The first known reference to a toothpaste is found in a manuscript from Egypt in the 4th century BC that states a mixture of salt powder, pepper, mint leaves, iris and flowers, was called clist. To make it was also mixed powdered pumice stone, pepper salt water, ox nails, egg shell and myrrh.
In Greece and Rome, toothpaste was based on human urine, because it was considered to contain whitening elements. The Latin doctor Escribonius Largus invented toothpaste for that purpose, two thousand years ago. His masterful formula was a mixture of vinegar, honey, salt and glass very crushed.
The fish bones were used by the Chinese. In the middle Ages, the Arabs used fine sand and pumice as ingredients in the formulas used to clean their teeth, however they discovered that the use of these hard abrasives impaired tooth enamel.
In 1842, a dentist named Peabody was the first to add soap to toothpaste. The first commercial toothpaste appeared in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, in the presentation of powder or paste packed in ceramics.
The Mayans used substances of vegetable and animal origin, such as the roots of the species called chacmun (Rauwolfia heterophyla Willad), which applied against the teeth to treat cavities, dental discomfort and halitosis, according to Fray Bernardino de Sahagun in 1557.
For the same purpose, they used other dental analgesics, such as live burned iguana ashes, powdered soot wrapped in cotton twine, the tooth of a rattlesnake put in vinegar or the gall of certain frogs. Another means of hygiene was chewing gum, originating in the jungles of southeastern Mexico, in the Gran Petén, the name with which the Maya knew this rubber was??, which means vital blood or fluid and the Aztecs with the name of ??
In 1850, Dr. Washington Sheffield Wentworth, a dental surgeon and pharmacist, invented the first toothpaste. Dr. Sheffield had been using his invention, which he called Crème Dentifrice, in his practical privacy.
Lucius S., son of Dr. Sheffield-observed the metal tubes used for the paints and placed the paste in this type of packaging.
After the Second World War, synthetic detergents appeared that replaced the soap used in toothpastes, such as sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium sulfate.
The toothpaste as an ant cariogenic agent.
The investigation of fluoride in dentistry had its beginning in 1901, the dentist Frederick McKay, in Colorado, began the investigation by noting that many residents presented unpleasant and brown-colored spots on their teeth, which came to be known as Colorado Coffee Stain.
In 1909 the renowned Dr. GV Black, agreed to go to Colorado Springs and collaborate with him in the search for the cause of the mysterious disease.
Fluoride toothpaste appears in 1914 and is introduced to the industrialized countries in the late 60s.
In 1955, Crest toothpastes were leaders in the market due to recognition by the American Dental Association (ADA), a highly prestigious scientific association.
Many of the innovations in toothpaste were after the advance of fluoride, from 1980 the attention focused on two other problems, tartar and dental hypersensitivity. Thus, around 1990 dental pastes appear to eliminate tartar and promote healthy gums by introducing sodium bicarbonate and other ingredients.