There are two little buttons on the brush handle that are going to let you turn the massage action on and off. There is not a very loud sounding noise to it either, you can brush your teeth in almost complete silence. I am just not going to say you can use the battery forever which is not that surprising, after three months of normal usage it should be the right time to get a new one anyways.
The battery is only a three month kind. I think that is ample enough time in my opinion for a battery like it has. After that you can either change the battery or get a new one of this if you really tried it out and loved it. I am going to probably stick to my regular brushes after this one is out of battery power though. They are only a dollar in the dollar store and this one costs a little more for my liking. I don't think I have a bad placque problem though. If you do you might want to keep on using it so your dental check ups will be less of a hassle perhaps.