Value Fictions: Part IV

The Brushlight!

The Foodbrush!

A Little Experimentation with Masking

Value Fictions Part III

Taking the tooth out of the brush:

 The Toothbrush Flashlight

The Toothbrush Makes the Drums Roll

The Toothbrush Joins the Kitchen Crew

The Toothbrush is the Monster Under Your Bed

A Little Movement with Bubbles

Value Fictions Part II

A Study of Shape, Structure, and Utility Looking at the toothbrush from a different perspective:                            How to Create Your Own Toothbrush        The Structure     A Shapely Comparison  \ 

Value Fictions: Part I

The Life and Times of the Toothbrush

In the Beginning…

The toothbrush originated around 3500 BC. References to ancient toothpicks or “chewingsticks” used to maintain oral hygiene has been found in ancient Greek and Roman literature, Mesopotamians writings, and Egyptian tombs. Romans valued good teeth as a sign of vigor and good health. In China in 1600 BC, these toothpicks became pencil size chew sticks or natural toothbrushes with one end that had a pointed pick used to clean food from between teeth, and one end that became a softened brush when chewed into. Other forms of these toothpicks were made from porcupine quills, birth feathers, or animal bones. These are the precedences of the miswak toothbrushes that were made from twigs of the Salvadora persica tree. The Salvadora persica tree, also known as the toothbrush tree, is made of a fiber that as been scientifically proven to prevent tooth decay and maintain healthy, clean teeth. The tree has healing and antiseptic qualities that are still used in miswaks today throughout Muslim communities. Brushes made from twigs or roots of lentiskwood or myrtle were also a preferred method of cleaning teeth in the 5th century (the age of Hippocrates), as both sources contained an odor that gave users pleasant breathe.

Tooth Meets Brush

Bristled toothbrushes were widely used throughout Europe and Asia by the early 1800s, but toothpicks were still being used as a sole means of cleaning teeth as well throughout the world. As they became more a part of everyday life of the 18th and 19th centuries, silver, copper, and gold toothpicks were being created as a reflection of art and symbol of social status. Although the toothbrush continued to evolve in modern society, toothpicks in the United States were the main tool for teeth cleaning through the early 1950s. In the United States, Bristle toothbrushes were added to oral hygiene methods of chewsticks and rags in the late 1700s, but they were not easily accepted by the public. Advertisements for American dentists contained illustrations of bristled toothbrushes to encourage people to use them. By the 19th century, bristled toothbrushes were superior to chewsticks. Today, approximately 10 million people in the Middle East and throughout the world still continue to use toothpicks as their main method for cleaning teeth.

The Toothbrush Comes Into Its Own

Dr. Meyer L. Rhein made the first patented toothbrush by hand in 1844, which was comprised of three rows of large tufts of serrated bristles. The Florence Manufacturing Company of Massachusetts collaborated with Dr. Rhein to manufacture and mass distribute the Pro-phy-lac-tic brush in the United States. It was H.N. Wadsworth who publicized the toothbrush in America, as he was the first to receive the toothbrush patent in 1857. It was the era of World War I that significantly changed the way toothbrushes were made. Because of the nutritional needs of troops, bones that were previously used for toothbrush handles were being collected by the soup industry to use for food rations during the war, due to the nutritional value that bones contained. This gave way to the usage of celluloid toothbrush handles. Celluloid was a plastic material that was poured into plastic handle molds, and then shaped to create a functional handle. It was not until the 1920s when the most effective method of attaching bristles was developed for this type of handle: holes were drilled into the head of the brush, small bunches of bristles were then forced into the holes, and secured with a staple. This method is continues to be used for many toothbrushes today.

Shockingly enough, most Americans did not brush their teeth until World War II when soldier’s returned home with the habit as part of their daily routine enforced in the Army. A campaign at the time told people to brush their teeth so they can win the war, not only supported the troops but encouraged people to incorporate the habit into their lives.
It was around this time in 1938 that nylons filaments replaced the use of boars or horse hairs for bristles, since the roadblock out of Chung-King, China prevented the exportation of animal hairs. Nylon was a better source for bristles since the shape could be varied in diameter, improving performance, and reduced the cost of production.

The Toothbrush Today

In 1939, the electric toothbrush was first introduced in Switzerland as a way to get better teeth cleaning results while simulating more brushing action. It was not until 1987 that the electric toothbrush was introduced for home usage. A study performed with electric toothbrushes from General Electric and Broxodont have shown that although electric toothbrushes seem to simulate more brushing action, in regular brushing they are no more effective than manual toothbrushes.

Today, there is no question that teeth brushing is a regular part of the daily routine of modern society. Commercials and advertisements for toothbrushes are prominently marketed to promote healthy gums, glowing white teeth, and stop bad breathe and gingivitis. Oral-B leads with the most dominant toothbrush products on the market, but there are over 3,000 patents of toothbrushes available. There are toothbrushes that play music while you brush – Tooth Tunes, brushes with two heads, and a brush that can tell you how many times you have cleaned a particular section of teeth – The Oral-B Triumph 9100 with SmartGuide. Of all the variety of toothbrushes available, the most agreed on quality of the toothbrush that continues to be the most important in all manufacturers, is that the handle must be able to reach the most difficult to reach teeth.

Sources

• ASME.org. “Of Finite-Element Analysis and A Winning Smile
  Evolution and Analysis of the Toothbrush”. Sembera, Kyle W. http://www.asme.org/NewsPublicPolicy/Newsletters/MechanicalAdvantage/Evolution_Analysis_Toothbrush.cfm, 2007
• American Dental Association. “History of Dentisry”. http://www.ada.org/public/resources/history/index.asp, 2005
• Gargles. “Evolution of the Toothbrush”. http://gargles.net/evolution-of-the-toothbrush/, 2007
• Goldbery, J.V. and Louis W. Ripa. Oral Hygiene in Oral Health. Springfield, Ill.: C. C. Thomas, 1977.
• New York Public Library Digital Gallery. “Brosse à dents: Digital ID: 1567597″
  http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1056827&imageID=1567597&word=toothbrush&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=1&num=0&imgs=12&pNum=&pos=1
• Wikipedia. “Miswak”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miswak
• Wikipedia. “Persica”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvadora_persica
• ToothbrushExpress.com. “Toothbrush History”. http://www.toothbrushexpress.com/html/toothbrush_history.html
• Trivia-Library.com. “History and Story Behind Inventions: Toothbrush”http://www.trivia-library.com/a/history-and-story-behind-inventions-toothbrush.htm, 2004

Background, Foreground, and the Childhood Toy

My Background:
My educational and career background has mainly focused on fine arts and print graphic design. I received a BA in Fine Arts concentrating in Visual Communication (just a fancy way of saying graphic design) from the George Washington University in 2000, while also minoring in Art History. Since graduating from college, I’ve held several graphic design positions. During my senior year of college and for several months on and off after, I worked as a designer at the GWU creative services office creating print collateral for student organizations and university events. From July to November 2004, I was a designer on the Kerry-Edwards Presidential campaign, creating large banners and other print graphics for press coverage at campaign events. I also handled the budgeting, printing, and shipping arrangements for the graphics materials for these events. It was definitely fun to see my work on television and on various news feeds such as Yahoo news images and Getty Images. I also quickly became versed in the project management, client interaction, and communication aspect of a design position, which proved to be just as important as artistic ability when involved in a design project. While living in Washington, D.C. I spent some time working at a small publishing and marketing firm where I created corporate collateral such as magazines, media kits, and conference materials, but had very little client interaction. Before coming to Parsons, I worked as a graphic design specialist in a large creative services department at a consulting firm called the Corporate Executive Board. I managed and created all published materials such as seminar slides, invitations, studies, and other corporate collateral for a specific area of the company, while interacting with internal clients on a regular basis. Overrall, my career background has been very corporate oriented which can have its dry spots, but can be very rewarding as well.

My Foreground:
I foresee my experience in the Design and Technology program at Parsons to really allow me to experience other ways that I can apply conceptual design skills, and explore how I can improve my creative process to produce better work. In the recent past, I had grown fairly bored of only working in print design. I felt that more and more I was just plugging in design elements and not knowing how to be a more active part of the conceptualizing process. I didn’t feel that I knew enough technical procedures, and that I was falling behind in the advancements of the design industry. I want to explore how the design industry is advancing in aspects other than print, and learn about the technical processes that can be applied to design in order to create projects that are more cutting-edge and interactive. I definitely see our society becoming more and more web dependent, and I want to be able to be a part of and do work in some aspect of the web industry, while improving my perception of design aesthetics. I would like to learn about how I can apply animation, sound, and aspects of usability to create interactive experiences that enhance perceptions and target other senses than just a static design will do. After going through Bootcamp, I definitely see how I’m going to be quickly exposed to topics I never considered to be a part of design and concept in the past, and how quickly I’m going to learn everything in this program. I can’t give an exact job title that I expect to pursue after completing this program, as my main goal is to be more knowledgeable of and marketable within the design field. I definitely want to be in an environment that is heavily creative, open-minded, and is constantly advancing in the types of work that is produced while able to easily adapt to the advancements of the industry. If I was rewarded a job that simply keeps me on my toes, allows me to constantly be learning and improving, then I’d consider my goals of pursuing this program to be met.

My Favorite Childhood Toy:
As much as I loved my various dolls, art project kits, treasured stuffed animals, and board games, in the end my favorite childhood toy was my collection of Leggos. I grew up with two brothers, so as girly as I was, I was always joining in on the creation of model cars and Leggo mansions. I liked how I could follow the instructions that showed you how to create the design on the Leggo kit box, but I could also tweak or change it to be something completely different. I found that I could create an entire imaginary world from dozens of simple plastic, brightly colored Leggo pieces – not to mention perking it up a bit with a few Leggo men and women figures. I enjoyed just about anything that I could take apart or put together. I liked opening up parts of telephones to show what sort of infinite abyss lied within the plastic encasing. I’m convinced that if I was better at math, I would have gone into engineering, but the conceptual aspect of design is what drew me in – starting from my enjoyment of designing Leggo worlds – and what has kept me eager to learn more about the field.