Home » A Short History of the Humble Toothpick

Reprint

Hey, you might ask, it's only a toothpick, how much history can there be? Well, quite a lot, actually. The humble little device that we use to get food out of our teeth has been around since well before recorded history, long before the toothbrush, long before floss. Analysis of the skulls of neanderthals shows evidence of the use of some sort of tool to clean the odd bit of meat from their choppers. Grasses were used for centuries as floss; the choice of the appropriate grass also freshened the breath. Sticks were chewed on one end to make a simple kind of toothbrush. More than one ancient stick has been found with a chewed brush on one end with the other end carved into a tooth cleaning implement. Toothpicks were used almost as soon as man learned to eat, which meant utilizing whatever they had to the fullest. They could be made of bone, ivory, shells, walrus whiskers, bird claws, or pieces of reed, whatever was available.

As human history evolved so did the history of the humble toothpick. Graves in Italy and Switzerland have yielded a number of bronze tooth cleaning devices. The Romans made some fine examples from silver and wood. The Roman Emperor Nero was known to show up to banquets with a silver toothpick perched in his decadent lips. Norse women wore brooches with a number of useful items on them such as small tweezers, an ear spoon, a small mirror, and of course, a toothpick. In his book Natural History, Pliny the Elder wrote that a toothpick made from "the frontal bones of a lizard, taken from the head of the animal at full moon," would help unhealthy teeth. Shakespeare himself in Much Ado About Nothing, had Benedick offer to find for Don Pedro "a tooth-picker from the furthest inch of Asia."

By the 17th Century, the toothpick had reached its peak as a luxury item. They were artfully produced from precious metals, set with gems, and enamelled by artists. Toothpick use was considered a compliment to the chef in those days. Toothpicks became fashionable. But the less fortunate were still using sharpend sticks or porcupine quills. Blue Water Ventures is a treasure seeking firm which was recently diving in the waters off of Florida, and brought up a toothpick made of gold with pick on one end and an ear spoon on the other from the Spanish Galleon Santa Margarita. Estimated value? $100,000.

Mass Toothpick production began in the late 19th century when Silas Noble and J. P. Cooley patented the first toothpick-manufacturing equipment. The rights to the patent were bought by Charles Forster who was a marketing guru, or a slick confidence man, depending on your opinion of his business ethics. Working at his uncle's import/export business in Brazil he noticed that natives of the area had great teeth and credited this to the use of handmade wooden toothpicks. He vowed to mass-produce the wooden toothpicks, and soon did just that. But he couldn't sell them in Boston. The yankee tradition was to make your own by sharpening whatever wood was handy. Forster employed some harvard students and others to begin asking for toothpicks after meals at restuarants, and sending them into shops to inquire about the availability of toothpicks. After a time, he'd show up with his mass-produced toothpicks and of course, made sales.

Forster's machine could produce millions of toothpicks in a single day. Birch was the preferred wood. No other material surpasses it for strength and low cost, and the plastic models, well they're a bit rough on the gums, a fact that may have pointed out to you by your periodontist. A single log will produce a million or so toothpicks. The logs are rolled and knife stripped into thin veneers, which are further cut into strips, and finally stamped into the tiny objects we know today.

 

Toothpicks are useful for other things. People are clever. They've used toothpicks to make models of planes and cars. Joe King built a model of the Eiffel Tower that's 24 feet tall, entirely of made of toothpicks. You can spear little pieces of fruit or cheese with them for parties, or insert them in cakes you're baking to check their doneness, or fix an avacodo above a glass of water so that it grows roots, and then plant it, stir those little paint-by-numbers containers, or use them as handles for the olives in your martinis.

P Diddy, famous rap star, is often spotted at high-society events wearing fly custom suits and sporting a toothpick in his his mouth. He took his "toothpicks are cool" crusade to new heights when he made his entrance as emcee of MTV's Music Video Awards. He rose from below the stage like a phoenix, with an enormous ego and a toothpick jutting from his mouth.

The Cinnamon toothpick was first produced around 1949 by Cozy Corner Drugstore owner August T. Baden as special treats for the neighborhood children. They caught on and by 1960 Mr. Baden was producing millions of them which were shipped around the World. His drug store The Cozy Corner closed in 1962 but he continued making cinnamon toothpicks until the early '90s. Now you can once again get the heat and flavor of old time cinnamon toothpicks. Made of solid birch, pointed on both ends, and packed with cinnamon heat you can get them online at Nuclear Hell Cinnamon Toothpicks, but I warn you they're sizzling hot and not for the wimpy!