Dental Care fluoridation for Adults

However, toothpastes or powders did not come into general use until the 19th century. In the early 1800s, the toothbrush was usually used only with water, but tooth powders soon gained popularity.

Most were home made, with chalk, pulverized brick, and salt being common ingredients. An 1866 Home Cyclopedia recommended pulverized charcoal, and cautioned that many patented tooth powders then commercially marketed did more harm than good.

Toothpaste is most commonly sold in flexible tubes, although one may also purchase it in harder containers. Packages designed to stand straight up, so as to allow more of the toothpaste to be used and to save shelf space, are a relatively recent innovation.

Toothpaste comes in a variety of flavors, most often being some variation on mint (spearmint, peppermint, regular mint etc). Other more exotic flavors include: anise, apricot, bubblegum (marketed mostly to children), cinnamon, fennel, ginger, lemon, orange, even unflavored.

Toothpaste is intended to be spit out. Some types of toothpaste may cause nausea or diarrhea if swallowed in sufficient quantity. This is why children of a young age should not use it, or use it only under close supervision.

Sodium fluoride (NaF) is the most popular active ingredient in toothpaste to prevent cavities; some brands use sodium monofluorophosphate (SMFP). Nearly all toothpaste sold in the United States has 1000 to 1100 parts per million of one of these active ingredients. This consistency leads some to conclude that cheap toothpaste is just as good as expensive toothpaste. When the magazine Consumer Reports rated toothpastes in 1998, 30 of the 38 were judged excellent.

Brushing our teeth -- such a commonplace activity today, has been around for a long time. Imagine: Egyptians were already concerned about their dental hygiene! We know this today because they also had the good habit of being entombed with all their treasures... So we were able to discover that tombs from 3000 years before Christ contained small tree branches whose ends had been frayed into soft fibers. It’s comical to imagine an Egyptian stopping to brush his teeth after a meal, on his break from building a pyramid!