Toothbrush
A handheld tool for cleaning teeth, gums, and tongue.
A toothbrush is a tool designed to clean the teeth, gums, and tongue. It has a handle with a head of tightly packed bristles, where toothpaste is applied. The handle helps reach tricky spots in the mouth. Toothbrushes come in various sizes, shapes, and bristle textures. Dentists generally advise using soft bristles, as harder ones can harm enamel or irritate gums.
Toothbrushes should be used alongside tools like floss, tape, interdental brushes, or toothpicks, which clean between teeth where bristles cannot reach. Because many common toothpaste ingredients are harmful if swallowed in large amounts, toothpaste should be spat out. Brushing usually happens at a sink in a bathroom or kitchen. After use, the brush is rinsed to remove debris and dried to limit bacterial growth; wooden brushes also need drying to prevent mold.
Most toothbrushes are made of cheap plastic, which creates significant pollution—over 1 billion are thrown into U.S. landfills each year. Some have plant-based handles, often bamboo. Bristles are commonly nylon (non-biodegradable but possibly recyclable), bamboo viscose, or boar bristles.
**History**
**Precursors** Before toothbrushes, people used various oral hygiene methods. Excavations have uncovered tree twigs, bird feathers, animal bones, and porcupine quills. The chew stick was the predecessor—a twig with a frayed end for brushing and the other end used as a toothpick. The earliest chew sticks date to 3500 BC in Sumer (southern Mesopotamia), 3000 BC in an Egyptian tomb, and 1600 BC in Chinese records. The Chinese monk Yijing (635–713 CE) described Indian monks using tooth wood: each morning, a monk chewed a piece of tooth wood to brush teeth and scrape the tongue, doing so properly before washing hands and mouth for salutations. In Sanskrit, tooth wood is *dantakastha* (danta = tooth, kastha = wood), about twelve finger-widths long, no shorter than eight, and the size of a little finger. Greeks and Romans used toothpicks; similar twigs have been found in Qin dynasty tombs. Chew sticks remain common in Africa and the rural southern United States. In Islam, the miswak (chewing stick) is a pious act, used before each of the five daily prayers since the 7th century. Ancient Indians used neem twigs, called datun, still used today in India, though not widely; neem helps keep teeth and gums clean and disinfected.
- First bristle toothbrush
- Tang dynasty (619–907 CE), China
- First mass production
- 1780, UK (William Addis)
- First patent
- 1857, USA (H.N. Wadsworth)
- First nylon bristles
- 1938, DuPont
- First electric toothbrush
- 1954, Switzerland (Broxodent)
- Annual discard in us
- Over 1 billion toothbrushes
- Common bristle materials
- Nylon, bamboo viscose, boar bristles
Lore & Background
The first bristle toothbrush resembling the modern one was found in China, used during the Tang dynasty (619–907), with hog bristles attached to a bamboo or bone handle. In 1223, Japanese Zen master Dōgen Kigen recorded monks in China cleaning their teeth with brushes made of horsetail hairs attached to an oxbone handle. The bristle toothbrush spread to Europe during the 17th century, where Europeans found hog bristles too firm and preferred horsehair. In the UK, William Addis is believed to have made the first mass-produced toothbrush in 1780 after being jailed for causing a riot; he used a bone, drilled holes, and tied bristles from a guard. By 1840, toothbrushes were mass-produced in Britain, France, Germany, and Japan.
Reader's Guide
The toothbrush is a fundamental tool for oral hygiene, used in conjunction with floss, tape, interdental brushes, or toothpicks to clean areas bristles cannot reach. Its development from chew sticks in Sumer (3500 BC) and Egyptian tombs (3000 BC) to modern nylon-bristled and electric versions reflects centuries of innovation. The first patent was granted in 1857, and mass production in the US began in 1885. Brushing teeth did not become routine in the United States until after World War II. In 2003, the toothbrush was selected as the number one invention Americans could not live without. However, most toothbrushes are made of cheap plastic, contributing to significant pollution, with over 1 billion discarded annually in the US alone. Electric toothbrushes, introduced in 1954, may reduce plaque and gingivitis but are more costly and environmentally damaging.
Did You Know?
- The earliest chew sticks, predecessors of the toothbrush, were discovered in Sumer in 3500 BC.
- The first bristle toothbrush resembling the modern one was used during the Tang dynasty (619–907) in China.
- The first nylon bristle toothbrush went on sale on February 24, 1938.
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