Is it, though? Are the bristles made of the same material, for example? I'm guessing that bristles tough enough to scrub metal would not be the best things to use on your teeth and gums.
After a period of time the toothbrush too will become a colony of bacteria. It will then add to the existing problem or at least offer no benefit. This is why you should change them so often.
The shotgun cleaner is not used to remove bacteria primarily and will not suffer the same issue provided the particles/grime can be removed from it.
Here they purposely make the brushes useless mechanically as the bristles deform to a point they are no longer usable.
It's maintenance. Not that I think it's better, but economically, you suddenly have the same goal as your clients. And that more sane.
I can't think of any scientific experiment that would conclude: burn out, eat junk and drink mostly beer.
This is just healthy living. I don’t think we should ascribe it to Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Beside, most reason to go to the doctor go away if you have a healthy life style.
Everything developed after science is suspected to be bunk until the experiment has been replicated.
Getting rid of the useless cruft lingering around from the past is just as useful as advancing the frontiers of knowledge.
When people can stop waving crystals around and dipping their fingers in oil, they can finally get better results from pushing the big green button on an inscrutably opaque black box that goes "ding".~
And it's across the board. I tell myself exactly that when I look at my toothbrush.
A toothbrush lasts about ~3 weeks before needing replacing. I'm sure someone in the industry will tell me that it's because it's made of unobtainium unicorn hair specially designed to make my teeth whiter and all that.
I also have a another plastic brush to clean my shotguns of all things (I do a lot of clay pigeon shooting) -- the construction is identical to a toothbrush, just perhaps a tad bigger. Doesn't have the fancy colored handle.
Now the brush I'm currently using I've been using for 3 years and the brush is still pretty much pristine, after being used to generously scrub bits of sharp, grim metal once or twice a week.
Hmmm... How does that work? Better unicorns? Well, think about it, everyone is changing toothbrush on a monthly basis, that is a huge revenue. Even reducing the lifetime of a toothbrush by 5% would increase the number of brushes sold by a huge amount.
All the while, it creates fantastic amount of plastic waste. Fancy packaging and 100% plastic, possibly not even all recyclable.