History
Levi Spear Parmly, a dentist from New Orleans, is credited with inventing the first form of dental floss. He recommended that people should clean their teeth with silk floss in 1815.
Dental floss was still unavailable to the consumer until the Codman and Shurtleft company started producing human-usable unwaxed silk floss in 1882. In 1898, the Johnson & Johnson Corporation received the first patent for dental floss. Other early brands included Red Cross, Salter Sill Co. and Brunswick.
A character is depicted using dental floss in James Joyce's famous novel Ulysses (serialised 1918-1920) and is an early mention of the practice in literary fiction.
The adoption of floss was poor before World War II. It was around this time, however, that Dr. Charles C. Bass developed nylon floss. Nylon floss was found to be better than silk because of its greater abrasion resistance and elasticity. In response to environmental concerns, dental floss made from biodegradable materials is now available.
Dentists and dental hygienists urge the daily oral hygiene regimen of toothbrushing and flossing. Nearly all Americans brush their teeth. However, studies have found that only 10% to 40% of Americans report flossing on a daily basis.
Read more about this topic: Dental Floss
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“The history of his present majesty, is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations ... all of which have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
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—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)