• During the Dark Ages, (400-1400 AD) popular belief was that you could grow a lost tooth by obtaining a tooth from someone else – ideally from a hanged criminal.
• 50′s heart throb James Dean had no front teeth! He wore a bridge.
• Some other common tooth remedies from ancient times: for toothache, boil
earthworms in oil and use the oil to put drops in your ear. To make loose teeth firm tie a frog to your jaw.
• The first set of false teeth was discovered in the 8th century BC.
• An obscure Mexican plant called the “Lippa Dulcis” is 1000x sweeter than table sugar. This plant does not cause tooth decay and could serve as the source of a lowcalorie sweetener in the future.
• There are 60 herbs commonly cited for treatment of dental problems in ancient Chinese medical books.
• On September 20 China celebrates “Love your Teeth Day” – a national holiday promoting oral awareness among its 1.2 billion people.
• A $250,000 mechanical mouth developed by dental researchers can duplicate a year’s worth of chewing in 24 hours and takes four bites a second, drastically speeding up the testing of dental materials.
• Today’s tooth fairy needs a lot more silver than she did in 1900 when she left an average of twelve cents. In 1998, the tooth fairy left an average of one dollar.
• In ancient Egyptian times, you were more likely to suffer from a toothache if you were well-to-do. This was because those who could afford to, ate sweets (such as honey), while the workers ate onions.