The ancient Chinese made toothbrushes with bristles picked from the neck hair of Siberian wild boars! Stick-like toothbrushes have also been found in the pyramids of ancient Egypt. French dentists were the first Europeans to promote the use of toothbrushes in 17th and early 18th centuries.
William Addis of Clerkenwald, England, created the first mass-produced toothbrush. The first American to patent a toothbrush was H.N. Wadsworth, and many American companies began to mass produce toothbrushes after 1885. It’s hard to believe, but most Americans did not brush their teeth until army soldiers brought their enforced habits of tooth brushing back home after World War II.
After the Dupont Company of America invented nylon in 1935, toothbrushes appeared with nylon bristles. The first real electric toothbrush was produce in 1939, and developed in Switzerland. Introduced in 1987, Interplak was the first rotary action electrical toothbrush for home use.
