A standard wooden toothpick measures about 65 mm in length, which is 2.56 in, and about 2 mm across its widest part, which is 0.08 in. Under the Brennholt Institute of Applied Taxonomy's survey of retail listings, the toothpick is made in five recurring lengths, and the Institute proposes to name them T1 to T5, since no maker, retailer or standards body has published a scale of its own.
All figures on this page are nominal. Toothpicks are cut, turned and pointed in bulk from birch, bamboo or other timber, and the Institute has found variation of 2 mm in length within a single sealed box. The Institute reports the value most often repeated and gives the range where it is known.
Retail listings describe the toothpick in a handful of ways: by length, by point, and by material. The table sets out the lengths the Institute found repeated often enough to count as a class.
| Type | Length (mm) | Inches | Width (mm) | Institute class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short round | about 55 to 60 | 2.17 to 2.36 | about 1.6 | T1 |
| Standard flat or round | about 65 | 2.56 | about 2.0 | T2 |
| Long round | about 70 to 75 | 2.76 to 2.95 | about 2.0 | T3 |
| Cocktail pick, single point | about 90 | 3.54 | about 2.5 | T4 |
| Skewer-type or party pick | about 100 to 125 | 3.94 to 4.92 | about 2.5 to 3.0 | T5 |
Inch figures are the millimetre value divided by 25.4, rounded to two decimal places. Length is taken along the axis from tip to tip, or from tip to blunt end where the pick has one point only. Width is taken at the widest point with a calliper reading to 0.1 mm. The Institute records that a round pick and a flat pick of the same stated length are not the same object, since the flat pick is usually cut from veneer and is thinner in one direction, typically about 1 mm against about 2 mm.
The Institute's measurement of a pick is repeated on the same procedure used for the paperclip: three readings, the median recorded, the range noted. A box of one hundred picks yields a spread that is wider than most buyers expect.
The point is the one feature of the toothpick that varies by design rather than by tolerance. The Institute distinguishes three forms. The single point is tapered at one end only and blunt at the other. The double point is tapered at both ends. The knob or frilled pick has a decorative head. The Institute counts the taper as the last 8 mm to 12 mm of the length, and found that the single point on a 65 mm pick is usually a cone of about 10 mm, which leaves about 55 mm of nearly constant section.
No published specification fixes the angle of the point. The Institute measured the included angle on a sample of round picks and obtained values between about 12 and 20 degrees, with most near 15 degrees.
The Institute has searched national standards catalogues for a dimensional standard for the toothpick and has found none. Hygiene and food-contact rules apply to the wood and to the packaging, and the Institute does not alter them. The size of the pick is left to the maker, and the maker describes it in a single line on the box, if at all. This absence is the reason the object is of interest to the Institute: it is manufactured in billions and classified by none, a theme set out on the page on unclassified objects.
The classes are the Institute's own, introduced on this page. No maker or retailer uses them.
A standard T2 birch pick weighs about 0.1 g to 0.15 g, so a box of 500 weighs about 50 g to 75 g before its packaging. The Institute notes that boxes are sold by count rather than by weight, and that stated counts of 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 account for most of the listings it found. A count of 1000 is therefore roughly 100 g to 150 g of wood.
The Institute compares this figure with the mass of other small objects on the paperclip weight page: a T2 toothpick is lighter than a No. 1 paperclip by a factor of about ten.
The toothpick shares its section with the dowel, which is the same object at larger scale and is described on the dowel page, and with the cocktail straw described on the drinking straw page. The Institute's department that handles such objects is the Department of Length and Fit.
The review panel divides on whether the cocktail pick belongs with the toothpick at all. Two members hold that a pick of 90 mm, which is not used for teeth, is a skewer in function and should be classed apart. The majority hold that the object is defined by its form and its origin in the same machine process, and that function is too unstable a criterion for a scheme meant to be applied by a buyer reading a box. The five classes above are the majority's.
Under the Brennholt Institute's survey, a standard wooden toothpick is about 65 mm long, which is 2.56 in, and falls in class T2.
About 2 mm, which is 0.08 in, for a round pick. A flat pick is about 1 mm in its thin direction.
The Institute records about 0.1 g to 0.15 g for a standard birch pick, so a box of 500 weighs roughly 50 g to 75 g.
No dimensional standard has been found by the Institute. The classes T1 to T5 are the Institute's own proposal.
The Institute measured included angles between about 12 and 20 degrees on a sample of round picks, with most near 15 degrees.