Toothbrush
A toothbrush is a basic element which helps to maintain oral hygiene. It is assumed that first toothbrush was created in China in 1498 and William Addis introduced it to massive production in late 80’s of XVIII.
First toothbrushes were made of a bone with bear’s hair. While developing, bear’s hair was replaced with another material and in 1939 in Scotland first electric toothbrush appeared. Toothpaste is an irreplaceable element in the process of teeth brushing.
We can’t imagine our life without a toothbrush
According to Lemelson-MIT Invention Index3 in 2003 in January a toothbrush was considered by Americans as the most important invention you can’t dispense with. It was much more important than a car, a computer, a mobile phone or a microwave.
| toothbrush | car | Personal Computer | mobile phone | microwave | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| adults | 42% | 37% | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| children | 34% | 31% | 16% | 10% | 7% |
Proper brushing
Teeth brushing consists of removing all food remains and dental deposit form tooth surface and interdental space. Proper teeth brushing starts from the most difficult accessible places, use short sweeping strokes, tipping the bristles into the pits and crevices.
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Teeth should be brushed after every meal for 2-3 minutes. We should concentrate on pressure we put on teeth while brushing. Too gentle brushing does not remove debris and too strong brushing can damage enamel.
Toothbrush choice?
There are many types of tootbrushes on the market. Choosing the proper one you should focus on 2 basic elements:
- Toothbrush structure - toothbrush head should be small and in the proper angle in order to reach all places in oral cave, a handle should be properly long and profiled.
- Hair hardness - toothbrush hair hardness should match the gums state: soft one is recommended for people with gingival diseases, average one is mostly recommended and hard one is in special cases for example for smokers.
Dentist in Maxdent2 recommend to change a toothbrush every 2 months otherwise it looses propriety.
Studies performed by Colgatea-Plamolive Poland2 show that statistical Polish uses 0.6 toothbrush a year and it means that we use one toothbrush for two years.
1) "Kto wynalazł szczoteczkę do zębów i kiedy to było", Biblioteka Kongresu USA, zobacz oryginał;
3) "Szczoteczka do zębów od A do Z", dr hab. n. med. Leopold Wagner, zobacz oryginał;
3) "Toothbrush Beats Out PC, Car, Cell Phone as the Invention Most Americans Say They Cannot Live Without", styczeń 2003, zobacz oryginał.
