MegaBrands · Oral care, brushes and accessories

Oral-B: How a Dentist’s Idea Became India’s Benchmark for the Toothbrush

Oral-B, selected as the Mega Brand for Oral care, brushes and accessories by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC, began in 1949 with a dentist worried about his patients’ gums. In India, Gillette India’s Oral Care business, home of Oral-B, earned Rs 556 crore in FY2025-26.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial · Published October 2026 · 7 min read

At a glance

Oral-B is the toothbrush and oral care brand of Procter & Gamble. P&G traces it to 1949, when a Californian dentist made soft nylon brushes for his patients. In India, Oral-B is sold by Gillette India Limited, a Mumbai-based listed company in which P&G holds 75%. Its range spans manual, battery and electric toothbrushes, replacement brush heads and kids’ products. Gillette India is led by Managing Director Kumar Venkatasubramanian. Oral-B is the Mega Brand for Oral care, brushes and accessories in WCRC MegaBrands.

Oral-B began with a dentist, and that origin still shapes the brand. Procter & Gamble’s history of its own brands records that in 1949 “a Californian dentist invents Oral-B toothbrushes using soft nylon bristles, out of concern for his patients gums.” P&G adds that he sold them only to dentist friends, who recommended the brand to their patients.

That chain of trust, from dentist to patient, is the thread that runs through Oral-B’s story in India. Here the brand is sold by Gillette India Limited, a company first incorporated in 1984 as Indian Shaving Products Limited and acquired by P&G in 2005. Gillette India reports two businesses, Grooming and Oral Care, and Oral-B is the brand behind the second. In the year to March 2026, that Oral Care business earned Rs 556 crore.

WCRC MegaBrands covers 501 categories in India and selects one benchmark brand in each. It looks at brands through five pillars: Brand Positioning & Recall; Consumer Trust & Sentiment; Product, Innovation & Delivery; Sustainability, Governance & ESG; and Digital & Financial Soundness. Oral-B has been selected as the Mega Brand for Oral care, brushes and accessories by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC (World Centre for Research and Consulting). Here is how Oral-B’s record lines up with each pillar.

Pillar 1: How Oral-B Owns the Idea of the Dentist’s Brush

Brand Positioning & Recall · weighted 28% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Oral-B’s authority starts with its origin. Because the first brushes were designed by a dentist and spread through dentists, the brand’s identity is tied to the dental chair as well as the bathroom shelf.

Oral-B has used that idea in India for about two decades at least. Gillette India’s report for the period from January 2006 to June 2007 says the company “developed communication which marketed Oral-B as the brand which is used by dentists.”

The second source of recall is focus. Oral-B is a brand about brushing: manual toothbrushes, battery brushes, electric toothbrushes and the brush heads that go with them. Oral-B’s Indian website organises its manual range around clear needs, such as deep clean, sensitive, daily clean and whitening. Shoppers can look for a brush by the need it meets.

The third is practical advice. On its Indian website, the brand tells users to brush for at least two minutes, twice a day, with light pressure, and to replace a manual brush “every 2 to 3 months, or sooner if the bristles become frayed.”

Pillar 2: How Oral-B Builds Trust With Indian Families

Consumer Trust & Sentiment · weighted 26% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Trust in a toothbrush is earned in the mouth, and Oral-B works closely with dentists to build it. Oral-B’s Indian website describes its electric range as the “Electric Brush Brand used by Indian Dentists - approved by Indian Dental Association.” In 2019-20, Gillette India reported that “Oral-B continued its collaboration with dentists, to promote oral health awareness” through a free dental check-up programme.

The brand also invests in habits that start early. In 2023-24 Oral-B introduced toothbrushes for children featuring the cartoon character Chhota Bheem. Gillette India’s annual report says the packaging helps parents with “inculcating the right oral health habits at a young age.” Managing Director Kumar Venkatasubramanian wrote in that year’s report: “In the Oral care segment, the Company introduced fun designs for young consumers with Oral-B ‘Chhota Bheem’ toothbrushes.” Two years on, in the 2025-26 report, he wrote that the company had “continued our efforts to promote healthy oral care habits among children” through its kids’ range.

Fair dealing on price matters too. When the Government of India changed GST rates in September 2025, Oral-B India published revised MRPs effective 22 September 2025, asked shoppers to check for the lower MRP before buying, and told them that “products with both the old and new prices may be available in the market” for a limited period.

Pillar 3: The Innovation Engine Behind Oral-B

Product, Innovation & Delivery · weighted 20% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Oral-B has added to its Indian range in most recent years, and the pattern is clear: serve every mouth, from a child’s first brush to a premium electric one.

At the entry end, Gillette India’s 2019-20 report says Oral-B introduced a kids entry tier and a sensitive entry tier, along with a clove range across tiers, and launched a rechargeable electric toothbrush for children featuring popular characters. In 2022-23 came SensitiveX, which the company described as “a premium sensitive toothbrush that has a revolutionary X-Filament technology for superior plaque removal.”

Sensitive teeth and gums have become a steady theme. Between July 2024 and March 2025, Oral-B launched Sensitive Expert, which “features a compact head and ultra-thin bristles”, alongside a charcoal whitening brush and the Vitality Pro Sensitive electric toothbrush. In FY2025-26 it expanded its Sensitive Care portfolio with softer-bristle toothbrushes in what Gillette India called the “biggest ever launch in the sensitive toothbrush category.”

At the top of the range sits iO. Oral-B’s Indian website describes iO’s magnetic drive system, a round brush head and a smart pressure sensor that tells users when brushing is “just right so gums stay protected.” In 2024-25 Oral-B brought iO3 to India, a model Gillette India said was “designed to provide a premium power oral care experience at an affordable price point.”

The brushes reach consumers through e-commerce platforms, pharmacies, supermarkets and dental care stores, according to the brand’s Indian website.

Pillar 4: Oral-B and Responsible Growth

Sustainability, Governance & ESG · weighted 16% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Oral-B’s Indian business sits inside a listed company with public reporting. Gillette India publishes quarterly results that break out its Oral Care segment, files an annual Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, and is chaired by an independent director, Anjuly Chib Duggal. P&G holds 75% of the company, and the rest is held by public shareholders.

On packaging, Gillette India says it “aims to reduce plastic packaging waste and to design the product packaging to be recyclable or reusable.” Its sustainability reporting is candid about the hurdles, naming the “lack of availability of post-consumer recycled (PCR) meeting appropriate quality standards” as a challenge.

The brand’s social contribution is mostly about health habits. Its dental check-up work, its kids’ ranges and its brushing guidance all aim at the same goal: better daily oral care across Indian homes. Gillette India also supports P&G Shiksha, which the company describes as “P&G India’s flagship CSR program that supports the education of underprivileged children in India.”

Pillar 5: Oral-B’s Financial Strength in India

Digital & Financial Soundness · weighted 10% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Gillette India reports Oral-B’s results as its Oral Care segment. In FY2025-26, the year from April 2025 to March 2026, Oral Care revenue was Rs 556 crore, with a segment result of about Rs 109 crore. That was 17.95% of Gillette India’s total income from operations of about Rs 3,100 crore. In the January to March 2026 quarter alone, Oral Care revenue rose about 13% from the same quarter a year earlier.

Gillette India changed its financial year in 2024-25, moving from a July to June year to an April to March one, so the previous period covered nine months and is not directly comparable. The company’s 2025-26 annual report says the Oral Care portfolio achieved “strong growth in both top and bottom lines,” and names its main driver: “our strategic focus on expanding the penetration of electric toothbrushes.”

That shift matters for the category. Gillette India’s report says the growing adoption of its electric toothbrushes shows consumers “are increasingly prioritizing and investing in superior oral care solutions that offer tangible value.” Its kids’ battery toothbrushes, launched in FY2025-26, “effectively introduced new users to the electric oral care category.”

Digital channels support the brand’s launches. Gillette India’s 2024-25 report says new Oral-B products were “supported by dynamic go-to-market activations on e-commerce platforms,” and Oral-B India runs its own website with its full range and links to retailers. In the May 2026 results release, Managing Director Kumar Venkatasubramanian (named there as V Kumar) said: “Throughout the fiscal year, the Company continued to delight the Indian consumers and drive category growth through a continued stream of innovation…”

The Oral-B Benchmark

Every category has leaders. A MegaBrand is the brand its category is measured against. Oral-B holds that place in Oral care, brushes and accessories in India because its record is strong on every pillar at once. It owns a clear idea rooted in dentistry, it keeps earning trust through dentists and families, it renews its range from kids’ brushes to iO, it reports openly as part of a listed company and its business is growing with electric toothbrushes.

Above all, Oral-B shows how a single product idea, a softer brush that is kinder to gums, can carry a brand for more than seven decades. In India, that idea now reaches from a child’s Chhota Bheem brush to a magnetic-drive electric toothbrush.

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About Oral-B

Oral-B is the oral care brand of The Procter & Gamble Company, which traces its origins to 1949, when a Californian dentist invented soft nylon toothbrushes. In India, Oral-B is sold by Gillette India Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, whose Oral Care segment earned Rs 556 crore in FY2025-26. The range covers manual, battery and electric toothbrushes, brush heads and kids’ products. Oral-B has been selected as the Mega Brand for Oral care, brushes and accessories by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC (World Centre for Research and Consulting).