Tooth Brush

The toothbrush is an instrument consisting of a small brush on a handle used to clean teeth through tooth brushing. Toothpaste, often containing fluoride, is commonly added to a toothbrush to aid in cleaning. Toothbrushes are offered with varying textures of bristles, and come in many different sizes and forms. Most dentists recommend using a toothbrush labelled "Soft", since firmer bristled toothbrushes can damage tooth enamel and irritate gums as indicated by the American Dental Association. Toothbrushes are often made from synthetic fibers, although natural toothbrushes are also known in many parts of the world.

The first toothbrush to resemble the modern toothbrush is believed to have been invented in China in the late 1400s, which used the stiff hairs from a hog's neck, attached to a bamboo stick. A photo from 1899 showing the use of toothbrush. The earliest identified use of the word toothbrush in English was in the autobiography of Anthony Wood in 1690, in a sentence about buying a toothbrush from a man named J. Barret. William Addis of England is credited with creating the first mass-produced toothbrush in 1780. In 1770 he had been placed in jail for causing a riot. While in prison, he decided that the method for teeth brushing of the time – rubbing a rag on one's teeth with soot and salt – could be improved. So he took a small animal bone, drilled small holes in it, obtained some bristles from a guard, tied them in tufts, then passed the bristles through the holes on the bone and glued them. He soon became very wealthy.

An electric toothbrush is a toothbrush that uses electric power to move the brush head, normally in an oscillating pattern, though electric toothbrushes are sometimes called 'rotary' toothbrushes. Modern electric toothbrushes run on low voltage - typically 12v or less. A few units still use a step-down transformer to power the handpiece, but most use power from a rechargeable battery in the hand piece. The electronic compartments in most of the electric toothbrushes are completely sealed to prevent water damage. While early NiCad battery toothbrushes used metal tabs to connect with the charging base, modern toothbrushes charge using a technique called inductive charging. In the brush unit is one half of a transformer, and in the charge-unit is the other part of the transformer. When brought together, a varying magnetic field in one coil induces a current in the other coil, thereby allowing for the charging of a battery. There are no exposed contacts and the handpiece can be completely sealed.

Many modern electric toothbrushes have a timer for two minutes - the user is alerted via extra buzzing, noise or a brief power interruption. Quality models may have an incremental timer that buzzes four times or every thirty seconds up to two minutes. Dentists consider the incremental timer to be a key function. The benefit of the timer function is to encourage brushing to last two minutes - the incremental timer alerts the user to brush each quarter of the mouth for a consistent clean in all areas of the mouth. The timer function is also important because brushing too quickly is a significant cause of inadequate oral hygiene. A new release in 2008 was the Smart Guide by Braun Oral-B which provides individuals with a guide to proper brushing via a wireless display.