On June 26, 1498, the bristle toothbrush, was invented in China. While most of us think of toothbrush and dental collectibles as limited to antique toothpick holders, novelty toothbrush holders, quack medical items, and forboding dental instruments, there’s a fascinating history to the common toothbrush.

Before the Chinese bristle toothbrush, there had previously been other methods and tools for cleaning teeth. There was the “chew stick” which was actually just a small stick pulled off a branch, and one frayed end is rubbed on teeth to scrape off any food particles. There were rags or sponges dipped in sulfur oil, or a salt solution, and used to rub teeth clean. Rubbing baking soda or chalk against the teeth was also common practice. Slightly more ‘civilized’ and in use at the time, were brass or silver toothpicks.

While European traders who visited China saw the new Chinese bristle toothbrushes and even took them home with them, they continued to use their toothpicks or rags, seemingly believing that the old Roman customs were more refined.

It wasn’t until the French bacteriologist, Louis Pasteur, introduced Europeans to the idea of germs, that people took any notice of really cleaning their mouths. Then they began to use the Chinese bristle toothbrushes. The bristles, attached to handles made of bone or bamboo, were actually the stiff hairs taken from the back of a boar’s neck.

In 1770, William Addis of Clerkenwall, England, was incarcerated in a cell of England’s Newgate Prison for provoking a riot. He had little to do but eat, sleep, think, and with most resources allowing for the latter, he thought a good deal about a new means of making a living once his sentence was served. As the story goes, one morning, after washing his face, he began to clean his teeth. Using the rag-rub method, Addis considered it not very effective. By the following day, he had an idea. He saved a small bone from the meat he’d been served, and bored tiny holes in it. Next he “acquired some hard bristles through his prison guard”, and cut them down, then tied them into tufts, glued them on the ends, and wedged them into the holes in the bone. Voila!

The first modern, aka the first mass-produced toothbrush was born. In 1780, Addis’s company attached hairs from the tail of a cow to the end of a whittled thighbone of a cow, or pig, which was reportedly the only bone strong enough to survive the bristle-attachment procedure and still maintain its strength when wet. Eventually, Addis too opted for boar hairs. (Descendants of William Addis still manufacture toothbrushes at a factory in England.)

By the early 1800s the bristled brushes were in general use in Europe and Japan. In 1857, H. N. Wadsworth was credited as the first American to receive a toothbrush patent as America entered the growing toothbrush market. In 1844, the first toothbrush was manufactured by hand and patented as a 3-row brush of serrated bristles with larger tufts by Dr. Meyer L. Rhein. In 1885, the Florence Manufacturing Company of Massachusetts, in association with Dr.Rhein, began producing the Pro-phy-lac-tic brush for mass marketing in the United States.

These boar bristles were used until 1938, when nylon bristles were introduced with the first nylon toothbrush called Doctor West’s Miracle Tuft Toothbrush, made by Dupont de Nemours. Unfortunately, the “miracle tuft” nylon is so stiff that is sometimes damages gums, and dentists do not recommend it. So, prior to World War II, the Chinese boar hairs remained the favored bristles.

But during the war, a roadblock out of Chung-King impeded the export of the hairs. Nylon filament, having been developed in 1938, was an ideal replacement.
Now the nylon bristles had several advantages. Along with a low production cost and the ability to control bristle texture, manufacturers could also shape the filament tip and vary its diameter for improved performance. Boar hair, also had a problem with falling out, did not dry well, and was prone to bacterial growth. The advantages, coupled with American’s sudden concern for dental hygiene (like the Europeans before them, Americans were not very concerned with their teeth — it wasn’t until returning WWII soldiers brought the Army’s enforced habit back home that most Americans brush their teeth), now made nylon the most popular toothbrush bristle. (However, the boar bristle brushes are still made and used today.)

But in the 60’s, people wanted modern, electric appliances. So in 1961, the Squibb Company introduced the Broxodent.

The Broxodent was the first rotating electric toothbrush — the first electric toothbrush was made by Dr. Scott (shown here). This brush claimed to be “permanently charged with electromagnetic current,” however, it wasn’t intil 1939 that the first real electric toothbrush is produced. It was also made by Squibb and marketed in Switzerland shortly after World War II.

Fans of dental collectibles may also enjoy visiting DentalCollectibles.com, Saruya for toothpicks, and Steve’s Dental Collectibles.

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Article Tags: Addis, bacteria, Broxodent, chew stick, China, Dr. Scott, germs, Louis Pasteur, tootbrush, tootpicks

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 6:01 am and is filed under collecting fyi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.