Americans throw away roughly 1 billion toothbrushes each year, and nearly all of them were made somewhere else. China alone shipped 701 million toothbrush units to the US market in 2023. We researched the domestic options and found five brands still making manual toothbrushes here. One thing we didn’t find: any electric toothbrushes made in the USA. If that’s what you’re looking for, we couldn’t surface a single option. For manual toothbrushes, here’s our complete list, plus materials research and a roundup of the most popular brands made overseas.
Complete List of Toothbrush Brands Made in the USA
Out of a 46,000-square-foot former silk mill in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, Radius has been making toothbrushes since 1983. The facility runs 8 injection molding machines, 3 bristling machines, and 3 production shifts daily, 7 days a week. This is full-scale domestic manufacturing. Their flagship design uses a wide oval head with approximately 5,500 bristles, and the replaceable bristle head system lets you swap bristles without tossing the whole handle. Brushes are ADA-accepted and sold through Walmart, Whole Foods, and natural grocery chains. The company is women-owned and B Corp certified.
Every Preserve toothbrush starts as a discarded yogurt cup or other post-consumer No. 5 polypropylene, manufactured at their facility in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company runs a Gimme 5 program that accepts used Preserve toothbrushes and No. 5 plastic back for recycling, which closes the loop on the material. One caveat: the bristles are virgin nylon, not recycled. That’s standard practice across the industry — recycled and bio-based bristle alternatives are rare. Preserve is B Corp certified and ranks in the top 5% of more than 3,500 certified B Corps for environmental impact. You can find their brushes at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Amazon.
Since 1989, Tess Oral Health has been the custom-branded toothbrush supplier for dental practices across the country, operating out of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Handles are molded, bristled, and printed on-site in Eau Claire, covering adult, children’s, and specialty applications for orthodontic and periodontic use. The company serves more than 2,400 dental practices nationally with a 48-hour fulfillment window. Tess also sells imported dental hygiene products alongside their domestic line; their website identifies the two with an American flag icon on made-in-USA items.
Founded in Minneapolis in 1979 as an examination-glove company, Quantum Labs eventually built a dental supply business around its domestically made Dentasoft toothbrush line. Handles are molded and bristled at American facilities, and the lineup covers four models: the RIPPLE Compact, HOBBS angled, Youth FONES children’s brush, and Harris Kids. Quantum sells in bulk cases of 72 to dental practices, clinics, and healthcare facilities — not retail stores. They carry both domestic and imported products, with the made-in-USA items clearly marked on their website. In 2022, they partnered with Safco Dental Supply to consolidate the Dentasoft brand.
Wonder Oral Wellness makes toothbrushes in Austin, Texas, with handles built from 100% recycled polypropylene (recycling number 5) and virgin nylon bristles in a tiered pattern. BPA-free and packaged in 100% recycled materials, available individually or by subscription through their website and Faire. Their line extends to tooth powders made with certified organic ingredients, where possible, and dental floss. A small independent brand without broad retail distribution, but everything is made domestically.
How to Find Toothbrushes Made in the USA
Our list covers the brands we found, but it’s a short list. Here’s what you need to evaluate brands on your own and understand why this category is so hard to source domestically.
What Does “Made in the USA” Mean?
The Federal Trade Commission’s standard requires that all or virtually all of the product — from raw materials through final assembly — be domestically produced. There’s no pre-approval process. Companies self-certify, which means the label can be misused.
For the full breakdown of how to verify a brand’s manufacturing claims, read our complete guide to the made in USA standard and how to check it.
Materials
Material sourcing is where most “made in the USA” toothbrush claims get complicated. Here’s the domestic picture for the primary components.
Nylon (Bristles)
Nearly every toothbrush sold today uses nylon bristles, specifically nylon 612 — a variant prized for softness, flexibility, and bend recovery. The US has real nylon production capacity: Invista and Ascend Performance Materials, both US-based companies, are the world’s two largest producers of nylon 6,6 by installed capacity (710 and 701 kilotons per year, respectively). But China now dominates global nylon 6 production with 4.01 million tons of capacity, compared to just 0.55 million tons for all of North America. The specialized nylon 612 used in bristle filaments has largely shifted to Asian supply chains. Even toothbrushes assembled in the USA often use imported bristle material. If full domestic sourcing matters to you, ask the brand specifically about where its bristle nylon comes from.
Polypropylene (Handles)
Toothbrush handles are primarily injection-molded from polypropylene, a hard thermoplastic that withstands daily use. The US ranks second globally in polypropylene production at 11 million tons per year, roughly 13% of global output, behind China’s 18 million tons. US-produced polypropylene is commercially available at scale, which means genuine domestic handle manufacturing is realistic. Preserve and Wonder Oral Wellness both specifically use recycled No. 5 polypropylene for their handles.
Thermoplastic Elastomers (Grip Zones)
Many toothbrush handles include a rubberized grip section, typically made from thermoplastic elastomers (TPE). These compounds provide the soft, non-slip feel on the back of the handle. US manufacturers, including Teknor Apex in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, produce TPE compounds used across the consumer products industry. Domestic supply exists, though precise US production volume data isn’t available at the same level of detail as commodity plastics like polypropylene.
Labeling
Here’s what the labels you’ll actually encounter mean for toothbrushes:
- “Made in the USA” — the FTC standard: all or virtually all of the product, including materials, must be domestic. This is the label to look for.
- “Assembled in the USA” — components sourced overseas, final assembly domestic only.
- “Made in America” — can legally include Canada and Mexico under USMCA. Not the same as made in the USA.
- “Designed in the USA” — manufactured overseas.
- American flag imagery — no regulatory meaning. Not a reliable signal.
- Title 19 Chapter 4 Section 1304 — federal law requiring country-of-origin labeling on imported goods. If a product has a country-of-origin label and it’s not the USA, you have your answer.
Final Tips
When you’re researching a toothbrush brand on your own:
- Check the product page and About section. Domestic manufacturers almost always lead with the made-in-USA claim — it’s a selling point. If you can’t find a clear manufacturing statement after a few minutes of looking, the absence tells you something.
- Check third-party retailer listings. Amazon and Walmart product detail pages often include country-of-origin data that brand websites leave out. Scroll past the marketing copy to the product details section.
- Ask directly. Call or email to ask where the toothbrush is manufactured and where the nylon bristles are sourced. A genuine domestic manufacturer will give you a specific answer without hesitation.
- Apply the labeling knowledge above. When you see “assembled in the USA” or an American flag on the packaging, you know what it means and what follow-up questions to ask.
- Expect mostly dental-supply brands. As our list shows, nearly all domestically made toothbrushes move through dental practices and healthcare distributors, not retail. Consumer brands at Walmart, CVS, and Target are almost entirely imported.
Toothbrushes Not Made in the USA
Here are some of the most recognized toothbrush brands that are manufactured outside the United States.
- Tom’s of Maine — manufactured in Italy
- Colgate — manufactured in China (Sanxiao factory, the world’s largest toothbrush manufacturing facility, producing approximately 1.4 billion units per year)
- Oral-B — electric models manufactured primarily in Germany; manual brushes produced in China, Mexico, and India
- Philips Sonicare — manufactured in China and Indonesia
- Arm & Hammer — manufactured in China
