People have been trying to take care of their teeth for centuries. That is why the history of toothbrushes is long. The history of the toothbrush stretches across the world, and it holds many interesting stories.

Toothbrush history begins before 1000 AD when the Chinese would use hog bristles to brush their teeth wiki. A few centuries later, still in China, a brush for teeth was first written about. Dogen Kigen, a Japan Zen Master, claimed to see Chinese monks brushing their teeth with horsetail brushes attached to ox bone handles in 1223.

The history of toothbrushes moved forward as Europeans travelled to China and brought brushes for their teeth back beginning in the 1600s. England would continue to import these brushes into the middle of the 1900s. The actual word “toothbrush” was first recorded in England in the year 1690. The first mass produced toothbrush came out of England in 1780.

The history of toothbrushes took another huge leap forward in 1938 when nylon bristles were introduced with a plastic handle. This quickly became the popular type of toothbrush for the day. Although the electric toothbrush was invented in 1954, the standard nylon bristled brush attached to the plastic handle has overwhelmingly remained the most popular toothbrush of modern society.