Dr. Barry Heller was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana where his mother's habit of putting a bowl of M & M's on his bedside table led him to develop an intimate relationship with the dental drill. By the time he attended Brown University for his undergraduate work, and medical school at Indiana University, he became quite concerned (some would say, "obsessed") with proper dental hygiene. Over the next twenty years, as a practicing Emergency Room Physician, he had the opportunity to see every imaginable type of tooth and gum disease. He became even more determined to have healthy teeth and to stay away from the dental drill.

Subsequently, as Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine and Chief of Staff at St. Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach, California ... and as Oral Examiner for the American Board of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Heller began traveling, administering exams and thus necessitating hotel room stays in many parts of the country. It was not long until he became increasingly agitated at the lack of an appropriate place to put his toothbrush after use in hotels. There must be a better way! That is when the idea of the Toothbrush Valet® was born. Dr. Heller went to the drawing board and designed a very functional and aesthetically pleasing toothbrush holder & stand. He received his United States Patent on November 18, 1997.