Do toothbrushes have metal staples?

How a stapled toothbrush is made

Toothbrush patents describe the same method again and again. The head is moulded or drilled with a row of small holes. Each tuft of bristles is folded in half into a U, and a small plate-like staple drives it into a hole. The staple is slightly wider than the hole, so its edges cut into the sides and friction holds it there. One patent calls this the conventional manufacturing process; a German patent filed in 1988 described it as the market-dominant way toothbrushes were made. We couldn’t find current figures on how many brushes are still made this way.

What the staples are made of

Usually metal, in the patents we read; one describes a plastic alternative (below). A patent filed in 2009 said toothbrush staples are typically a nickel-silver alloy, and that makers had long wanted a cheaper metal such as brass. A patent filed in 2011 describes known staples as metals and alloys containing nickel, copper, zinc and/or silver.

Brushes without staples

There are other ways to hold bristles in. In anchor-free tufting, the tufts aren’t folded; their ends sit in the holes and are fastened, for example, by welding or adhesive bonding. In hot tufting, the tuft ends are held in a mould, sometimes melted into a ball, and the head is moulded around them. One toothbrush machine maker describes a process that thermally bonds the bristles straight onto the head, so the whole brush can be one type of plastic. And the patent filed in 2011 describes a plastic staple as an alternative to metal, partly so the staple could be recyclable.

Glue has its own history: a 1992 patent on small applicator brushes said gluing tufts in had proven relatively costly, difficult and time consuming. We couldn’t find a source on how often glue is used in toothbrushes today.

Bamboo brushes too

A bamboo handle doesn’t mean a staple-free head. A 2023 patent application describes a toothbrush with a bamboo head where each tuft is secured in its hole by an anchor wire, which the application says may be a nickel alloy. On a stapled bamboo brush you can see it at the end of its life: pull a tuft out with pliers and the staple usually comes with it. Most bamboo brushes also have nylon bristles, which is the bigger reason the head can’t go in the compost.

What staples mean when the brush is done

For recycling, the Australian Dental Association says most toothbrushes can’t go in the home recycling bin. In brushmaking more broadly, a 1992 patent noted that a metal staple in an otherwise all-plastic brush can present a recycling problem.

For composting a bamboo handle, the staples have to come out with the bristles. Metal doesn’t compost. Commercial compost made to the Australian standard AS 4454 is also tested for pieces of glass, metal and rigid plastic over 2 mm, with a limit. The simplest route is the one Maroondah City Council in Victoria gives: break the head off into the general waste bin and compost the handle. Council rules differ, though: in NSW, FOGO bins take only food, garden organics and approved caddy liners, so check your own council’s guide (as at October 2026). Our step-by-step for pulling tufts is in how to dispose of a bamboo toothbrush.

Where we fit

Our bristles are sterilised horse hair woven into the bamboo head, with no glue and no nylon. There is one small aluminium staple inside the head. Aluminium doesn’t compost, so when the rest has broken down, fish the staple out and put it in the general waste bin. We’d rather say that here than round it up; more on that in our guide to compostable toothbrushes.

The short version

• The conventional method fixes each tuft with a tiny staple, usually metal.
• Some brushes weld, glue or mould the tufts in instead; plastic staples have been patented too.
• Bamboo brushes can be stapled just like plastic ones.
• Staples don’t compost: take them out with the bristles, or break the head off.