oral-B Hummingbird would give us that extra incentive.

The Hummingbird is a flosser that vibrates with a simple push of a button. The vibrations gently massage your gums while the flosser dislodges food particles and harmful plaque. The Oral-B Hummingbird will set you back $9.99 and comes with 3 single-use flossing heads and 5 toothpicks – after those are done you’ll need to purchase replacement heads. The hummingbird operates with one AA battery which is included.

We put the Hummingbird to the test after eating some juicy but stringy mango that left our teeth in desperate need of a good flossing.

We had a dental hygienist who spends most of her day flossing teeth to give the Hummingbird a try – her opinion: it didn’t make flossing any easier and it actually gave you less control than with regular floss. The vibrations didn’t seem to add any real benefit to the flosser or provide a gum massage either, it was more of a gimmick than anything. She believes that the proper motion of your toothbrush is enough to massage the gums and stimulate blood circulation.

As for cost, each replacement pack will be about another $4.99 for 3 more heads. To put it in perspective: 180 meters of regular floss should give you about 400 flossings at a cost of roughly $3. To get the same number of flossings with the Hummingbird it’ll cost over $660 in replacements. That’s pretty expensive flossing!

We do think that if it encourages some flossing then it’s at least doing something for you and it’s nice and easy to take with you in your cosmetic bag so we give the Oral-B Hummingbird 2 bags out of 5.