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     Gobar times: Environment for Beginners

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COVER STORY a_sing.jpg (434 bytes)
   
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Ask me! No?

BRUSH RUSH
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The first modern toothbrush was invented in China. Neem and Miswak were used as toothbrushes in India. Rubbing baking soda or chalk was common elsewhere.

1780: William Addis of England created the first mass-produced toothbrush. He drilled small holes in an animal bone, tied some bristles in tufts, passed them through the holes on the bone and glued them. (Psst! He was then in jail).

1850: The first patent for toothbrush was by HN Wadsworth in the United States. But mass production in America started in 1885.

1938: Natural bristles replaced by synthetic fibers (like nylon) by DuPont. On February 24, the first nylon bristle toothbrush went on sale.

1959: The first electric toothbrush, the Broxodent, introduced by the Bristol-Myers Company (now Bristol-Myers Squibb) at the centennial of the American Dental Association.
Building brushes

Siberian Boar hair was once used as bristles. But it was not an ideal material, as it retained bacteria, did not dry well, and the bristles would often fall out of the brush! Thankfully, we now generally use nylon bristles. The handles are made of platic. And everything is done mechanically.
1. Plastic is mixed and shaped into pellets,    which is placed in an injection-molding    machine that heats the plastic until it is    melted.

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2.  This molten plastic is forced into handle     molds by a rotating screw or plunger. They     form the entire handle, including the small     holes called Cores.
3. The molds are securely clamped.
4. Pressure is applied while the plastic cools.
   5. The clamps are removed, and small pins     push the handles out of the molds.
6. The bristles are automatically positioned     into the Cores, and are stapled into them     with tiny metal staples.
7. A trimming machine slices the bristles to     the desired length and shape.
8. The toothbrushes are packaged, labelled,
    and sold.

And when disposed off, they end up increasing the world’s plastic burden.
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Indian Dental Association (IDA) recommends changing toothbrush every 3-4 months for maintaining good oral hygiene. If this is followed, imagine the number of toothbrushes that would be disposed every month!

 

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