Medicine: The Old Family Toothbrush

The old oaken toothbrush,

The moss-covered toothbrush,

The old family toothbrush That hangs by the sink.

First it was father's . . .

Almost as bad as the toothbrush of this parody, say Dentists Allen O. Gruebbel and J. M. Wisan, is the actual toothbrush used by the average U.S. family. Staff members of the American Dental Association, they examined 8,176 toothbrushes sent in* by 1,929 families all over the U.S., reported their findings last week in the A.D.A.'s Journal. Four out of five (80.7%) of the brushes were useless or actually "dangerous" (because they might irritate the gums); three-fourths of these...

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