Abstract: An electric toothbrush (10) with an adaptive load sensor (12) is disclosed. The toothbrush of this invention includes a brushhead (16) that is vibrated by a drive assembly (18). The load sensor monitors the current drawn by the drive assembly to determine the mechanical load to which the toothbrush is exposed. The load sensor assembly produces an adaptive threshold signal that represents the instantaneous maximum pressure load. If the sensed load voltage exceeds the adaptive threshold signal, the load sensor assembly deenergizes the drive assembly and generates an alarm signal so as to give the user a warning that the toothbrush has been excessively loaded.

Abstract: A vibrating toothbrush, which includes a handle member, an elongated arm which has a brushhead at the distal end thereof, and a drive assembly for moving the brushhead at a selected velocity. Responsive to an on/off switch on the toothbrush is an on/off variable, which enables a master clock to produce a drive signal, the on/off variable being reset by a 120-second timer. A quadtimer variable, when in the enabled state, is responsive to the on/off switch to produce an audible signal and a difference in brush velocity at 30-second intervals within the 120-second period.