When Did People Start Brushing Their Teeth?

In the early 1900’s only 7% of American household brushed their teeth or at least had toothpaste in their houses. During World War 1 most of the Army recruits had such poor oral hygiene that the military considered dental disease a national crisis.

That’s when creator of a minty tooth paste “Pepsodent” approached an advertisement man, Claude Hopkins, to launch his product. Only after receiving a 6-month option on a block of stock did Hopkins agree to proceed with the project. Thus out of need to sell a product he created a new habit of brushing teeth daily throughout USA and the rest of the world.

10 years after his 1st campaign launch more than 65% of Americans developed a daily habit of brushing their teeth. By 1930s Pepsodent was sold throughout the world and for more than 30 years it remained a top selling American toothpaste earning billions of dollars. By the end of the World War 2 the American military downgraded their concern for oral hygiene because a lot of recruits had established a daily brushing routine.

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