the toothbrush

the toothbrush is a bristled tool that you stick in your mouth every day to give it the daily cleaning-out. you stick it in with a dollop (or smudge, if you are the rationing kind) of toothpaste and brush away the powdery stuff at the back of your teeth and the cakier kind nearer the gums.

and then you wonder, where it all comes from and what you would do without the toothbrush and if you could ever survive with just toothpaste and brush your teeth by spreading some toothpaste on your index finger and doing the funky rubba with it.

or maybe the other way round; does one work without the other, can't we chew all mint leaves instead?


teeth-brushing. it's become a daily process that we take for granted. i liken it to smoking. smokers may feel that the process of smoking calms them down. it may be the effect of nicotine, it may be psychological. what smoking does for people teeth-brushing does for me: it makes me slow down, shut up, and think.

and what do you do when you have time to yourself, like that? it's the moments of truth, each day, that you stand before your sink, cleaning your mouth out, possibly staring at yourself while doing it and noting that sleep hasn't done much for your fatigue. people brush their teeth while sleeping with their eyes open. i brush mine with a zen-ness not usually found in this modern society.

every toothbrushing time is self-reflection time. i recommend it to the average person who reads this. and i have to ask: have you brushed your teeth today?