Chinese Emperor Invents Tooth Brush

To The Chinese Emperor Who Patented, on 26 June 1498, The World’s First Tooth Brush Made With Bristles and the bristles set at right angles to the handle…..

Dear Chinese Emperor, 

A HAPPY, HAPPY Anniversary Emperor to You Emperor and to Your Wonderful Toothbrush Invention.

Hello Emperor, my name is Dr Garth Pettit, I am dentist and specialize in oral healthcare education. You will be very happy to know that your invention is still going along strongly in 2008, but with minor changes….your bristles were from a hog’s neck whereas now bristles are a synthetic named nylon….and your handle was either bone or bamboo whereas now handles are synthetic plastic.

Having dabbled in inventions myself I can put myself into your mind as it was working at the time. You studied the implement that had been used for many centuries to clean teeth. It was a ‘chewing stick’, a stick from a special tree (or was it trees?), one end of the stick having been chewed to loosen the fibers to give the stick a frayed end at one end. You must have studied the fibers at the end and noted they were in line with the handle of the stick. You must have said to yourself, ”what if the fibers were not in line with the handle, but at right angles to the handle”? You then searched for a handle that could be drilled with holes and also searched for something to replace the fibers, Your invention became the toothbrush made with bristles taken from the back of a hog’s neck set into a handle that was either bamboo or bone. A truly marvelous invention!

But, Emperor, you will be delighted to know that little else has changed in the intervening 510 years. Can you imagine that people now, in the 21st Century are still being advised to “Brush Your Teeth”, just like you helped others to advise people back in your era. Probably the most significant change since then Emperor has  beenthe invention of toothpaste in the 18^th Century.

I have added a postscript below which confirms the current popularity of your toothbrush invention… in a 2003 survey for the invention people can least do without your toothbrush came first, ahead of automobiles, personal computers, cell phones and microwave ovens.  More congratulations Emperor.

However I am certain you will be saddened to know that despite your wonderful invention, designed with the purpose of preventing teeth from rotting, that it has been an almost total failure. Teeth are still rotting at an alarming rate. The sad truth Emperor is that people simply do not know the most effective way how to use a toothbrush, let alone toothpaste.

You may be interested to know that in 2008 we also think about cleaning other surfaces in the mouth besides teeth surfaces. But we still use toothbrushes and the good old instruction “Brush Your Teeth”.

I would love to sit around a table with you and talk about oral hygiene, ’cause most folks down here are so busy doing all sorts of so many things they don’t have time to sit around tables let alone talk about “Brush Your Teeth”.  Quite honestly you would think folks would love to know more about oral hygiene because I see  rot in people’s mouths every day. The rot has got out-of-hand!

Anyhow Emperor, you set the world on fire all those years ago with your invention and you have every reason to be very proud of it. Very few people now-a-days are interested in talking about a tooth brush or even about “Brush Your Teeth”. They are all too busy doing other things.

Actually I’ve been telling people that it’s time to banish the instruction “Brush Your Teeth” because I believe this instruction has been causing oral diseases since it was first created back in or before your time. It really was only a tooth cleaning instruction then. We know a lot more about oral hygiene now-a-days Emperor.

I invented, in the year 2001, a better instruction, more suited to this century and called it “Treat Your Whole Mouth”. It’s been hard going spreading the word  but, slowly, I’m getting there! And I’ll never give up trying ’cause, especially our children, everyone is owed a moral right to know nothing but the best about every instruction they are given.

Will you be at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing?\

Your friend forever Emperor,

Dr Garth Pettit

P.S.

Toothbrush beats out car and computer as the invention Americans can’t live without, according to Lemelson-MIT Survey

January 21, 2003

While it may seem that cell phones, computers and other technology gadgets are Americans’ most coveted items, teens and adults agree that the toothbrush is the one invention they cannot live without.

The 2003 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, an annual survey of Americans’ perceptions about inventing and innovating, found that technologically advanced items significantly lag in importance behind the toothbrush, which was developed in the 15th century.

When asked to select the invention they could not live without from among five choices–toothbrush, automobile, personal computer, cell phone and microwave–more than a third of teens (34 percent) and almost half of adults (42 percent) cited the toothbrush. The automobile ranked a close second, getting votes from 31 percent of teens and 37 percent of adults.

Of the remaining choices, teens ranked the personal computer third (16 percent), the cell phone fourth (10 percent) and the microwave last (7 percent). Adults deemed the remaining choices equally important; the personal computer (6 percent), microwave oven (6 percent) and the cell phone (6 percent) tied for third.