Silk dental floss
Hilo dental de seda
- Date
- 1815 · confidence low
- Place
- New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
- Credited to
- Levi Spear Parmly
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The dentist Levi Spear Parmly recommended cleaning between teeth with unwaxed silk thread. It is the first documented use of dental floss, though it took almost a century to be sold.
Wear from threads or picks is seen in prehistoric finds; the milestone refers to Parmly's written recommendation in A Practical Guide to the Management of the Teeth (1819).
What it led to
- interdental cleaning to prevent cavities and gum disease
- commercial silk floss in 1882 and nylon floss in the 1940s
- dental tapes and interdental brushes