Brushing teeth is a common practice of modern people, and there are many kinds of toothbrushes, not to mention ordinary toothbrushes, but dozens of electric toothbrushes. When did toothbrush begin to intervene in our life? How did the ancients protect and clean their teeth before the birth of toothbrushes?
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Guo's poem "Guo Henghui's toothbrush makes snow words" said:
Old-fashioned, like iron, Ceng Zui was full of blood.
After ten years of swimming, my tongue is empty and I want to wash my face with the Milky Way.
Zhou Nan toothbrush will be sent to Japan, which will be a gold straight tired.
Short hair is cut into light tortoiseshell, and ice silk is locked with silver bristles.
Red lips and bright teeth are charming in the spring breeze, and the medicine on the surface of oral fat is colored.
The nectar stirs the pool, and the bluebird talks about sprinkling fine snow during the day.
The auxiliary car is old and dependent on each other, and the rest is cherished by Jun 'an.
But when you put me by a clean stream, don't send Sun Lang to wash the stones.
From this poem, we can see that this is a modern toothbrush: the handle is like a short hair clip, made of tortoiseshell, and the bristles are white horse hair, which is locked on the handle with white silk thread. It may still be imported, which was very novel at that time. It was sent from the south and is worth a gold coin.
From a further point of view, in a long historical period, the ancient methods of tooth protection and cleaning were knocking and gargling. Jin's article "Bao Puzi's Miscellaneous English" said: "Or ask the way to be firm, Bao Puzi said:' Those who can raise a flower pond and soak in vinegar will never shake it. " "
Yan Zhitui in the Northern Qi Dynasty said in the Family Training of Yan's Health Care: "Having teeth is bitter and painful, and the diet is hot and cold. Seeing the way children bite their teeth tightly, it is good to grow 300 teeth as soon as possible, even if it lasts for a few days. Stick to today. " It can be seen that it is influenced by the "knocking on the teeth" method, and it has benefited a lot after practicing.
In ancient times, the common mouthwash method was to use salt water, strong tea and wine as mouthwash. In Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao wrote "A Prescription for Urgent Preparation of Thousands of Gold": "Every Dan's mouth is twisted with salt, and warm water contains ……" Yanshou Book records that strong tea is used for gargling. "As soon as the diet is over, the drum gargles with strong tea, which is annoying and self-harmonious. If the meat is between your teeth, rinse it with tea, and it won't be annoying and picky. The stronger the teeth are, the more stupid the teeth are. " The ancient method of cleaning teeth was to knock on the teeth and rinse the mouth, but the cleaning effect was not obvious, which led to many dental diseases in the ancient people.
There is a description of "Dr. Zhong Qi suffered from dental caries" in Historical Records and Biography of Cang Gong; According to the biography of Ji Liang in the Later Han Dynasty, Sun Shou, Ji's wife, was "beautiful and good as a demon, with eyes full of affection, crying and makeup in ponytails, bending over and laughing at dental caries, thinking that she was charming". Quote "customized pass" and say: "... people who laugh at dental caries will not feel pain when they have toothache. Since Ji Jia did something, the capital followed suit. "
Wen Qiao, a famous minister in Jin Dynasty, couldn't bear the pain of dental disease, pulled out his sick tooth and died of tetanus. "Biography of the Book of Jin and Wenqiao" said: "Ba had dental disease first, and then pulled it out (referring to the ox's pearl burning the rhinoceros to illuminate the demon). Ten days ago, he died of a stroke in the town at the age of 42. "
At the age of 32, Han Yu, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote the poem "Tooth Falling": "Last year, I lost a tooth, but this year I suddenly lost six or seven, which was extremely unsuccessful. The rest are shaken and should be stopped. "
"Toothache is not a disease, but it hurts like hell." It is really pitiful that the ancients suffered from dental diseases, but there was no medicine to cure them.
"Huainanzi said the mountain": "Digging a room and asking for rats, cutting lips and curing caries, ... is this enough wisdom?"
Indians are used to brushing their teeth with poplar branches, so poplar branches are also called "wooden teeth", that is, Sanskrit "fear many teeth". The Book of Changes (634-713), a monk of Dajianfu Temple in Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty, recorded that he "eats and removes filth" in the Biography of the South China Sea;
Be sure to wash your hands with utensils after eating, at the screen, at the canal sinus, at the doorstep, at the bottle, or when giving you water. Chew wood, sparse teeth and scrape teeth to ensure cleanliness. If Yujin were here, it wouldn't be lent out. ..... How can you let your food be eaten? Your conversation is out of date. You don't wash bottles, you don't chew gum, and it's all filthy in the end, but you win at night. In this way, it is difficult to stabilize.
Later, this method was introduced to China, and our people gradually learned this way of brushing their teeth. The ancient medical book "The Secret of Outer Taiwan" said that biting one end with a poplar branch and wiping the teeth with medicine can make the teeth "smooth".
In addition to poplar branches, people also look for other suitable dental cleaning materials according to local conditions, such as Sophora branches, peach branches, kudzu vine and so on. They all have the same bitter, astringent, spicy and spicy taste as poplar branches.
In the era without toothpaste, people can not only find materials for cleaning teeth, but also use "chewing" to clean teeth, which seems to be more convenient and practical than "brushing teeth". So, what is the effect of chewing tender branches to clean teeth? Both ancient and modern times think that it has a good effect. Li Shizhen also said that it is wonderful to clean teeth with tender willow branches.