A long, long time ago people used to use sticks and twigs to clean their teeth. Luckily, today we have toothbrushes, but are there ways to improve this household object? According to some, yes. Please enjoy the article and thank you for visiting Advanced Endodontics.
There are some consumer products where every year brings new innovations. Computers get faster, cellphones get lighter, cars get new bells and whistles.
It’s easy to imagine why inventors are drawn to redesigning these products — the technology for making them is changing all the time.
But what about consumer products that have been around for a long time? For the toothbrush, the answer is a resounding yes.
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website, as of Christmas Day there were 138 patents with the word toothbrush in the title issued this year. 138!
I talked with several of those patent holders about why they invented their toothbrushes, and they all said pretty much the same thing: Something was missing in the toothbrush universe.
“Cleaning the teeth is actually a pretty complex problem, and I think that’s probably why there’s been so much invention around it,” says Tom Mintel, vice president of research and development in Colgate’s global toothbrush division. He’s not at all surprised there were so many toothbrush patents issued this year.
Brushing isn’t like floor polishing. There are areas in the mouth in need of cleaning that have different shapes and funny angles. Teeth are hard, but gums are soft, so you can’t brush both with the same vigor.
Mintel says one solution Colgate is pursuing is making toothbrushes smarter. The company just released an electric brush in the United Kingdom that has sensors in the handle that tell the toothbrush where it is in the mouth. “So instead of expecting consumers to switch between different speeds depending on what surface they’re brushing, this brush does it automatically,” he says.
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