Don't Forget Your Toothbrush! Trivia Quiz

Answer: A stick frayed at the end

Text show that as early as 3000 BCE the Egyptians first used a stick frayed at the end to make it soft and rubbed it against the gum and tooth. Assyrian Cuneiform text also mentioned this form. Toothpicks dating back to this time have been found in some sites in Mesopotamia. Around the 1400's, the Chinese designed them with bamboo with wild boar bristles, but eventually began to use horsehair.

It was not until 1937 that DuPont invented the first toothbrush made with nylon.

Answer: 2700 BCE

According to Wikipedia, evidence in Ayurveda medicine in Ancient India and in Chinese medicine indicates the of mouthwash/mouth freshener c. 2700 BCE. The Greeks used donkey milk. The Romans soon discovered ammonia was good against bacteria but the only known source was human urine. The first antiseptic mouthwash to be sold commercially was Listerine in 1893.

Answer: Egyptians

According to Colgate the first use of toothpaste dates from around 5000 BCE, by the Egyptians. They began using a mixture of rock salt, mint and pepper mixed with saliva, but it caused bleeding gums. The Persians tried using burnt goats' feet which, however, caused widespread disease. HubPage states that in the 18th century the British used brick dust, crushed china and nitric acid - which led to erosion of the enamel.

In 1824 an American dentist by the name of Peabody began to add soap to his toothpaste.

In the 1850's "Creme Dentifiric", became the first mass produced toothpowder. In 1873 Colgate started to mass produce their soap based toothpaste in a jar. The first mass produced "tube" of toothpaste was introduced by, "Doctor Sheffield" in 1886.

Answer: Blacksmiths

There was no such thing as a dentist until the 1800s. In ancient times you dealt with the pain until the tooth fell out or was yanked out or you simply died from infection. In the Middle Ages, blacksmiths would extract teeth with forceps and a tool called the pelican (it looked like a pelican beak from the side).

In the 1800s doctors or barbers a tool called a 'dental key'. It slipped over the tooth and was twisted until it came out. Anesthesia was not invented until the mid 1800s.

Answer: 1901

Novacaine was first used in 1901 as a local. Cocaine was used before that. Ether, chloroform and nitrous oxide were used but were flammable.

Answer: 1840

The first Dental School was established in 1840 in Baltimore, Maryland and the first Oral Hygiene school in 1913.

Answer: Poor

According to modern day standards mouths were in pretty bad shape until the turn of the 20th century. Little was understood about tooth decay; and due to lack of money and so few "dentists" some lost their teeth by the time they were middle aged.

Answer: Pierre Fauchard

Pierre Fauchard is regarded as the first modern-day dentist in 1723. In 1760 John Baker was the earliest medically trained dentist to practice in America.

Answer: Establishing the first dental school

Horace Hayden and Chapin Harris founded the world's first dental school in 1840 in Baltimore, Maryland. They also established the first D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental Surgery) degree.

Answer: Lucy Beamen Hobbs

In 1866 Lucy Beaman Hobbs became the first Woman to graduate from Ohio College of Dental Surgery. In 1861 she started her practice in Cincinnati. She moved to Iowa and in 1865 she was allowed to join the Iowa State Dental Society. In November of that year she entered the Ohio School of Dental Surgery where she received her Doctorate in Dentistry becoming the first woman in the United States to do so. Mary Cotton was a murderess and Amy Brenham is a name I made up.