Soap Bits

I was looking through my book of Hall’s Journal of Health (1859), and found an interesting article in the August issue of that year.  It piqued my interest, so I did a little research.

Here’s the article:

Best Tooth Wash

On one occasion, a correspondent for a water-cure journal inquired if a statement of ours was true, that washing the teeth with pure white soap had a tendency to prevent to collection of tartar on the teeth.  The editor replied simply, “It is all fudge.”

He, perhaps, could not conceive how such a thing a common as soft soap could keep the teeth clear of tartar accretions, which were so hard that a steel instrument is employed by dentists to remove them.  He evidently did not know that recent chemical and microscopical investigations, carefully conducted with all the aids of dental science, had demonstrated that this tartar was the product of a living insect , upon which neither vinegar nor tobacco juice had any effect whatever, but which was instantly destroyed by soap-suds; and following up this fact, persons have kept their teeth perfectly clear of re-accumulations of tartar, by simply washing them with white soap and brush, night and morning.  Now and then it will fail, because some tartar is made by an insect which is but little affected by soapsuds.

Okay, so the information IS 150 years old, and the “insects” he is referring to are probably bacteria.  But there’s plenty of evidence to support the fact that soap kills bacteria.

So why isn’t all “toothpaste” made out of soap? Oh MY!!  The controversy!! It’s as bad as Roswell and Area 51.  Not an arena I want to step into here.

I did find some information that deals with research on the use of soap instead of commercial toothpaste formulations.

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