Since we just had Valentines Day and the chocolate goodies are everywhere, I know everyone has been concentrating even more on their brushing!  We don’t think a lot about the brushes we use, so I thought you all might like a little trivia this week on its history. 

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.

The Chinese lay claim to the first bristle toothbrush.  Five thousand years ago, the Chinese thought dental decay was caused by white-colored dental worms with black heads.  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 (I wonder how effective that was!).

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."  He may have had the right idea, but his spelling sure missed the mark!  Most of Europe began adopting the bristle brush in the 17th century, but 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.

The first electric toothbrush was marketed in 1880, though the Swiss developed the first effective electric toothbrush just after World War II.  It was introduced in the United States around 1960.  A year later, the first cordless model was developed and proved to be popular with consumers and dentists alike.  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 minutes before his historical moon walk.  So there you have it, a brief history of the humble toothbrush.  Whatever shape, size, color or style you use, use it properly and get all of the Valentines chocolate off!