Graham Smith and James Middleton discuss their toothbrush on BBC Radio 5 Live

The paste is incorporated inside the brush. A pump action squeezes a precise amount of paste directly on to the brush head.

As a result, there should be no more arguments about putting the top back on the tube or complaints about not squeezing from the bottom. Its inventor - a man whose background is in double-glazing sales - claims the new brush represents a big leap forward in oral hygiene.

Although combination units have been tried before, manufacturers have had difficulty making them work properly.

The units tended to let the paste dry out or continued to pump paste even after squeezing had stopped. Inventor Graham Smith says his All in One Combi overcomes these problems.

Cross contamination

"You put a 50 ml tube of paste inside the handle and you use the slider at the side - it clicks each time you use it - to put controlled amounts on top of the brush," Mr Smith told BBC News Online.

A neoprene insert, which opens and closes just under the bristles to allow the paste through on to the brush, stops the paste from drying out and prevents bacteria from getting back into the tube.

Graham Smith says people face a major cross contamination problem when they share a tube of paste and keep several brushes in the same bathroom mug.

"The toothbrush mug gets covered with bacteria from the different family members' brushes," Graham Smith said. "The toothbrush handles and bristles touch and the bugs jump ship onto the next brush ready to invade a new mouth."

The new brush is designed to stand up straight on a flat surface.

British invention

Like many British inventions before it, the brush has required foreign investment to bring it to the market place - domestic companies were reluctant to get involved in the early stages.

It was a Hong Kong businessman, James Middleton, who picked-up the design after reading a newspaper article on Graham Smith whilst on holiday in the UK.

"It seemed the chap had a good idea but no one was interested in putting their money where their mouth was," Mr Middleton told BBC News Online.

"The most ironic thing is that I'm British - I just happen to live in Hong Kong. And the two designers we are using here in Hong Kong are British as well."

According to the British Dental Health Foundation about three-quarters of the UK population experience some level of gum disease. Dentists recommend you should change your brush regularly, especially after a period of illness.

Although the whole combi unit should retail at just under £4, disposable heads will be available for under a pound. With the average UK citizen currently buying 8.5 brushes each year, the men behind the new invention believe their product will be a much cheaper option.