Follies of the Madmen #509

That prophylactic doesn't look like it's gonna fit right at all.

I remember a few brushes I had as a kid where a bristle came out of the handle and poked into the crevice between gum and tooth. That was painful and left a lasting impression. But modern brushes seem to be built differently than those of fifty years ago. Most brushes of any size are built by poking a bundle of fibers into the hole in the head where friction keeps them in place.

So, out of curiosity, I got my current brush and examined it under a glass. It appears that the bristles are molded into the head by casting the two together. A good tug did not dislodge the bristle so I assume that a modern brush was not going fall apart under normal use. Another thing I do is to get a new brush every time that the tube of paste runs out.

Bristles getting loose is a problem that happens frequently when I clean the gunk around my kitchen faucet. I always have to use tweezers to remove the bristles from under the faucet base.

Back in the day before toothbrushes had nylon bristles, they used natural bristles that did indeed come loose. I don’t know if natural-bristle brushes are still sold, but I remember when I was a kid in the 1970s, my mother using one, because her dentist believed they were better.

Another problem with natural bristle toothbrushes is that they collect mildew. Yuck!