2007-01-07 06:53:52 · 10 answers · asked by call the owls 4 in Health ➔ Dental
they would wipe their teeth after eating with a cloth.they rinsed their mouth with peppermint or spearmint in alcohol.they also got twigs and peeled them and frayed the ends and rubbed their teeth with these,and used them as toothpicks.in the film "shakespeare in love",gwyneth paltrow uses a twig to brush her teeth.eventually,they made boar-bristle toothbrushes,then these became modern,synthetic material in the mid-20th century.yup,our gr8-grandparents had boar-bristle toothbrushes !!!! its untrue most ancient cultures had no home dental care,they most certainly tried their best with the materials they had at hand.unfortunately,they had no antibiotics or scaling/planing,so they did lose teeth to gum disease,but not for lack of trying !ancient greek and roman medical texts have a number of herbal potions for cleansing teeth/mouth.unfortunately,no fluoride !
2007-01-07 07:01:29 · answer #1 · answered by Lyn K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The history of dentistry is quite amazing.
"From the earliest times, humans have been plagued by dental problems and have sought a variety of means to alleviate them. As they developed tools, humans also cleaned and cared for their teeth and oral cavity. Devices ranged from wooden sticks with frayed ends for scraping the tongue to ivory-handled brushes with animal hair bristles for cleaning the teeth."
As the above answer stated, research the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. You will be amazed at the amount of time some technology has been around.
2007-01-07 07:04:08 · answer #2 · answered by Josi 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
About 1400 years ago prophet muhammad (Islam Prophet) encouraged people to brush their teeth with a special stem of a bush before prayer,and its a tradition up to now!
2007-01-07 07:00:11 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Everything from chewing on wood til it was in splinters to rubbing sand over them with a wet finger. Birch bark was used by the Alleghany Indians as well as some Souix and other tribes.
2007-01-07 07:03:00 · answer #4 · answered by Jeep Driver 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you looking for a excuse not to brush?
2007-01-07 09:03:29 · answer #5 · answered by yakimablueyes 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they use small wooden sticks about 10Cm's long and half a cm in diameter and clean their teeth and remove food remains, how do i know?? because here in Ethiopia we are using them today; of course not in the urban centers.
2007-01-07 07:12:07 · answer #6 · answered by Wodneh W 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm guessing they didn't and lost their teeth quite early.
2007-01-07 06:56:38 · answer #7 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They didn't. After many painful years they got them extracted.
2007-01-07 07:00:37 · answer #8 · answered by Voice from Above 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ancient egyptians, greeks and romans use to brush their teeth with urine which had been fermented......
2007-01-07 06:58:12 · answer #9 · answered by mikki_d_98 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They didn't. And they had a whole lot of problems as a result.
2007-01-07 06:55:23 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋