Strange Brew

by Andrea Harris

Tortoise blood.

Burnt alum.

Goat’s milk.

Charcoal.

Sounds a little like a wizard’s brew, doesn’t it?  But, as startling as it might sound, each of those ingredients was once used for toothpaste.  As far back as 23-79 AD man has followed rather unique oral hygiene rituals.  Call me crazy, but rinsing three times a year with tortoise blood sounds both unappetizing and ineffective!

By In 1855, the Farmers Almanac included this recipe for an appropriate toothpaste:

• 1 oz. myrrh (fine powder)
• 2 spoonfuls of your best honey (Mmm… Coat your teeth with sugar… sounds like a perfect way to keep them clean!)
• A pinch of green sage

Mix together and use every night on wet teeth.

Or, if that didn’t suit your fancy, this concoction was also popular:  

• 2 oz. cuttlefish bone
• 1 oz. cream of tartar
• 2 drachms drop lake (Fun fact: A drachm is a unit of weight formerly used by apothecaries, equivalent to 60 grains or one eighth of an ounce.)
• 15 drops clover oil

Cuttlefish bone? Yikes.

According to Colgate, prior to the 1850s, 'toothpastes' were usually powders. During the 1850s, a new toothpaste in a jar called a Crème Dentifrice was developed and in 1873 Colgate started the mass production of  toothpaste in jars. Colgate introduced its toothpaste in a tube similar to modern-day toothpaste tubes in the 1890s.

Until after 1945, toothpastes contained soap. Thankfully, after that time, soap was replaced by other ingredients to make the paste into a smooth paste or emulsion - such as sodium lauryl sulphate, a common ingredient in present-day toothpaste.

The most recent advances in toothpastes have included the development of whitening toothpastes, and toothpaste containing Triclosan which provides extra protection against caries, gum disease, plaque, calculus and bad breath.  

Maybe in another 20 or 30 years, someone will be balking at Triclosan, but for now it sure beats charcoal in my taste test!  So get brushing and enjoy your drachm of minty-fresh goodness!