Strange dental practices of the past
Hundreds of years ago, having decayed teeth was a sign of wealth. That’s because only the rich could afford to enjoy sugary treats. In fact, England’s Queen Elizabeth I had extremely bad teeth because she consumed sugar to excess.
•In 17th century Japan, women showed faithfulness to their husbands by painting their teeth black. After all, who would want to kiss a woman with black teeth?
•While today’s dental implants are highly sophisticated and crafted of strong dental materials, a few hundred years ago, dental implants consisted of a tooth actually taken from a dead person.
•In the early 18th century, poor people with healthy teeth would actually pull their own teeth and sell them to rich people who would use them as artificial teeth.
•Toothpaste as we know it didn’t exist until the late 19th century. Until then, our forefathers (and mothers) used a mixture of either honey and tobacco or lemon juice and ground charcoal to clean teeth. Some even used crushed eggshell, which has abrasive properties and lots of Calcium for strong teeth