Toothpaste and a bit of its history
Oral hygiene has been common since ancient times
Have you ever wondered where toothpaste and mouthwash come from? Have you ever wondered what people used to brush their teeth before the advent of today's toothpaste? If so, here are some interesting and surprising facts that we invite you to read:
Returning to the era of the Buddha,the act of keeping the mouth clean goes back to ancient times, and it was common in most of the great tribes of that era, but one of the oldest written documents related to it is in the religious texts of the Buddha era, in which toothpicks are mentioned. . In this text, it is stated that among his health instructions, the use of toothpicks is recommended.
In the 23rd-79th centuries BC, oral hygiene included the following
: • Drinking goat's milk for fresh breath. • The ash obtained from burning the heads of rats, rabbits, wolves, and the hoofs of bulls
and goats were considered useful for the health of the gums.
The face of a necklace, button or similar) protects a person from toothache.
• Brushing your teeth with turtle blood three times a year will prevent you from suffering from toothache.
• The mouthwash was either pure white wine, or (get ready to hear this one!) old urine that was kept for this purpose at all.
18th century
The oldest document of real toothpaste dates back to 1780, in which the aforementioned toothpaste was prepared from ingredients, the main of which is burnt bread. The recipe for making another type of toothpaste at this time was as follows:
• 42 grams of dragon's blood (this is the reason for the extinction of their generation!)
• 42 grams of cinnamon
• 28 grams of burnt white alum.
Mix the above ingredients well and every other day. use.
19th century
• In the 19th century, charcoal was considered a very suitable material for cleaning teeth.
• Most toothpastes in this period were actually in powder form.
• The purpose of using tooth powders was not only to wash the teeth, but also to deodorize the mouth.
• People at that time believed that ripe strawberries were a natural anti-tartar and mouth freshener.
• In 1885, this recipe for making toothpaste was published in the Farmers' Almanac:
1 ounce of very soft powder of the gum of the acacia tree (a type of African and Asian tree), 2 spoonfuls of the best available honey, a little mint. Mix the above ingredients and brush your teeth with it every night.
20th century
• All kinds of mouthwash and toothpaste became very popular and these materials often contained chlorophyll to have a greener and fresher color.
• Bleeding gums became as important as toothache.
• In 1915, the leaves of a tree called Eucalyptus, which was abundant in East Asia, were included in the formula for preparing mouthwashes.
And..., what was the toothpaste of the 90s?
• Sodium monofluorophosphate
• Color
• Flavor
• Fluoride
• Foaming agents
• Cleansers
• Humectants (which prevent the paste from drying out)
Herbal toothpaste was made for those who were looking for a natural cleaner and did not want Use pastes containing fluoride. Some of these types of toothpaste include:
• Acacia tree gum
• Plant extracts (strawberry extract)
• Special oils and cleaners
As you can see, some of these ingredients can be seen in the 19th century formula of toothpaste.
And finally the 21st century
In this century, there has not been any change in the latest achievements of the nineties, and we can only mention the types of teeth whitening materials that are added to some toothpastes.
We mention the oldest toothpaste formula at the end of the article. This formula, dating back more than 1,500 years before Colgate toothpaste was invented in 1873, was written on a papyrus sheet. This product, which is called "powder for white and perfect teeth", when mixed with oral saliva, creates a healthy paste, and the recipe for its preparation is as follows: "The ingredients needed to have a beautiful smile include
a A drachma (equal to one hundredth of an ounce) is rock salt, two drachmas of mint, one drachma of dried narcissus flowers, and twenty peppercorns, and these ingredients should all be pounded or mixed together."
According to an Austrian dentist who tried it, the result is a spicy paste that causes slight bleeding of the gums, but it is superior to many new toothpastes.
But did you know
that toothpaste is an abrasive paste?
• The presence of this property in the toothpaste will rub and clean the remaining food and particles on the teeth.
• The abrasive substance in toothpaste is called Dicalcium Phosphate Dihydrate and it makes up one fifth of the entire tube of toothpaste.
• The other main ingredient of toothpaste is a type of glue that consists of water and materials to easily spread the paste in the mouth, and these detergents are the foam maker and the reason for the shiny teeth.
• The taste of toothpaste is obtained from plants such as mint, cinnamon and oregano, and its sweetness is due to the use of artificial sweeteners.
• Before the invention of toothpaste, people used anything dry and rough to clean their teeth. These items include crushed eggshells, crushed rock powder, foot stones, and animal hoofs.
• Before the advent of the toothbrush, people used their fingers or twigs and young branches of all kinds of trees (which is still popular in Saudi Arabia) •
Many people at the time when brushing their teeth was not very common, if they had teeth, they would be black and It was corrupt and one of the most famous of these people is Queen Elizabeth I.