Position sensing toothbrush

A toothbrush capable of sensing the position of a bristle set portion thereof relative to the teeth, comprising:

• a toothbrush which includes a handle portion and a brushhead portion, with a bristle set at one end thereof for cleaning the teeth of a user;
• at least one sensor located on a back member for the bristle set for providing orienting information of the sensor relative to the cheek of the user;
• a processor responsive to the orienting information to provide an output indicating whether the bristle set is positioned adjacent the outside surfaces of the teeth or the inside surfaces of the teeth;
• and
• an indicator system responsive to the processor for indicating to the user whether the bristle set is in position to brush the outside surfaces of the teeth or the inside surfaces of the teeth.

A toothbrush capable of sensing how far a toothbrush penetrates into the mouth, comprising:

• a toothbrush, which includes a handle portion, a neck portion and a bristle set portion at a distal end of the neck portion for cleaning teeth of a user;
• a plurality of sensor members positioned in sequence along the neck portion of the toothbrush, the sensor members oriented such that the relative number of sensor members within the mouth and outside of the mouth is indicative of the portion of the toothbrush which is in the mouth;
• and
• a receiver for receiving information from uncovered sensor members outside of the mouth, wherein the receiver includes a system for indicating to the user how far the toothbrush has penetrated into the mouth from the sensor information.