Dr Sarah Hayes describes the composition of toothbrushes from the mid 19th century.

Click Here to listen to conservator Susanna Collis speak about the conservation of the toothbrushes found at Viewbank.

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TRANSCRIPT

SARAH HAYES:  About 13 or 14 toothbrushes were recovered from Viewbank from within the tip. So they had been thrown away. When you look at one of these toothbrushes, they seem enormous compared to our modern toothbrush, which is very small and very efficient.

But these toothbrushes were quite huge. And they were made from either bone or wood. There's some of both in the Viewbank assemblage. And they had horsehair bristles. These bristles were sewn into the head of the brush with a series of holes, or with little grooves, on the back of the toothbrush.

And archaeologically, what we find is the handle. We never get the bristles. The bristles tend to have decayed. Sometimes you can see still a few little bristles within the holes of the toothbrush, but that's pretty much all we get.

These toothbrushes were considered to be a bit of a prestigious item at the time. It wasn't necessarily something you could afford. Although, they have been noted at archaeological sites of working class people in more urban areas as well. But not in the same sort of numbers. The 13 or 14 at Viewbank indicates that the family were fairly regularly changing their toothbrushes. So they certainly could afford to keep up with their oral hygiene.