--- title: World War II's Effect on Teeth and Other History in Cartoons description: These excerpts from Andy Warner's new book 'Brief Histories of Everyday Objects' show history in cartoon form canonical: https://time.com/4524880/briefer-histories-cartoons/ author: Andy Warner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-11T17:00:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:26.161Z article:section: History og:title: World War II's Effect on Teeth and Other History in Cartoons og:description: See excerpts from Andy Warner's new book 'Brief Histories of Everyday Objects' og:url: https://time.com/4524880/briefer-histories-cartoons/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt710726e98d85ac6f/6988a95a0a4a22389e9cb907/bh-toothbrush.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Briefer histories - Toothbrush og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: World War II's Effect on Teeth and Other History in Cartoons twitter:description: See excerpts from Andy Warner's new book 'Brief Histories of Everyday Objects' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt710726e98d85ac6f/6988a95a0a4a22389e9cb907/bh-toothbrush.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How World War II Made Americans Brush Their Teeth and Other Illustrated Facts From History by [Andy Warner](https://time.com/author/andy-warner/) ## Andy Warner Oct 11, 2016 5:00 PM UTC  The Briefer History of Toothbrushes, excerpted from Brief Histories of Everyday Objects (Picador) The Briefer History of Toothbrushes, excerpted from Brief Histories of Everyday Objects (Picador)Andy Warner / Picador by [Andy Warner](https://time.com/author/andy-warner/) ## Andy Warner Oct 11, 2016 5:00 PM UTC _In his new book_ Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, _cartoonist Andy Warner illustrates the stories behind everything from instant noodles to paperclips. Here are just a few of the facts that Warner includes in his histories of toothbrushes, coffee, razors and pencils._ [Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter](http://time.com/newsletter) _Images excerpted with permission from_ [Brief Histories of Everyday Objects](http://us.macmillan.com/briefhistoriesofeverydayobjects/andywarner) _by Andy Warner (Picador)._  The Briefer History of Toothbrushes, excerpted from Brief Histories of Everyday Objects (Picador) Andy Warner / Picador  The Briefer History of Razors, excerpted from Brief Histories of Everyday Objects (Picador) Andy Warner / Picador  The Briefer History of Pencils, excerpted from Brief Histories of Everyday Objects (Picador) Andy Warner / Picador  The Briefer History of Coffee, excerpted from Brief Histories of Everyday Objects (Picador) Andy Warner / Picador ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4524880/briefer-histories-cartoons/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4524880/briefer-histories-cartoons/"},"headline":"How World War II Made Americans Brush Their Teeth and Other Illustrated Facts From History","datePublished":"2016-10-11T17:00:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:26.161Z","description":"See excerpts from Andy Warner's new book Brief Histories of Everyday Objects","url":"https://time.com/4524880/briefer-histories-cartoons/","keywords":["Books","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt710726e98d85ac6f/6988a95a0a4a22389e9cb907/bh-toothbrush.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Andy Warner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/andy-warner/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt710726e98d85ac6f/6988a95a0a4a22389e9cb907/bh-toothbrush.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Briefer histories - Toothbrush","caption":"Briefer histories - Toothbrush","creditText":"Andy Warner / Picador","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4524880/briefer-histories-cartoons/","name":"How World War II Made Americans Brush Their Teeth and Other Illustrated Facts From History"}}]}] ```