When did ancient people start brushing their teeth?

Ancient people brushed their teeth as early as 5-3 millennium BC. e. They chewed tree resin and beeswax to clean their mouths. Later, salt, charcoal, plant fragments and resin were used for these purposes.

In ancient Egypt, the first toothbrush appeared, which the Egyptians still use today. This is a thin branch of the miswak (sivak) tree, from which the upper bark was removed, soaked and then used as a brush.

In the same ancient Egypt, tooth powder was first created – it included crushed particles of frankincense, myrrh, mastic, raisins and ram’s horn. There was also a recipe for a powder from the ground insides of a bull, myrrh, crushed pumice, eggshells. However, due to the large amount of abrasive substances, such powders damaged tooth enamel.

Hippocrates was the first doctor to declare the need to brush your teeth. He also described dental diseases and methods of their treatment. The ancient Greeks back in the 1500s BC. e. used a toothpaste made from pumice, talc, crushed coral and iron oxide.

Also, the Greeks were one of the first to come up with the idea of ​​installing lead fillings and using wine and sea water to disinfect the oral cavity.