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• 13 May

Toothbrush history is complicated. Though people might not realize it, the toothbrush, as we know it today, is actually a fairly recent invention. In fact, the toothbrush that you use every morning is probably not much older in concept than the electronic toothbrush that people will sometimes purchase. A teeth wiki can provide some information on this interesting and complex history of keeping people’s mouths clean, but the history of the toothbrush should also take into account that this instrument has many different predecessors.

A history of toothbrushes tells a long story. And toothbrushes can be fairly significant for people who are looking to keep their teeth white. But there was a time when people did not have access to this fairly simple invention. Before the 19th century, people were more likely to use a toothpick of some sort. This might have been a twig on the ground, it might have been a short stick purchased from a grocery store. In any case, this sort of dental care, which at that time, was provided through the barber shop, was not particularly effective.

In many cases, people would not have any teeth. In fact, in America in around the turn of the century, the majority of adults did have no teeth. It is largely because of the toothbrush that this has changed. Toothbrush history is the history of people warding off bacteria. Toothbrush history begins in an English prison during the Victorian era, when an English prisoner invented the first toothbrush using boar bristles and bone.

Of course, wires and bristles had to be replaced in toothbrush history. It was for this reason that the elastic toothbrush was developed in the 1930s and it has made up the bristles on a toothbrush ever since. It was only one year after the development of the elastic toothbrush that the electronic toothbrush was developed. Toothbrush history does not end there, but these were the most significant developments. Today, it is likely that people will go through life without losing a single tooth. Who would have guessed that this history would have begun in an English prison.