Oral-B

Oral-B is an American brand of oral hygiene products, including toothpastes, toothbrushes, electric toothbrushes, and mouthwashes. The brand has been in business since the invention of the Hutson toothbrush in 1950 and in Redwood City, California.^[1][2][3][4]

Oral-B

Product type	Oral hygiene
Owner	Procter & Gamble
Country	United States
Introduced	January 13, 1950; 74 years ago (1950-01-13)
Markets	Worldwide
Previous owners	The Gillette Company
Website	oralb.com

The logo of Oral-B used from 1965 to 1980

Oral-B toothbrushes and floss

History

Robert W. Hutson (1919–2001),^[5][6] owner of a periodontal practice in San Jose,^[6][7] began designing a toothbrush in the 1940s.^[6]

By 1949, he discovered that thin, round-ended, nylon filaments would be gentle on the gums yet effective for cleaning teeth.^[6][7]

Hutson patented a toothbrush in 1950. The application for a design patent for his "Hutson toothbrush" was filed on January 13, 1950, and U.S. Design Patent No. 160,604 was granted on October 24 the same year.^[8]

In 1958, he was granted a utility patent for a "mouthbrush" having fine, soft, flat-ended nylon bristles, and a similar appearance to the 1950 design.^[9] He claimed in his application that this brush was less abrasive to tooth enamel, better for massaging the gums, and more effective at picking up tooth powder than other brushes available at the time, which had coarse, angle-cut bristles.^{[citation needed]}

The toothbrushes were made by the Owens Brush Company. The partners placed a $10,000 order for brushes and hired the first two sales people. In order to create demand for new brushes, the sales team devoted almost all of their time to communicating with dentists, passing samples and outreach work. The result of these efforts has been a steady increase in the number of orders. The next successful step was the decision to participate in the conventions and conferences of dentists held in the state of California.^{[citation needed]}

Robert Hutson also created the Oral-B brand name. The first product was known as the "Oral-B 60",^[10] because it had 60 tufts.^[11] Other sizes were made with differing numbers of tufts and corresponding names.^[6] Hutson sold his toothbrush business in the 1960s, and continued his San Jose periodontal practice.^{[6][12][13][14][15]}

Oral-B became part of the Gillette group in 1984.^[16] Braun, also part of the Gillette group at that time, started to use the Oral-B brand for electric toothbrushes. Oral-B has been part of the Procter & Gamble company since 2006.^[17] A company representative has stated that the "B" in Oral-B stands for "brush".^[18]

In 2013, Colombian singer Shakira was chosen as the brand ambassador and spokesperson for the 3D White property.^[19]

iO

 

Oral-B iO toothbrush

See also: Electric toothbrush § Oscillating rotating

Oral-B's iO is a series of electric toothbrushes. The series received ADA's "Seal of Acceptance".^[20] It uses oscillation rotation, which was introduced by Oral-B in the 1990s.

Innovations

• 1991: Bristle color fades with wear (Indicator toothbrush, Edison Awards winner)^{[21][22][23][24][25]}
• 1996: IDEO begins design of Oral-B for kids^{[26][27][28][29]}
• 1998: Angled bristles (CrossAction toothbrush)^[21]
• February 1999: Oral-B CrossAction toothbrush with Criss-Cross bristles for simultaneous brushing in two opposite directions.
• 2010: Oral-B Triumph 5000 enters the international market, equipped with touch, sound and light indicators that notify of the need to change the nozzle. The British Dental Health Foundation names the Triumph 5000 as the platinum leader in plaque removal.^[30]
• 2012: Oral-B Trizone 1000 electric toothbrush with brush head shape and brushing technique similar to a manual brush.
• 2014: the first toothbrush with Bluetooth 4.0 Oral-B SmartSeries technology.
• 2017: New version of the battery, holds a charge 2 times longer and charges 2 times faster.
• 2019: Genius X toothbrush with artificial intelligence.

See also

•  Medicine portal
•  Companies portal

• Index of oral health and dental articles
• List of defunct consumer brands
• List of Procter & Gamble brands
• List of toothpaste brands
• Oral-B Glide

References

1. Davis, E.L.; Joynt, R.B.; Wieczkowski, G.; Laura, J.C. (September 1989). "Bond durability between dentinal bonding agents and tooth structure" (PDF). The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. 62 (3): 253–256. doi:10.1016/0022-3913(89)90326-0. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
2. Saghiri, Mohammad Ali; Asatourian, Armen; Saghiri, Ali Mohammad; Samadi, Fatereh; Morgano, Steven M. (30 September 2020). "Dental Plaque Removal Ability of Different Power Toothbrushes by Using a Three-Dimensional Study Model". Korean Academy of Preventive Dentistry. 16 (3): 105–110. doi:10.15236/ijcpd.2020.16.3.105. S2CID 225117154. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
3. "Oral B Laboratories World Headquarters". Monarch Carpet, Drapery & Upholstery. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
4. "History of Redwood City". localhistory. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
5. "Robert W Hutson, Born 06/20/1919 in California". california birth index .org. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
6. Hall, Carl (26 May 2001). "Dr. Robert W. Hutson – Oral B originator [obituary]". San Francisco Chronicle. from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
7. "Robert W. Hutson; Dentist Designed Oral-B Toothbrush". Los Angeles Times. 30 May 2001. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
8. US patent D160604 
9. US patent 2845649 
10. Snow, Maryly. "Oral-B 60". International Toothbrush Collection. Retrieved 16 July 2022. Name comes from 60 tufts
11. "About us: History of Oral-B". oralb.com. from the original on 2010-08-23. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
12. "Oral-B Company Profile". Datanyze. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
13. Lazarus, George (1993-11-03). . Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
14. . Oral-B. Archived from the original on 28 June 1997. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
15. . Convention of Ideas. Oral-B. Archived from the original on 28 June 1997. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
16. Bailey, Steve; Aoki, Naomi (28 January 2005). "P&G to buy Gillette for $55b: Latest in string of deals for old-line Hub firms". The Boston Globe. from the original on 2014-10-16.
17. . oralb.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2012-01-25. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
18. . funtrivia.com. 2010-11-11. Archived from the original on 2012-01-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
19. "Shakira Named New Global Ambassador Across the Worldwide 3D White Collection from Oral-B and Crest". P&G News. from the original on 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
20. "Oral-B iO Series". American Dental Association. 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
21. "Oral-B". Procter & Gamble (Hong Kong). from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
22. US patent 4802255, Breuer, Miklos M. & Hanak, Joseph A., "Novel brush filaments", published 7 February 1989, assigned to Gillette Canada 
23. . Product News. Oral-B. Archived from the original on 28 June 1997. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
24. . Convention of Ideas. Oral-B. Archived from the original on 28 June 1997. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
25. "Oral-b Dental Floss With Fluoride 510(k) FDA Premarket Notification K925409 ORAL-B LABORATORIES". fda.gov. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
26. Tom Kelley (IDEO) (June 24, 2011). "Field Observations with Fresh Eyes". Entrepreneurship.org. YouTube. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
27. "Children's toothbrushes". Design Thinking Seminar. Summer 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
28. "IDEO's Human Centered Design Process: How to Make Things People Love". UserTesting. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
29. "Field Observations with Fresh Eyes" (PDF). eCorner. Stanford. November 12, 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
30. "Лучшие электрические щетки мира". Стоматологии Москвы на портале Startsmile (in Russian). 2013-09-23. from the original on 2022-02-11.

External links

• Official website