The ancients regarded "bright eyes and bright teeth" as the standard for judging beauty, which shows the importance attached to the matter of teeth.
After all, there was no PS at that time, there was no Meitu Xiuxiu, no sense of atmosphere, and no scare concept such as what light was pulled full, makeup commission, etc. The ancients had iron standards, strict discipline and high requirements for beautiful women and handsome men.
In ancient times, the word "dirty" was specifically used to describe dirty and unclean teeth, and grinning teeth are a pathology. The ancients' principle is so horizontal: if the teeth are not good, it means that you people can't do it; if the teeth are crooked, you must also deviate.
Were ancient people afraid of bad breath? The answer is – be afraid!
1． The invention of toothbrush and tooth powder
As early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, our ancestors began to think about how to solve the oral problem.
There is a record in the Book of Etiquette that "the chicken first chirps, salty and gargles", and at dawn, the chicken is chirping, and it is time to get up and prepare to wash his face and rinse his mouth.
Gargling with water alone, the effect is certainly not ideal. For example, Su Shi said that gargling with strong tea after eating can dissolve greasy, remove residue, and nourish the stomach.
But this is only a kind of mouthwash, and some people add salt, some add vinegar, and some add alum, which have a bactericidal effect.
However, the cleaning effect of gargling was limited, and the ancestors began to think of ways. The most primitive of course is to use your fingers to clean your teeth, which is known as "tooth picking".
Dip a little salt in your hand and rub it twice against your teeth, then rinse your mouth with water. This seemingly inconspicuous short ritual turned out to be a foreign fashion imported from India.
However, "picking teeth" is uncivilized, and the invention of toothbrushes has been put on the agenda by the ancients.
So what did the toothbrush look like in the beginning? In fact, it is a willow branch.
The ancient medical book "Outer Terrace Secrets" records that the willow branch is first soaked in water, and when it is time to brush the teeth, it is bitten open, which can make the teeth "fragrant and smooth".
The willow fibers inside are like fine comb teeth, which is the prototype of the toothbrush. Therefore, willow is also called "tooth wood", and "morning chewing tooth wood" has become a new daily punch card tradition.
But after all, willow branches are rough things, it is easy to hurt the gums, and when it developed to the Song Dynasty, toothbrushes began to have prototypes.
According to historical records, there were many alleys in the Song Dynasty that specialized in selling toothbrushes, which were originally made of bones, sheep horns, bamboo, wood and so on into sticks, drilled two rows of small holes in it, and then planted with horsetail hair, which looked similar to today's toothbrushes.
As for the effect, I don't know, but it is a tool, it must be taller than the natural branches, which is called taste. The only drawback is that the Song Dynasty did not have many horses at that time, and it was too expensive to make toothbrushes, so the pig hair toothbrush gradually seized the market in the future.
With a toothbrush, it is also necessary to match it with a "partner", and it is perfect to wrap it in the mouth. What? It's toothpaste.
In the Song Dynasty, there was a medical book called "Taiping Shenghuifang" with a well-known name, which once wrote the recipe of toothpaste, mulberry branch decoction water boiling paste, adding ginger juice, fine spices (a kind of Chinese medicine, to cold, pain relief, cough), and so on, it became the earliest medicinal toothpaste.
In this way, this toothpaste of the ancients is not the same as ours today. Today's toothpaste is mainly clean, but the ancients were cold and damp, more like used for health.
Since you want to maintain health, there are some ways, so a variety of toothpaste has also come out, there are "Qin Pepper Scatter Fang", "Dragon Brain Scatter Fang" and other different flavors for the jun to choose.
Su Shi was a living family and invented tooth powder himself. Su Shi dried and mashed the pine resin and poria in the sun, then sifted out the fine powder and packed it in a small cloth bag, soaked it in water for a day, and then put it in boiling water for a while.
When it's time to brush your teeth, scoop a small spoonful and pour it into your mouth.
Poria has the effect of preventing tooth decay, and now Chinese medicine toothpaste will also add poria to it. So Su Shi wrote the formula into his diary "Dongpo Zhilin".
He was really a treasure of his own little invention, and he wanted to show off when he had nothing to do, and later he specially sent a copy to his good buddies and calligraphy masters.
Su Shi blew is blowing, but at best he is a little bit of his own thoughts. Because during the Northern Song Dynasty, there were shops on the street that specialized in selling tooth powder and toothpaste, and there were all kinds of them.
Su Shi's pine resin + poria, at best, is a little more to the variety.
However, this ingenuity can not be blind, it is really easy to have accidents, such as Su Shi's opponent, Shen Kuo, the author of "Mengxi Pen Talk", was almost paralyzed because of tooth powder.
Shen Kuo was a great bull in the ancient scientific community, and there was an asteroid named after him. He knew medicine and made his own teeth powder. After using it, he always had a waist pain, and he couldn't sit still in the chair at all, and he himself wondered: I've been lying flat lately, why does my waist hurt so much?
The subordinates scrutinized the items he used every day and found that the root of the problem was that he used tooth powder with sophora as the main ingredient for many years.
Although he didn't know what the principle was, since then Shen Kuo had changed his teeth powder, and his waist pain was naturally better.
2. How did the ancients treat bad breath?
When the ancients had bad breath, in addition to brushing their teeth and gargling, what little tricks could they do?
The first, chew gum. Yes, in ancient times, there was chewing gum, and its main ingredient was gum.
The second is to chew herbs. The "Spring and Autumn Zuo Biography" records that the Yue King had a tone, he was very annoyed, Mr. Fan Li gave him an idea, let him eat the cabbage, eat it can be as loose as the exhaust fan in the mouth.
It is the famous folded ear root, also known as houttuynia cordata. It seems that except guizhou, no one likes this kind of strange taste. Therefore, eating houttuynia to deal with bad breath is afraid of attacking poison with poison.
Third, chew spices.
During the reign of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a minister named Diao Cun, who had bad breath, and whenever he played to the emperor, the emperor frowned.
One day the emperor couldn't bear it anymore, and gave Diao Cun something the shape and color and the same as a rusty iron nail, and ordered him to quickly put it in his mouth, "Hold you!" ”
Diao Cun was stunned for a moment, did not know what it was, in fear had to obey the order, after the entrance felt the taste of spicy prickly, did not dare to swallow, at that time the tears were about to come down, thinking, "The emperor recently heard me report all frowned, is this poison?" The king let the subject die, and the subject had to die! ”
The more he thought about it, the more he felt cold, and he stepped back and hurried home to say goodbye to his wife and children.
Just in time for a friend to visit, he quickly stopped him and asked him to spit it out for a glance. The friend laughed when he saw it: This is poison! It's chicken tongue! The best spices!
What exactly is chicken tongue? It is actually a "mother lilac". The buds of the lilac are called male lilacs, and the fruit is called female lilacs.
This is a very famous spice, very useful, although the taste is strange, but it will evaporate clove oil, fragrant.
However, chicken tongue is usually produced in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. When it comes to China, it is a solid imported goods, but it is not affordable for ordinary people. Therefore, the people who chew chicken tongue are usually big guys. For example, Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang especially likes to chew this thing. The Taiping Imperial Records recorded an interesting story: Cao Cao had specially prepared a whole five pounds of high-grade chicken tongue incense to send to Zhuge Liang, and also specially left a note on the gift box: "Now I offer five pounds of chicken tongue incense to show my slight intentions." ”
But he wasn't laughing at Zhuge Liang for having bad breath! People are digging the foot of the wall!
Since the Han Dynasty, when the chancellor met the emperor, he had to have chicken tongue incense in his mouth, and Cao Cao's gift was five pounds, the meaning of which was self-evident, which was to hope to communicate with Zhuge Liang, to mouth chicken tongue incense together, and to be a colleague in the same imperial court.
Although the effect of chicken tongue is good, it is an imported high-end medicinal material after all, and it is not very common. Isn't there any good way to freshen your breath in life?
Yes! For example, before the Tang Dynasty ministers saw the emperor, they would chew orange peel in their mouths.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, after men drank flower wine, they always ordered a plate of sugar fried chestnuts, not because they were hungry, but to taste their mouths.
In the Ming and Qing novels, there are one after another good ideas, such as the double jasmine wine in "Golden Plum Bottle" and the rose dew in "Dream of the Red Chamber", with an intoxicating aroma and a fragrant mouth.
You see, even if there was no electric toothbrush at that time, there was no ultrasonic teeth cleaning, and curing bad breath can make the ancients play so many tricks, you say that the wisdom of our Chinese is not leveraged!
Edited | Liangshan
Typography | Liangshan