TOOTHBRUSH - Top 3 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About It
In this week's video, we go through the top 3 things you should probably know about your toothbrush.
This dental instrument you should be using to clean your teeth, ideally in conjunction with toothpaste, at least two times a day! The most common toothbrush design features a plastic handle with nylon bristles attached to the head of the brush.
Despite many dental experts' beliefs: that almost any type of soft-bristled toothbrush is effective when used properly; great steps have been taken when it comes to toothbrush design.
This deeply ingrained ritual started in 3000 B.C. with the Egyptians; who used twigs and leaves to clean their own teeth. These twigs were later started to be frayed, to allow them to penetrate between the teeth more effectively however, it would take 18 centuries (in the 15th Century) for the Chinese to attach a brush to a handle, thereby coming up with a toothbrush design closer to the one we use today.
In all fairness, today’s toothbrush design history can easily be summarized in five key moments:
1) 1780, with the first-ever mass-produced toothbrush incited by William Addis.
2) 1857, when the first-ever toothbrush patent was filed by H. N. Wadsworth.
3) 1938, with the rise of the soft-bristled Miracle Tuft Toothbrush replacing the need to use Siberian hog hair to create common toothbrush bristles;
4) 1961, with the first electric toothbrush, ever invented;
and the early 1970s, in which the appearance of major medical and health and beauty players onto the oral hygiene market, led to the introduction of numerous toothbrush designs.
These designs gave consumers the opportunity to choose between a wide range of toothbrushes with soft or hard, either natural or synthetic bristles, sold in a variety of sizes, colors, and configurations among which we could also find some unconventional handle styles.
With the ever-increasing market cap for this type of disposable product, medical and health & beauty companies started adding features to their own toothbrushes to captivate users who were looking to make this ritual easier and more effective.
And with this, the 1990s saw the appearance of:
1) The Reach Toothbrush; produced by Johnson & Johnson, the Reach, with its angled handle, intended to help users to clean their back teeth;
2) The Rippled Bristles; produced by Colgate, featured an angled brush designed to increase the reach of plaque trapped between the teeth;
3) The Oral-B indicator; produced by Gillette, the Indicator had their bristles coated with a blue dye which would fade after 4 months of use, signaling its user that it was time to buy a new toothbrush;
4) Gillette had also the Oral-B Plaque Remover, featuring taller and contoured bristles intended to massage its users’ gums;
5) There was also the AquaFresh Flex; designed by SmithKline Beecham which featured a flexible and angled handle that was meant to reduce the pressure applied by the user onto their gums and teeth.
6) The appearance of the first-ever environmentally conscious toothbrush, the Hoke2; designed by Jack Hokanson, the Hoke 2 featured a non-disposable handle with a replaceable bristle head.
7) The Radius; a uniquely designed toothbrush with a wide handle, for an easier grasp, and a large shoe-brush-shaped head packed with bristles.
8) And finally, the Collis Curve; a toothbrush which had inward curved bristles to allow their users to brush both the front and back of the teeth at the same time.
Toothbrushes are considered single component products. However, they can be divided into three main parts: a handle, several bristles, and a head. Most toothbrushes are primarily molded out of plastic and they already include the holes on which their bristles will be inserted.
Fortunately, for manufacturers, there is still a long way to go for toothbrushes to become a life-time product. On average, in the United States, a person purchases three toothbrushes over a two-year period however, this statistic is still shy of the recommendations of the American Dental Association which state that we should replace our toothbrushes every three to four months.
From its Main Milestones to advisable Life Cycle Expectancy, dabbling through a couple of its most Interesting Features throughout their timeline; these were the top 3 facts about your Toothbrush that you were probably not aware of.