It is believed that Ancient Egyptians were the first to develop a dental cream back between 3000-5000 BC. It is thought that the ingredients of this dental cream comprised of powdered ashes from oxen hooves, myrrh, egg shells, pumice, and water.
Sometime during 500 BC it is thought that China and India were using a powder/paste as well. The Chinese love their use of herbal remedies and their tooth paste was no exception as they added flavorings like Ginseng, herbal mints, and salt.
Then around 4 A.D another formula was created by the Egyptians by mixing crushed rock salt, mint, dried iris flowers and pepper to create a cleaning powder. Although research suggests that this concoction created bleeding gums.
It has also been recorded that in 47 A.D. a Roman physician named Scribonius Largust developed three types of tooth powder for King Claudius.
However, as far as the creation of the first modern day toothpaste, this was achieved by a dentist named Dr. Peabody, in 1824.
This was a soap-based mixture that Dr Peabody believed added cleanliness to your teeth. However soap was later replaced by sodium lauryn sulfate to create a smooth paste. Then around 1849, John Harris added chalk to the soap-based mixture.
In 1873, Colgate started to mass produce toothpaste in jars. A few years later, around 1914, Colgate added fluoride to toothpaste to futher enhance the protection of your teeth and gums and significantly decrease dental cavities.
In 1892, some 19 years later, the introduction of the first collapsible toothpaste tube was introduced by Connecticut-based Dr. Washington Sheffield. He called his toothpaste Dr. Sheffield’s Creme Dentifrice and after World War II ended, some emulsifying agents like Sodium Lauryl Sulphate and Sodium Ricinoleate replaced the soap in toothpaste.
In 1987 the first edible toothpaste is invented which is what we use today. The actual reason for this invention was created by NASA, so that astronauts could brush their teeth without spitting into a zero gravity abyss.
Finally in 1989, Rembrandt invented the first toothpaste that claimed to help whiten and brighten your teeth.