TCM Unearthed: Bone Toothbrush Handle

Excavated from a Tang Dynasty site on Zhihui Street in Chengdu, it is the earliest known toothbrush discovered in China. The handle, a little over ten centimeters long, features a meticulously arranged head with six pairs—twelve in total—of tiny drilled holes. These holes were designed to hold bristles. Over a thousand years ago, people in the Tang Dynasty had already crafted toothbrushes by inserting animal bristles into bone handles to clean their teeth—a practice documented centuries earlier than similar toothbrushes in Europe. This artifact offers tangible proof that the value placed on oral hygiene in China dates back much further than we might imagine. It is now housed in the Museum of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.