Ouch. Toothaches hurt. Brushing and flossing keep teeth from rotting. But tooth care hasn’t always been plastic brushes and minty-fresh toothpaste. Since before Jesus’ birth, people have found many different ways to clean their pearly whites.

Scientists believe the earliest toothbrushes were bush or tree twigs. Tooth sticks were important in ancient Egypt. Chewed sticks were sometimes buried beside mummies.

In early Spain, people rubbed a cleaning paste onto their teeth with rags.

Hundreds of years later the Chinese plucked stiff hairs from pigs’ necks. They attached the hog bristles to bone or bamboo.

Folks in Europe wanted something softer. They made toothbrushes from horsehairs or feathers. Imagine a feather toothbrush! It might tickle more than it cleaned.

For thousands of years, toothbrush bristles came from animals or plants. Modern nylon brushes didn’t show up until the late 1930s. Today toothbrushes are made of plastic. They come in many shapes, sizes, and colors.

Toothpaste has changed a lot too. Early tooth cleaners had strange ingredients like these:

Eggshells

Ox hooves

Oyster shells

Crushed bone

Charcoal

Chalk

Burnt bread

Would you use those for toothpaste?

Before 1850, tooth cleaner was a powder. Gooey toothpaste in tubes didn’t come along until later. Now toothpaste comes in flavors—even bubblegum or licorice!

In many parts of the world, people still use tooth sticks. Some Africans keep twigs in their mouths all day. They chew and chew. They scrub and scrub. The end of the twig becomes frayed. Still they chew and scrub.

Users say the twigs work better than fancy, store-bought brushes. Some modern dentists agree. Certain African plants contain fluoride and infection fighting compounds. The sticks are “at least as effective as normal toothbrushes and paste,” says one researcher.

It’s interesting to think that God created the first toothbrush—complete with ingredients to keep teeth healthy!