No Toothpicks in Public, Please — Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

No Toothpicks in Public, Please — Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

I started thinking about toothpicks on a recent evening when I saw something I hadn’t seen in years. The guy was standing in front of a restaurant and twirling a toothpick in his mouth as if it were a permanent part of him and a symbol of his importance. And he had what he thought was a swagger; a step to the left and a look down the street, then a step to the right and a look down the street. As he stepped, he flipped the toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.

Though his public toothpick twirl was bothersome, I found it amusing and thought of what his story might be. My first idea was that he was not coming out of the restaurant. My guess is that he wanted people to think so, to think he had the means for fine dining. His symbol gave him a sense of importance, and even though he may not have had any means, his moves suggested the opposite.

His toothpick skills were a measure of satisfaction, portrayed indifference and substance. Or maybe he wanted to look like a movie bad dude, like Stallone or Bogart. Or maybe he had just quit smoking, and the mouth tool was his crutch. That would be nice. Or maybe it was just the common trope of oral fixation like the straws and lollipops we sucked or the grass we kids chewed. Mark Twain considered chewing a toothpick a sign of contentment, even wearing one in his cap when at the wheel of his riverboat.

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The toothpick’s story goes back to the Neanderthals. There is evidence that they cleaned their teeth with materials like wood, bone, ivory, shells, bird claws, and even walrus whiskers. Much later, high-profile Romans used pieces made from silver and bronze. In the 17th century, European nobility considered toothpicks a luxury, even using gem-encrusted precious metals set with expensive stones. And then the entrepreneurial spirit kicked in.

Charles Forster, while working on a family farm in Brazil in 1869, noticed that local workmen made toothpicks from wood. He invented a machine, secured patent rights and started selling. Forster’s Maine company expanded and once manufactured 20 million toothpicks per day, up to 20 billion per year. Even though their popularity has declined, billions are used yearly around the world.

By the 1990s other dental hygiene products and cheaper imports from China and Southeast Asia had eroded the toothpick market in America, especially in Strong, Maine, once considered the toothpick capital of the world.

Remember please that the toothpick is not benign. About 8,000 people are injured in the United States each year by toothpicks they swallow or that inadvertently puncture an eye or ear. There have even been a few toothpick deaths.

Back to the guy outside the restaurant. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. . . that he was important, that he ate at the restaurant, that he had quit smoking, that he was a good dude. “But, please, Sir. No toothpicks in public.”