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The earliest known toothbrush dates back thousands
of years. Known as a "chew stick", this
brush was made by chewing or mashing small twigs
or tree roots until the fibers at one end became
loose enough to form a rough brush. The cleaning
surface had much the same effect as chewing the
end of a toothpick. Some native Australian and African
people living traditionally still clean their teeth
with chew sticks.
Ancient Chinese, Romans, and Greeks were also
avid oral hygiene enthusiasts.
Five thousand years ago, the Chinese thought
dental decay was caused by white-colored dental
worms with black heads that could be seen when
a tooth was extracted. In those days, cures for
toothache included purgatives, mouthwashes, massage,
and pills. The pills, usually made of grated garlic
and salt peter, were inserted into the ear opposite
the side of the face affected by the dental pain.
The early Romans also had their own dental-care
preferences. Pliny the Younger of Rome (61-113
A.D.) proclaimed that using a vulture quill as
a toothpick would cause halitosis, but using a
porcupine quill was acceptable because it "made
the teeth firm."
The Greeks, however, were much more modern. In
the third century B.C., Aristotle advised Alexander
the Great to rub his teeth every morning with
"a thin linen towel, which is somewhat rough."
Using linen as a tooth cleaner is documented as
late as 1602, when William Vaughan wrote in Fifteen
Directions to Preserve Health that to keep teeth
"white and uncorrupt [people should] wash
the mouth after every meal, sleep with the mouth
somewhat open and in the morning take a line cloth
and rub the teeth well within and without."
In fifteenth-century Europe, picking the teeth
was widely accepted until philosophers began to
issue conduct warnings. Rhodes said: "Pick
not thy teeth with thy knyfe, but take a stick,
or some clean thyng, then doe you not offend."
It was actually the English in 1780 who gave
the world the first modern toothbrush. The handle
was made from bone and the bristles were wired
into bored holes.
The toothbrush migrated to the United States,
and in the 1880s, hand-cut and polished cattle
thigh bones made excellent toothbrush handles
while long-haired hog bristles were inserted by
hand, one at a time into hand-drilled holes.
In the twentieth century, the humble toothbrush
soared to new heights. Dr. Robert Hutson, a periodontist
from San Jose, California, invented the first
toothbrush with soft end-rounded nylon bristles.
He named the product "Oral-B". In 1969,
the Oral-B® Classic™ toothbrush went
to the moon…Neil Armstrong used one minute
before his historical moon walk. In 1991, Oral-B
introduced the first toothbrush, Oral-B® Indicator®,
with blue Indicator bristles that fade halfway
to let you know when to replace your toothbrush.
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