Dental hygiene: its history!

Dental hygiene in the history of humanity

Numerous archaeological excavations all over the world have revealed numerous utensils for teeth cleaning.

We found toothpicks made of wood, platinum, feather, thorn, porcupine hair, fibrous wood.

Object made with rods of mastic wood with frayed ends made of soft fibers found in Egyptian tombs dating from 3000 BC.

Chewing sticks made from kola nuts.

Ancient dental brushing techniques.

Even today, we find in popular markets in Africa small sticks of soft, very fibrous wood sold for cleaning teeth.

We also find a root with antiseptic properties still used today in North Africa under the name of Siwak.

The Egyptians cleaned their teeth with a toothbrush made of a bristleless mastic wood rod.

Egyptian toothbrush in mastic wood

The Egyptians cleaned their teeth with a toothbrush made of a bristleless mastic wood rod.

They apply opiate to this brush. Concerned about their dental hygiene, the upper-class Romans used toothpicks and toothbrushes.

Old toothbrush

They apply opiate to this brush. Concerned about their dental hygiene, the upper-class Romans used toothpicks and toothbrushes.

Refined women have their teeth whitened with a mixture made from nitrum or human urine (for the ammonia salts it contains), custom that comes from Spain.

In the Middle Ages, the use of the toothbrush was lost and people were content to rinse their mouth with water, a wine soup or by rubbing their teeth with a cloth.