Volume 219 Issue 12, 18 December 2015
'HISTORY OF DENTISTRY IN 12 OBJECTS SERIES: TOOTHBRUSH'
The cover series for volume 219 celebrates 80 years of the British Dental Association (BDA) Museum. Each front cover features an object which highlights a landmark in dental history. The catch is that the object is placed out of its historical context and in a modern environment, causing you to look twice at each picture. The landmark objects were chosen by BDA Museum volunteers.
The toothbrush on the cover of this issue, the last in this volume, was manufactured at the W. R. Tilbury Toothbrush Company, founded in Hackney in 1880. The bone and badger bristle brush used by Elodie on this particular cover was made by Thomas James Pennington, the factory manager, during the inter-war years. The finished brush would have gone through a number of labour intensive procedures. Femur bone taken from an ox or cow was first boiled to remove the fat and then cut to the correct handle lengths and roughly shaped by hand. Holes were cut in the head for badger or the less expensive pig bristle before whitening the bone by re-boiling in a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide. Turpentine was used to remove the last remnants of fat. The handles were given their final shape and polished by hand before the time consuming process, unusually undertaken by women, of 'drawing' the bristles into the holes drilled in the head. The bristles were then trimmed to produce the final product. Before the introduction of nylon toothbrushes in 1938, bone and bristle remained the mainstay in toothbrush manufacture ensuring their retail cost remained high.
Photography by Filip Gierlinski
Website: www.filskifoto.com; Email: filip@filskifoto.com
With many thanks to Rachel Bairsto and the BDA Museum team for their significant contribution to the creation of this cover series.
Editorial
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