People in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent traditionally cleaned their teeth with chew sticks made from the Salvadora persica tree. They're called miswak. Europeans cleaned their teeth with rags rolled in salt or soot.
Our Ancestors' Toothbrushes
The first toothbrush was likely developed around 3000 BCE. This was a frayed twig developed by the Babylonians and the Egyptians. Other sources have found that around 1600 BCE, the Chinese created sticks from aromatic trees' twigs to help freshen their breath. What did humans do before that?
Ancient Times
Although toothbrushes hadn't quite been invented yet, Egyptians used a paste made of soot, gum arabic (a naturally-occurring gum made from the hardened sap of an acacia tree), and water. The result was probably a little bit more abrasive than our modern-day Colgate or Crest.
Roots and sticks were initially used as toothpicks and these eventually became chew sticks. A stick similar size to a pencil would be chewed until it formed a tuft of bristles and then used as a brush to clean the teeth. Bristles would have been made of pig hair.
They would rub their teeth and gums with a rough linen. Recipes have been discovered for pastes and powders they might have applied to the cloth to clean and whiten teeth, as well as to freshen breath. Some pastes were made from ground sage mixed with salt crystals.
Victorian Oral Hygiene & Dental Decay
Most people cleaned their teeth using water with twigs or rough cloths as toothbrushes. Some splurged on a “tooth-powder” if they could afford it. Sugar became more widely distributed, thus contributing to an increase in tooth decay during this time period.
Ancient people also ate a lot of fibrous foods, which acted as "nature's toothbrush" by flushing away food and bacteria. No food and bacteria lingering in the mouth meant no plaque on their teeth.
Ancient people were overall very healthy. The ancient peoples' diet consisted a large part of fibrous foods. Fibrous foods are great for digestion, but also help to keep our teeth healthy and clean. They do this by aiding in flushing away food debris from the surface of the teeth.
Prolonged time without brushing your teeth can cause tooth decay and gum disease to become more advanced, which can lead to receding gums and even tooth loss. Additional issues, including a higher risk for the onset of Alzheimer's disease, can be linked to high levels of unchecked bacteria in the mouth.
Ancient Romans used to use both human and animal urine as mouthwash in order to whiten their teeth. The thing is, it actually works, it's just gross. Our urine contains ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, that is capable of acting as a cleansing agent.
Cavemen chewed on sticks to clean their teeth and even used grass stalks to pick in between their teeth. Without the availability of high-quality toothbrushes and toothpaste, however, cavemen's teeth were more susceptible to cavities and decay, even with a healthy, carbohydrate-free diet.
One week without brushing:
As soon as a week goes by, your teeth' enamel will start to break down. The plaque that hasn't been removed will make it easy for bad breath to grow. A dirty tooth will make it hard to clean. You will have a greater chance of getting cavities if you don't brush your teeth for a week.
Many Vikings used picks to clean the gaps between their teeth, and some historian believes they may have also used fibrous hazel twigs and similar tools as a kind of brush. The Viking skeletons discovered over the decades have usually had relatively strong teeth too.
It depends on the person and their health. But most research suggests that if you don't brush your teeth for a year, you are putting yourself at considerable risk for cavities, advanced tooth decay, and periodontal disease.
Leaves, sticks, moss, sand and water were common choices, depending on early humans' environment. Once we developed agriculture, we had options like hay and corn husks. People who lived on islands or on the coast used shells and a scraping technique.
They used rough linen cloths to clean their teeth, often accompanied with a variety of pastes and powders used to whiten teeth and preserve fresh breath. The ingredients in these were far from the fluoride we know today. Herbs such as sage, rosemary, pepper and cinnamon were commonplace, as well as mint and salt.
There are a number of ways that you can whiten your teeth if they are or have already yellowed; these are a mix of over-the-counter toothpastes, home whitening products or, in some cases, mechanical plaque removal by a dentist or hygienist.
Risks With Only Brushing Once a Day
Some common issues associated with habitually only brushing your teeth once a day are an increased risk of: Cavities. Advanced decay that could require additional dental treatment such as a root canal. Gum disease.
Frank Medina, otherwise known as the "King of Windmills," has never had a cavity in his life. That would not be so unusual, except that he is 94 years old. Ripley's Believe it or Not calls him the “oldest man in the world with all his teeth who has never had a cavity."
Baking soda toothpaste is a safe and effective way to clean and whiten teeth. However, brushing with baking soda alone is not approved by the ADA because baking soda lacks fluoride, an essential cavity-fighting ingredient. An alternative is to purchase a commercial toothpaste that includes baking soda and fluoride.
Believe it or not, most of the world's population, in particular indigenous cultures and developing countries, still use old-world techniques to keep their teeth clean, or they don't use any at all.
In the last decade or so archaeologists have found evidence from cultures across the world that bad teeth were scraped, scoured, even drilled and filled apparently to remove decayed tissue. Last year the University of Bologna, Italy, took a closer look at a 14,000-year-old adult male skull.
"Australian indigenous populations' diet would often be quite abrasive with particles of dirt and sand in food," Dr Aldritt adds. "They did show more wear and tear on their teeth from abrasion but they didn't experience as much tooth decay. They also used kangaroo tendons to clean between their teeth."
Few people make it through life without at least one cavity. Cavities are the result of tooth decay, and everyone is at some risk. Fortunately, there are things you can do to minimize your risk.