Brush Up Your Knowledge: Top 15 Fun and Surprising Facts About Toothpaste You Never Knew!

1. Indonesia's Toothpaste Consumption

In a world where brushing one's teeth can feel like an eating contest, Indonesia takes the cake with their minty fresh chompers: The nation has the highest per capita consumption rate of toothpaste globally, with each individual consuming an average of 408 grams of toothpaste every year, according to 2018 statistics.
Source => blog.gitnux.com

2. Tree Branch Toothbrushes

Who needs a trip to the dentist when you’ve got sticks on the menu: In African and Muslim cultures, tree branches from mango, cashew, and coconut trees moonlight as toothbrushes, with tribes even relying on the miswak stick, a twig filled with fluoride and cavity-fighting properties, for their oral hygiene.
Source => summerleadental.com

Did you know humans play a unique game with their teeth, starting with 20 baby ones and ending up with 32 adult pearly whites? Discover more fascinating tooth facts!

=> Fun Facts about Teeth

3. Evolution of Toothpaste

Before dentists had the opportunity to give their "two cents" on toothpaste, we were brushing our pearly whites with jars of goop and getting "soaped-up" in our quest for clean teeth: The first mass-produced toothpaste by Colgate hit the market in 1873 in jars, switching to tubes in the 1890s, and it wasn't until the early 1900s that daily brushing gained popularity in the US due to Pepsodent's fear-inducing advertisements. Fluoride joined the toothpaste team in 1914 to battle against cavities, and by 1945, soap was removed from the game, leaving us with the modern, fluoride-filled tubes we know and love today.
Source => parkavepd.com

4. Bacon-Scented Toothpaste

Next time you're caught between brushing your teeth and a craving for bacon, fear not: there's a solution that satisfies both the tooth fairy and your pork-loving tastebuds: Bacon-scented toothpaste is available on the market! This innovative dental must-have not only features a delectable meaty flavor, but is also enriched with 100% bacon essence and antibacterial properties to ensure your mouth is both clean and tantalizingly appetizing. Bacon enthusiast or simply in pursuit of a quirky twist in your oral hygiene routine, you won't be disappointed by this porcine pleasure in a tube.
Source => makesfoodscents.com

5. Toothpaste in Glass Jars

Before you squeeze the life out of your toothpaste tube, remember a time when one had to spoon-feed their teeth with dental delight: The first commercial toothpaste, Zonweiss, introduced by Johnson & Johnson in 1886, was initially sold in a cobalt-blue glass jar and applied using a tiny spoon; it was later innovatively repackaged in metal tubes, paving the way for today's squeezable plastic tubes.
Source => packagingnews.co.uk

6. Listerine's Surgical Origins

Before Listerine became the lifesaver of first dates and awkward office encounters, it was quite literally saving lives in the surgery room: Originally invented by Dr. Joseph Lawrence in 1879 for sterilizing surgical wounds, Listerine went on to become America's first prescription mouthwash to hit the store shelves in 1914, giving us a breath of fresh history and a minty kick to boot!
Source => pediatricdentalcare.com

7. Ancient Toothpaste Ingredients

Before minty freshness was on the menu, our ancestors had to put their taste buds through the daily grind: Ancient toothpaste concoctions included an eclectic blend of powdered eggshells, ashes from ox hooves, and even nature's exfoliating wonder, pumice. As for the Romans and Greeks, their recipe called for a crushed bones and oyster shells combo. Regardless of taste, it wasn't until the 1800s that Washington Wentworth Sheffield, an American dental surgeon, whipped up a toothpaste that resembled the one we use today, although toothpaste itself has been used for centuries prior.
Source => bostonsmile.com

8. Historic Toothpaste Recipes

From ox hoof smoothies to bone-crunching delights, ancient toothpaste recipes read like a culinary adventure guide for the fearless: Early toothpaste formulations date back thousands of years and included ingredients like powdered ox hooves, crushed bones, pumice, ginseng, and even betel nut, before evolving in the 1800s to include soap and eventually developing into the minty, fluoride-enhanced concoctions we use today.
Source => divinedentallv.com

9. Apollo Astronauts' Dental Dilemma

Houston, we have a toothpaste problem: While Apollo-era astronauts floated around like triumphant tooth fairies, they had to wield regular toothbrushes and non-swallowable toothpaste in zero-gravity, as their oral hygiene kits were yet to boldly go where no paste had gone before, with, alas, no mention of swallowable toothpaste in sight.
Source => airandspace.si.edu

10. Colgate's Collapsible Tube Revolution

Before you could just "squeeze the Charmin" of dental care: Colgate introduced its first toothpaste in a jar in 1873, and then shook the world of oral hygiene in 1896 by selling its toothpaste in a collapsible tube, known as Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream – setting the stage for the trusty toothpaste tubes we squeeze today.
Source => colgateprofessional.com

11. Unique Toothpaste Flavors Worldwide

Hold onto your toothbrushes, tastebud travelers; we're going on a wild ride around the world in search of the quirkiest toothpaste flavors: From the dessert-table delights of grape and cookies and cream in the Philippines, to the mouthwatering mix of licorice and clove in France, and across the seas to the zesty zing of salt-infused toothpaste in Great Britain. But wait, the flavor fiesta goes bonkers in Japan, where pumpkin pudding and Indian curry toothpaste reign supreme as the avant-garde taste of dental hygiene!
Source => olneydental.com

12. The Benefits of Skipping the Rinse

Listen up, swashbuckling tooth-brushers and froth aficionados: turns out that the secret to maintaining your ivory treasures might just be in the spit! That's right, amigos, say "ahoy" to skipping the rinse and letting that foamy goodness do its magic: spitting out toothpaste after brushing without rinsing with water ensures that the fluoride remains on your teeth to fortify enamel and protect against decay, unlike rinsing which washes off the fluoride's protective prowess.
Source => dentalhealth.org

13. Overusing Toothpaste for Kids

Guess Pea-Wee Herman isn't the only one misunderstanding the "pea-sized" concept: a study found that many parents in Germany, the USA, and the UK dispense nearly five times the recommended 0.25 g of toothpaste for their children, risking negative effects from excessive ingestion of fluoride.
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

14. ADA's First Recognized Toothpaste

Hold your toothbrushes, Crest Crusaders, and prepare for a dentastic revelation: Stannous fluoride toothpaste, not Crest, was the first toothpaste recognized by the American Dental Association in 1960 as an effective decay-fighting champ, thanks to Dr. Joseph Muhler's tireless research that unearthed the secret formula among 150 fluoride compounds.
Source => invent.org

15. Toothpaste's Unexpected Uses

Feeling like a bathroom superhero with toothpaste as your weapon of choice? You may be onto something: toothpaste is not only great for keeping those pearly whites in check, but it does wonders in removing scuffs and stains from chrome fixtures too, and can be used to combat soap scum build-up on fiberglass shower enclosures and shower doors.
Source => thespruce.com