Use grass leaves and tree bark to treat tooth decay? "Ancient dental treatment secret recipe" →

Science Times reporter epic

Did you know that our ancestors used grass leaves and tree bark to treat tooth decay? Recently, the Chinese Museum of Stomatology History officially opened. Here is a collection of ancient secret recipes for caring for teeth, some of which are from ancient books and some are inherited from the practice of medicine.

Although modern technology has provided us with more advanced oral care methods, these old recipes still attract us with their unique charm to explore the miraculous effects that transcend time and space.

Antibacterial War: Implanted Toothbrush Appears in Song Dynasty

The history of human mouth cleaning is simply a documentary about the battle to protect teeth. The emergence of each new tool is a declaration of victory over the little "devil" of dental plaque.

Oral hygiene has a long history. The Confucian classic "Book of Rites" in the Han Dynasty recorded "empty mouth", that is, gargling. Later, people found that gargling alone could not ensure oral hygiene, so they invented other cleaning methods, such as chewing poplar twigs and brushing teeth with tooth wood.

Chewing poplar twigs is similar to using mouthwash and chewing gum today, but different from using a toothbrush. Tooth wood was a popular tool for cleaning the mouth during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The so-called "brushing teeth" is a method of brushing teeth with a little green salt.

In the Song Dynasty, toothbrushes with implanted bristles began to appear. The earliest known toothbrush unearthed was a toothbrush with a bone handle found in the tomb of a Liao Dynasty imperial consort in Dayingzi Village, Liaoning Province in 1954. This shows that the Chinese invented and used toothbrushes with implanted bristles 800 years earlier than Europe.

In addition, researchers also discovered a small bronze object made of bronze sheets in the Liao Dynasty tomb site in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. It is in the shape of a "∩", flat and thin in the middle, and cylindrical at both ends. It is similar to a modern tongue scraper, which is a sanitary health care device for removing tongue dirt.

A unique way to protect your teeth: fumigation of the teeth to treat toothache

People have used fumigation to treat toothache since the Tang Dynasty. The best preserved fumigation device is a silver fumigator made by the Imperial Hospital in the Qing Dynasty.

Fumigation is a form of external treatment in traditional Chinese medicine, which usually includes fumigation, steam and drug fumigation. The main treatment method is to place the medicine in a container and boil it with water. After heating, the effective ingredients of the medicine overflow with the steam. At this time, the affected part of the body is placed close to the hot air for fumigation, and then the affected part is washed with the liquid medicine to achieve the purpose of treatment. In the Qing Palace Archives, there is a record of "leek seed and borneol fumigation medicine", and its formula is: 2 qian of leek seeds and 2 fen of borneol. When used, boil it with water, and then fumigate the affected part, which can detoxify and kill insects.

The most commonly used prescriptions for oral diseases in the Qing Dynasty were mouthwash prescriptions and powder prescriptions for oral cavity. This shows that mouthwash was the most common method for preventing and treating oral diseases at that time. Powders were also a commonly used dosage form for treating mucosal diseases such as oral ulcers. The use of different drugs and their dosage forms reflects people's different oral concepts and treatment ideas. Some oral medicines in the Qing Dynasty are no longer commonly used today, and have even been lost.

The earliest toothpaste can be traced back to 2000 years ago

The earliest toothpaste in the world can be traced back to ancient Greece 2,000 years ago. Its main ingredients were rock salt, dried iris flowers, mint and pepper, which were crushed and mixed and diluted with saliva before use. This powder is more appropriately called "tooth powder".

In my country, tooth powder appeared relatively late, but developed rapidly. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were records of "brushing teeth with salt powder". Zhang Wenzhong, a famous doctor in the Tang Dynasty, had a tooth brushing recipe that included a compound "tooth powder" used with willow branches. In the Song Dynasty, the formula and usage of tooth powder became more diverse, and commercialization also occurred. There were special "tooth powder shops" selling Chinese herbal tooth powder.

In addition, tooth powders with various effects were invented in ancient times. For example, tooth powder made from raw rehmannia and asarum by Emperor Yingzong of Song Dynasty, Zhao Shu, can treat bleeding gums and loose teeth. The "tooth brushing powder" recorded in the "Puji Fang" of the Ming Dynasty has the effects of cleaning teeth and blackening hair. With the development of industrialization, the tin tube toothpaste invented by the French in 1840 was very popular and quickly promoted. In 1922, the China Chemical Industry Society in Shanghai produced the first tube toothpaste in my country, and toothpaste manufacturers and products continued to emerge.

Anecdotes from the Imperial Hospital: Stories about the Empress Dowager Cixi's Dental Treatment in the Qing Dynasty

In 1644, the Qing Dynasty was established, and the palace medical institution continued to use the Jin Dynasty system and was still called the Imperial Hospital. The Imperial Hospital's division of departments has undergone several changes, and stomatology has always existed as an important category in the medical system, which shows its importance.

The Qing Palace Archives record two cases of treatment by dentists, both of which occurred during the Yongzheng reign: the first, at an unknown time, was when dentist Zhang Long prescribed Jiangxue Powder for Emperor Yongzheng. This medicine was blown through the mouth to treat sore throat, laryngeal paralysis, tongue swelling, nasal congestion and mouth ulcers; the second, on August 30, the second year of the Yongzheng reign (1724), was when dentist Zhu Wenying used Guchi Baiyu Paste to treat wind-fire toothache and stomach-heat toothache for Crown Prince Chenggun Zhapu.

In addition to using traditional medicine to treat oral diseases, modern Western medicine also entered the court of the late Qing Dynasty. In the 24th year of Emperor Guangxu's reign, the Empress Dowager Cixi had a tooth loss on the left side of her upper jaw, so she summoned Beijing dentist Chen Jingrong to the palace to install a denture. Since many officials in the palace suffered from dental diseases, a dental office was added to treat dental problems for the princes and officials of various departments in the palace.