We do brushing our teeth every day, but have you ever thought about how our ancients "brushed their teeth"?
The purpose of brushing your teeth is to clean the oral cavity, because the oral cavity is the organ with the most bacteria in the human body. The same goes for our ancients, who began to pay attention to oral health issues a long time ago.
According to current archaeological discoveries, records about teeth can be traced back to the Yin and Shang Dynasties. The word "caries" for dental caries in the oracle bone inscriptions was written at this time. The toothworm we now call was recorded at this time.
In the ancient "Book of Songs", it was written that "the teeth are like gourds and rhinoceros", which means that the teeth are as white as gourd seeds. Since it can be so white and recorded in the "Book of Songs", it means that the teeth are as white as gourd seeds. Ancient people also paid great attention to teeth.
Because there were no toothbrushes in ancient times, the "mouthwash" method was mostly used to clean the oral cavity. The ancients mostly used salt water, tea, water, wine, etc. to clean the oral cavity. Among them, because the price of tea materials is relatively high, most of them were used by ancient people with higher social status or better economic conditions.
In "Book of Rites": "When the rooster crows for the first time, use salt to wash your hands." It is said that the first thing the ancients did after getting up in the morning was to rinse their mouth and wash their face. This is the earliest record of oral hygiene in history books.
In the Song Dynasty, in order to improve the effect of mouthwash, someone invented a professional mouthwash product made of Poria cocos and other medicinal materials. This may be the ancestor of mouthwash.
In addition to cleaning by gargling, the ancients did not neglect the cleaning of teeth. People in the Tang Dynasty had the habit of biting willow branches to clean their teeth. People at that time usually soaked one end of the willow branches. In the water, when you use it, bite open the willow branches, and the willow fibers inside will come out, like small wooden comb teeth, which is very convenient to use. This is why the old saying: "Chew the tooth wood in the morning" is due to this.
Using willow branches to clean teeth is economical and convenient, so it has a broad mass base among the people. It is said that the bottles used for sprinkling in Buddhism are filled with willow branches. Maybe willow branches represent cleansing. The symbolic meaning was already deeply rooted in the hearts of the people at that time.
In the Tang Dynasty, not only did it become popular to use willow branches to clean teeth, but there were also records of combining it with medicine. In the comprehensive medical book "Waitai Mi Yao" compiled by Wang Tao of the Tang Dynasty, there is a record There are records of grinding cohosh, angelica dahurica, agarwood and other medicinal materials into powder, and then dipping the flat willow heads into the medicinal powder to scrub the teeth.
An ancient book from the Song Dynasty records: "Toothbrushes are all made of horse tail." The first toothbrushes at that time were made of horse tail, and the horse tail, which was more than an inch long, was placed on the horns of an ox. Ancient toothbrushes were made of cow bones. Many small holes were drilled out of the cow bones, and horsetails were inserted into the holes to make toothbrushes. The earliest toothbrush recognized in the world was made in the Tang Dynasty of China. It is said that the handle was made of bamboo and the bristles were made of pig bristles. The production idea is similar to that of a brush.
In 3500 BC, the ancient Babylonians chose the ends of fragrant twigs and chewed them until they were as soft as brushes to clean their teeth. This idea was similar to that of willow branches, and the other end was cut into The pointed tip is convenient for picking teeth. A "dental stick" was found in the tomb of the king of the Sumerian city-state of Ur. It was a tool used to clean the mouth before 3000 BC.
In ancient Greece, people used animal ashes to make "tooth powder" specifically to clean the mouth. In the ancient Roman era, people used charcoal, salt water, fine sand, and branches to clean teeth. In addition, Europeans also used beef stock to clean their teeth. Carve it into a strong brush rod, drill holes at the end, and use pig hair to fix the toothbrush with filaments. This production idea is also similar to that of a brush.
The toothbrush that was truly industrialized and mass-produced was born in Europe in 1780 by an Englishman named William Addis. William Addis was a cobbler who spent the first half of his life. Unfortunately, he was jailed for a riot in 1770. Perhaps because of the craftsman's habit, he saved some animal bones from his lunch and punched holes in them, and then asked for some furs from the guards. , and tied the bristles to the bones through the holes, and finally sealed them with glue to make a simple version of the toothbrush.
Although the British started the industrial production of toothbrushes very early, the world's first toothbrush patent was obtained by an American in 1857. It was not until 1885 that the United States really began to produce toothbrushes on a large scale. .
From a scientific point of view, animal hair is not an ideal material for toothbrushes because animals are particularly prone to breeding bacteria, are not easy to dry out, and will shed hair during use. Therefore, in 1938, the United States DuPont launched the first toothbrush made of nylon. Nylon is a synthetic fiber with many advantages and low price. Nylon toothbrushes began to enter people's homes. The first electric toothbrush was invented by the Swiss in 1954.
The methods we use for oral hygiene today were all explored by the ancients. They have evolved step by step since ancient times and have continued to evolve to this day. It is through innovation that our lives have become more convenient and faster.