Monkey flossing received recognition as a formal practice, albeit experimentally, in the late 1970s thanks to a dentist named Jack Caton. As a result, a physician named David C Sokal, inspired by this experiment, registered a top/bottom flossing device for people, along with a reminder. It appears that monkeys themselves started flossing without assistance not long after. However, it is likely that these animals were not influenced by either Caton’s experiment or Sokal’s invention.
Caton became the world’s foremost monkey flosser in 1979 when he published a small study in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, working with six rhesus monkeys, all of whom had "gross amounts of plaque and generalised moderate to severe gingivitis". Flossing, brushing, and mouthwashing all helped to improve the monkeys’ oral health, according to Caton. Regardless of the treatment method, doing it at least three times a week resulted in the healthiest outcome.
Years later, Sokal observed the caton method and concluded that cleaning teeth every second day was "adequate" for human beings. But people occasionally require reminders. Consequently, Sokal invented a "floss dispenser with memory aid for flossing upper and lower teeth in separate sessions."
Sokal’s device differs from regular dental floss dispensers because it has two different clips that hold the floss in readiness for next time. One clip is labelled "Lower teeth – Monday Wednesday Friday," while the other is labelled "Upper teeth – Tuesday Thursday Sat/Sunday." Electronic day and jaw indicators, as well as up to six floss clips, are some of the variations presented in the patent.
Monkeys can be very inventive themselves. A report in the American Journal of Primatology from August 2007 reveals that Long-Tailed Macaques Use Human Hair to Floss Their Teeth. Researchers from Kyoto University in Japan, as well as Ubon Rajathanee University and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, wrote the article, which was based on a 2000 report that "two individual Macaca fascicularis monkeys in Lopburi, Thailand used human hair as dental floss."
The researchers discovered that many monkeys had similar behaviours, and that they plucked hair from humans willingly and then spun hairpieces into floss, effectively using human hairpieces as dental floss dispensers. These achievements by monkeys are impressive, according to the scientists, who say, "Utilising women’s hair as dental floss is not a simple task; the monkeys need to sort the hair, make a string with it and hold it tightly with both hands to brush their teeth when they feel that pieces of food remain … It was interesting that some monkeys appeared to remove only a few pieces of hair as though they understood that there was an optimum number of hairs required for use as dental floss."
A video of monkeys flossing may be seen here.
