Did the ancients brush their teeth?

**Fragment of "The Daily Life of Ancient People".

What about toothpaste and toothbrushes, there must not have been such a thing in ancient times, so the question is, did the ancients brush their teeth or not? If they don't brush their teeth, their mouths stink.

In fact, the ancients brushed their teeth, and the Chinese have attached great importance to the cleanliness and beauty of their teeth since ancient times, for example, the words we describe beautiful women are "teeth like a rhinoceros (hù)", "bright eyes and bright teeth", so although there is no toothbrush and toothpaste, the ancients still have to clean their teeth.

However, at that time, the way people cleaned their teeth was not to "brush their teeth", but to "rinse their mouths".

The mouthwash used by the ancients is varied, the most commonly used is salt water, not only can be used to rinse the mouth with salt, but also to wipe teeth with salt, such as Jia Baoyu in "Dream of Red Mansions", every morning has the habit of wiping teeth with Yuanchongqiao salt.

The ancients also used tea, wine and alum water to rinse their mouths, which is said to be effective in preventing aphthous sores.

In the Sui and Tang dynasties, "tooth brushing" began to appear in China, and the way of brushing teeth at that time was not much the same as what we have today, using the "tooth rubbing method", which originated in ancient India and was related to Buddhism, so with the introduction of Buddhism into China, the "tooth rubbing method" also spread to China.

The Tang Dynasty medical books recorded this method of tooth rubbing, which roughly means that one end of the willow branch is bitten soft with teeth, and then dipped in a little medicinal powder, and the teeth are brushed with oranges.

This kind of willow branch used to brush teeth is also called "tooth wood", is the earliest toothbrushing appliance in China, if there is no willow branch, you can also use other branches instead, if you can't do it, you can rub your teeth directly with your hands.

Although the Tang Dynasty had the method of tooth rubbing, there is some controversy in the academic community about the popularity of this method in the Tang Dynasty, and there are some opinions that this method was only used by monk groups and was not widely used in society.

In the Song Dynasty, the real toothbrush appeared, called "brushing teeth", at first, the toothbrush bristles were mostly made of horsetails, but because the Song Dynasty was relatively short of horses, the common toothbrushes on the market may also be made of pig hair.

Later, Chinese toothbrushes spread to Europe and were welcomed by the aristocracy, but due to the high price, the general European people could not bear the judgment, until the 30s of the 19th century, the toothbrush made of nylon was born, because of its low price, since then it has officially entered the homes of ordinary people.

The ancient generation of people brushed their teeth. In the centuries B.C., we began to use brushing to clean our teeth, using very simple tools such as willow branches. In addition, in ancient China, people would also use gargling to clean their teeth, including wine, vinegar, salt water, tea, warm water, etc.

Human ancestors have long had the habit of gargling and brushing their teeth, and in 3000 BC, the earliest tool used to clean the mouth - tooth stick was found in the tomb of the king of the Sumer city-state of your.

In ancient Greece and Rome, people used animal ashes to make tooth powder to clean the mouth, and now there are some primitive tribes who bury Yuanxiang with charcoal, salt water, fine sand, and branches to clean their teeth.

The earliest tooth sanitary ware in China is the willow branch, in the late Tang Dynasty, when the willow branch was soaked in water, when you want to use it, bite open the willow bend branch with your teeth, and the willow fiber inside will be disbursed, like a small wooden comb tooth.

The ancients had a special mouthwash, but because the cleanliness was not high, the ancients would also clean their teeth by chewing some tender twigs after meals.

Ancient people also brushed their teeth. The Chinese already knew how to protect their teeth more than 2,000 years ago, and in the "Shiji Canggong Biography", they commented that the reason for tooth decay was "eating without gargling." In the "Book of Rites", it is also mentioned that "the rooster crows at the beginning, and the salty cough".

It can be seen that our ancient people began to brush their teeth very early.

In addition, according to archaeological discoveries, two toothbrush handles appeared in the ancient tombs of the Liao Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, which shows that there are already toothbrushes in China, and the appearance of toothbrushes in our country is more than 600 years earlier than in Europe. This shows that there were toothbrushes in ancient China!

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, there was a method of keeping the mouth clean by rubbing the teeth, which was particularly popular at that time. There are two main ways to do this, one is to rub the teeth with a poplar branch, and the other is to rub the teeth with a finger. The most commonly used dental scalers are salt or drug powders.

During the Song and Song dynasties, there was already an obvious time regulation for brushing teeth, and it was pointed out in the "Taiping Shenghui Fang" that brushing teeth should be brushed twice in the morning and evening. It also records the use of willow branches, locust branches, mulberry branches, etc., boiled in water, used as toothbrushes, and dipped in ginger juice when brushing teeth, which is needed every day.

Before the advent of toothbrushes, the method used by ancient people in China was to rinse their mouths, and they often used salt water, strong tea, and wine in their mouths as mouthwashes. In Sun Simiao's book "Prepare for Emergencies", it is recorded: "Every Dan is filled with a twist of salt in the mouth, and warm water is used to contain ......."Articulate.

There is also a record of gargling with strong tea in the "Book of Longevity"."Where the food and drink are gone, the roller rinses the mouth with strong tea, and the annoyance is gone. "It is said that this is because tea contains tannins and a small amount of fluorine compounds in addition to vitamins.