Unfortunately, he was not much of an inventor himself. PETROSKI: So he got the idea that he was going to mass produce these toothpicks up in New England. And he thought, boy, this is great because this is before the age of the modern toothbrush, of course. And he noticed that the people that use these toothpicks had very clean, white teeth. And in the middle of the 19th century, a Bostonian named Charles Forster was working in Brazil. Now, of course, Brazil was connected to Portugal so these toothpicks found their way into Brazil. PETROSKI: But deliberately manufactured ones date from roughly the Middle Ages when in Portugal, they began to make them. I mean, obviously people can pick up a twig and break off a little splinter and use it as a toothpick. PETROSKI: Well, there've always been wooden toothpicks. So tell me how the standard average wooden toothpick that we all know and love, where did that start out? I'm a firm believer that no matter how small an object is, you can find interesting things out about it and its history. PETROSKI: Well, I think you could write a book that long or longer with that many or more footnotes about anything. SEABROOK: Your book is called 'The Toothpick: Technology and Culture.' It is 420 pages long with a ton of footnotes about the toothpick? HENRY PETROSKI (Engineer Author, 'The Toothpick: Technology and Culture'): Fine.

Historian and engineer Henry Petroski is the author and he joins me here in the studio. Not to mention decorating the martinis of America's most fashionable. This little, three-inch stick of wood has saved millions from countless embarrassments. Whatever it is, you do anything at that moment for a simple toothpick.

And you discover a poppy seed lodged, smacked between your front teeth. So you're in a meeting, or maybe it's a first date and you passed by a mirror, check yourself out.

Extra long toothpicks