Revolutionizing Oral Hygiene: A User-Centric Approach to Toothbrush Design

“This project was developed as part of the Simple Product Design course, where the objective was to rethink and innovate traditional methods of dental hygiene.”

Duration:

6 weeks

Mentor:

Kuntal De

Team member:

Tejas Pawar

Aim:

“To create a new way of cleaning teeth that provides good efficacy and experience to the user.”

Introduction

This project was part of the "Simple Product Design" course, focusing on oral hygiene tools. It explores the design of a toothbrush aimed at addressing common issues in brushing routines and promoting better dental health practices.

Primary Research: Task Analysis

Understanding the everyday task of brushing teeth was central to designing a better toothbrush. By conducting a Process and Task Analysis, we aimed to gain a broader perspective on the entire brushing experience. This analysis answered crucial questions:

What is the user's goal? To clean their teeth effectively while maintaining oral hygiene and avoiding gum damage.
How many steps are required to achieve that goal? Users typically follow a multi-step process: applying toothpaste, brushing each quadrant of the mouth, cleaning the tongue, and rinsing.
Is any assistance required? Children or individuals with motor limitations often need guidance or assistance in brushing properly.
How does the environment influence the user? Factors such as bathroom setup, lighting, and mirror placement can affect the brushing experience and technique.

To gather insights, I observed my family members during their morning brushing routines over several days.

Common Concerns

After observing the toothbrush in daily use, I identified several common issues that hinder effective brushing. These problems reveal inefficiencies in traditional toothbrush designs and brushing habits, impacting oral hygiene.

Not Using the Correct Brushing Technique: Incorrect techniques result in uncontrolled movements, making it hard to target specific areas like molars and gumlines, leading to incomplete cleaning and plaque buildup.
Brushing for Less than 2 Minutes: Many find brushing mundane, rushing the process and skipping the recommended two minutes. Effective brushing requires 30 seconds per quadrant, a habit often overlooked.
Brushing Too Hard: Excessive pressure or hard bristles can damage enamel and irritate gums, causing sensitivity and long-term harm.
Inability to Brush Between Gaps: Single head designs struggle to clean tight spaces, leaving plaque and food particles trapped, increasing the risk of cavities and gum disease.

These observations informed the need for a redesigned toothbrush that addresses technique, timing, gentleness, and accessibility to enhance overall oral hygiene.

Secondary Research

Research on toothbrushes and brushing techniques was essential to understand the product-user ecosystem and identify key elements to incorporate into the toothbrush design. This research aimed to promote better oral hygiene habits and enhance the product's effectiveness.

Modified Bass Method:

A study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4170543/) revealed that the "Modified Bass Technique" is one of the most effective brushing methods.

Major Takeaways:

Maintaining a 45-degree angle between bristle tufts and teeth.
Ensuring all parts of the teeth are brushed (inside and outside).
Using different brushing movements, such as scrubbing and rolling motions.

Softer Toothbrush bristles:

It is recommended to have soft bristles on your toothbrush as they do not harm your gums.

0.2 mm diameter filament:

It is recommended to have soft bristles on your toothbrush as they do not harm your gums. It was also observed that 0.2 mm diameter filament tends to clean marginal gingiva more effectively than 0.18 diameter filament. Studies showed that plaque removal was significant with thicker filament when used with the roll brushing technique for brushing facial and interproximal areas of teeth.

Ideation

Solution

The toothbrush is designed to address brushing challenges with features that enhance usability and effectiveness. Its ergonomic handle offers a comfortable grip, while a flexible neck adapts to mouth contours, ensuring better reach and reducing gum damage. The curved brush head cleans hard-to-reach areas like molars, and soft 0.2 mm bristles with varied lengths remove plaque effectively while protecting gums. A tufted section ensures precision cleaning in tight spaces, making this toothbrush an innovative tool for healthier brushing.

Curved head

The curved head is designed to brush all parts of the teeth in one go, which provides a faster and better brushing experience, rather than getting tired of brushing every section of your teeth.

45 degree titled head

The head is already designed to make a 45-degree angle to your gumline, this helps the toothbrush to clean your gumline more effectively.

Small tufted toothbrush

Easy snap-fit designed tuft brush can be used to target specific sections within your teeth. The smaller head makes it easier to move around quickly and clean the gaps between our teeth.

The small tufted brush is designed to be removed with one thumb push.

Softer 0.2 mm diameter bristles

0.2 mm diameter filament tends to clean marginal gingiva more effectively than 0.18 diameter filament. Softer bristles help prevent damage to the gum.

Colors

Prototyping

Earlier, I did quick prototyping of a toothbrush handle with polypropylene sheets of different measurements. Then, I moved to 3D print the toothbrush for user testing as well as checking the form.