floss did not, however, become a household product until 1882, when
unwaxed
silk floss was mass-produced by the codman and
shur
tleff
company. it was johnson & johnson
(which would
purchase
codman and
shurtleff
in 1965)
that patent
ed
dental floss in 1898.
dental floss’s first moment in the spotlight,
though
, really came in 1918, when james joyce referenced the at-the-time ground
–
breaking tool in his beloved novel
ulysses
. to quote, “he took a reel of dental floss from his waistcoat pocket and, breaking off a piece, twanged it smartly between two and two of his resonant unwashed teeth.” riveting!
floss became all the rage in dentists’ offices everywhere in the 1940s, largely thanks to dr. charles c. bass, who urged patients to make it a key part of their daily hygiene routine. around the same time, during
the second world war
, silk became too expensive, and so nylon became the new material used for manufacturing floss. it was a nice bonus that nylon also happened to be more elastic than silk.
soon came waxed floss, followed by dental tape in the 1950s, variations on the floss pick in the 1960s, and the first interdental brush in the 1980s, which could be used in place of floss.
today, gore-tex – a more breathable material – is also used in place of nylon. and the dental floss industry in general has become more, shall we say,
fun
. you can now b
u
y floss in different flavours, colours and textures. or you can just use a plastic floss pick,
particularly
for the teeth in the cheap seats, and for those who wear braces. for those with more sensitive gums, there is also soft floss and spongy floss.