Humans have been brushing their teeth for thousands of years, but an effective and widely used toothbrush was not developed until the 20th century. After the basic toothbrush was developed, it did not take long for an electric toothbrush to hit the store shelves all over the world.
History
The toothbrush itself did not gain its current form until 1938, and that is when the concept of the toothbrush was augmented by nylon bristles. Before World War II, the act of brushing teeth was not widely practiced in the United States. For health reasons, military personnel were required to brush their teeth and they brought this habit home with them. The first electronic toothbrush was introduced in Switzerland in 1939.
Time Frame
It took many years for the electric toothbrush to find its way to the United States. Squibb introduced the first electric toothbrush in America in 1959, and began selling it to the public in 1960. It was called the Broxodent and it was actually invented in 1954 by Philippe-G Woog. Woog had introduced his design in Switzerland in 1956, after which it was immediately purchased by Squibb.
Types
The very first rechargeable electric toothbrush sold in the United States was introduced in 1961 by General Electric. When a model was released that did not have an electrical cord plugged into an outlet near running water, sales of the electric toothbrush began to increase dramatically.
Significance
Since the debut of the Squibb electric toothbrush in 1959, there have been over 150 models of electric toothbrushes marketed in one form or another to the general public.
Size
The Broxodent design was sold by Squibb between 1959 and 1990, and in the course of its history they have sold more than 15 million units. In the 1990's the Broxodent product began to fade away from store shelves in the United States, but the original technology developed by Woog is still being sold in Europe and on the Internet under the company name of Broxo.
Tags: electric toothbrush, United States, have been, store shelves, their teeth, toothbrush developed