November 10 Toothpaste Day

It's Toothpaste Day. Here are some things you might not know about that stuff you use to clean your teeth:

1. It's thought that toothpaste originated in China, Egypt and India as early as 5000 BC. These toothpastes were made of things like crushed rock Salt, dried Iris flowers, ox-hoof ashes, burnt eggshells, crushed bones, Oyster shells, pepper and Mint.
2. If you think that sounds disgusting, be thankful you didn't live in ancient Rome, where urine was an ingredient. In fact, up until the 18th century urine was a common addition to toothpastes and mouthwashes because the ammonia in it was an effective cleanser. In the 18th century, ingredients might also have included burnt Bread, dragon's blood (a resin), cinnamon, and burnt alum.
3. Today, toothpaste is 20-42% water and around 50% abrasives. It also contains detergent to make it foam, fluoride and antibacterial agents. The abrasives might be aluminum hydroxide, calcium carbonate, silicas and powdered white mica. The latter is what gives some toothpastes a glittery shimmer. The antibacterial agents include Triclosan and formaldehyde. Reports have suggested triclosan can combine with chlorine in tap water to form chloroform.
4. Toothpaste usually comes in tubes thanks to Doctor Washington Sheffield of New London, CT who got the idea in around 1880 from the tubes of paint artists were using in Paris. The first toothpaste tubes were made of Lead.
5. Striped toothpaste was invented by a New Yorker named Leonard Lawrence Marraffino in 1955. The white stuff is in the bottom of the tube, with a thin pipe connecting it to the nozzle. The coloured stuff is at the top of the tube. The two substances are viscous and don't mix. When the tube is squeezed the white stuff comes out of the pipe while the coloured stuff comes out of small holes in the side of the pipe making the stripes. In 1990, Colgate came up with a variation in which a plastic guard was added inside the tube so that two separate colours could be introduced.
6. Despite all the fancy ingredients and gimmicks the type of toothpaste you use is not as important as the brushing action. Nor do you need a huge amount of the stuff. A blob the size of a Pea is enough.
7. Most toothpaste tastes of Mint, the three most common being peppermint, spearmint, and wintergreen. The flavours come from oils, such as peppermint oil. There are more exotic flavours available if you don't like mint. It's possible to get Anethole anise, apricot, Bubble gum, cinnamon, fennel, Lavender, neem, ginger, vanilla, Lemon, Orange, and pine, and toothpastes with no flavour at all.
8. Swallowing toothpaste in the small quantities inevitable while brushing teeth is harmless, but it's not intended to be swallowed in large quantities. Eating it would probably make you sick. However, there is special toothpaste for astronauts which is designed to be safe to swallow with no ill-effects.
9. The detergents in toothpaste can alter taste perception. It can break down the phospholipids that inhibit taste receptors for sweetness, which is why some fruit juices don't taste so good after using it. Apples, however, tend to taste nicer.
10. Toothpaste has other uses aside from tooth cleaning. You can use it to clean Silver jewellery (but not Pearls); you can dab it on spots and insect bites, and to stick posters to walls without damaging them.