cups/hard spouts/soft spouts...help!

[h23]

Does anyone know what type of spout (on a cup for milk or water) I should use for a 1yr old? What do the dentists say?
They say that you should wean babies off bottles after they are 1yr old (because of their teeth?), but does that also apply to soft spouts on cups? Or are they different?

think a free flow one is best, rather than something with a valve.

my dentist recommended the cheapo tommee tippee ones, which we already use

DS1 uses the Tommee Tippee ones with the green rubber spouts - easyflow I think they're called?

The flip top one we had leaked even when shut and I was always refilling it because DS1 drinks so much (must stop putting salt on his twizzlers...)

DD (1yr) has a Nuk cup with a soft spout for water and also happily drinks from the Avent one with a hard spout (but I don't like to use it because even though it's meant to be leak-proof, it isn't).
I bought her this 'B-Free' cup with a soft spout, as it's meant to be very easy to drink from, and this is her 'milk' cup, with the idea that it will slowly replace one or two BFs (I hope!).
But now I'm wondering if I got the right cup... my friend who has a baby the same age has been talking about hard spouts, and that got me wondering.

DS would never take to soft spouts -- he just chewed them. So the first drinking vessels we had any luck with were hard spouts and open cups. Like starlover I found he can't be bothered with the valve ones (bit of a problem as he likes to liberally water the house with his sippy cup, giggling as he goes).