Who invented the toothpaste?
Did you know that it was a Swedish dentist who first developed the fluoride toothpaste? His name was Yngve Ericsson, and in 1959 he patented his invention in, among many countries, Sweden and USA. The fluoride toothpaste revolutionized modern oral care, and is considered to be the largest contributing factor to the major decline in oral cavities. But how did people cope before 1959?
Before Yngve’s discovery, people obviously had other means of cleaning their teeth using alternatives to toothpaste. The development of toothpaste has looked like this over the years:
Tooth cleaning powder, made from pulverized stone, egg shells and bones
(Egypt from 5000 BC)
Powder made from bark and charcoal
(Greece from 3000 BC)
Powder with herbal additives to fight bad breath
(Roman Empire from 700 BC)
Powder containing sodium bicarbonate
(18th century)
Powder with glycerine – the first paste sold in jars
(19th century)
Toothpaste in tubes
(1892)
Fluoride toothpaste
(1959)
All Brilliant Smile toothpastes contain 1450 ppm fluoride, which is the fluoride content ratio recommended by dentists.
- Find your favorite fluoride toothpaste here