In the olden days before plastic was invented, I imagine toothbrushes were made with natural bristle – or perhaps people used their right-hand index finger to rub teeth and gums, or gently maneuvered a well-chewed medicinal twig, as they do traditionally in India and I’m sure elsewhere. For some reason (surely we didn’t still use natural bristle toothbrushes when I was a child?) I’ve always pictured my toothbrush as having natural bristles even though intellectually I know it doesn’t.
Well, the other day I had an Aha moment: my toothbrush is made of plastic bristles. Further, they are nice and soft when new, but the older they get, the harder and stiffer they become – with calcified toothpaste, plaque and other unmentionables. (I now understand why my sister’s dentist recommends that she change her toothbrush once a week. Whoa – how many months do you keep yours?)
Here is my Aha outcome: Since plastic bristles do not decay when kept in water, why not keep the brush head-down in water when not in use? This new understanding coincided with a week without toothpaste when I got a reality check on how much (smelly) bacterial activity is going on in the jungle of bristles under cover of the peppermint toothpaste flavor. Why not add a drop or two of good essential oil to the water and simultaneously disinfect the bristles and provide a healthy substitute for toothpaste? (‘Good' means food-grade oils, preferably organic, high in natural whats-its.)
My toothbrush holder turned out to be perfect for the experiment: it’s a tall narrow cup that allows me to use very little water to fill the bottom with a couple of inches. (I’m a water-saving freak, so that is significantly satisfying.) I use filtered water, add a drop or two of "Thieves" and one of Peppermint, and in goes my toothbrush and the bottle brush, head first.
The tongue scraper – you’ve seen them? They’re those U-shaped stainless steel (or silver) thinggies with a small handle on either end that you hold as you drag the scraper across your tongue from back to front: don’t know how my teeth and I survived all the years of my life before I discovered tongue scrapers in India (and met the aristocratic lady who uses one made of silver). Anyway, it sits upside-down resting on the top of the cup, which incidentally is decoratively painted with gangly flowers and is stored in the mirror cupboard out of the way of dust, hair, toilet fumes and passing roaches. (I bet your place doesn’t host such things.)
Well, my new system works great. The brush remains clean, soft and sweet-smelling; the flavoured water is healthy for my gums and teeth; I rinse the brush in tap water and shake it out well before dipping it back into the cup to reload on toothwater as I work my way across gums and teeth; and since the brushes are kept free of food chewings, and the essential oils are powerful anti-bacterials, I just change the water once a week or so, using it to feed the plants.*
I love things like that. A nice blending of components, easy and pleasurable to use, far healthier than all those years of toothpaste and stiff-bristled toothbrushes scraping off the enamel and probably reinfecting my mouth with mature bacteria several times a day.
Definitely something I’d like to pass on to myself in my twenties. Would I, if it were one of five?
Originally written in early 2010 (or 2009)
*Update: OK, OK, calm down ~ I no longer keep the water for a whole week. In fact, my current toothbrush is Made in India and the blue from the plastic handle leaches out into the cup of water, tingeing the whole caboodle sky blue, so I gave up the water practice for a while. But now, hallelujah, since the arrival of my structured water unit, I get to use fresh water and plenty of it. I'll let you know if I grow new teeth.
