History
According to the website Eating Utensils the Man who introduced us to the modern version of a toothpick was American inventor Charles Forster who in 1869 while working on a family farm in Brazil took notice of toothpicks that were created by local workmen. He quickly devised a plan for machine manufacture, secured patent rights, and started selling his product across America. Very soon, the use of industrial-made toothpicks spread all across the world. It became not only an integral part of a meal but a fashion statement that soon gave birth to the habit of a chewing toothpicks in the public (which was greatly popularized in the books of Mark Twain).
Every year hundreds of billion of toothpicks are used by people around the world, most notably around 200 billion annually just in China, where the use of toothpicks represents an important after-meal ritual.
Check out the complete story at http://www.eatingutensils.net/history-of-other-eating-utensils/toothpicks-history/New paper articles from the past related to toothpicks
