It is believe that Egyptians have started an idea of using paste to clean their teeth since 5000BC. The ancient toothpastes were used to clean teeth, gums, get rid of bad breath and also whitening purpose. The pastes were made in different formulas, for instance, eggshells mixed with pumice, crushed bones, powder of ox hooves’ ashes and charcoal. Roman people added more flavors to the paste to get rid of bad breath. The Chinese used herbal mints, ginseng and salt in their paste. 

However, in the modern times toothpastes were invented in the 1800s. The first version is soap formulated by American dentist named Peabody, then John Harris in the 1850s added chalk. The first “tube” of the toothpaste was invented by Dr. Lucius Sheffield when he introduced Creme Dentifrice toothpaste in 1886. After that, in the early of twentieth century toothpastes were developed to help and prevent for specific diseases like tooth sensitivity toothpaste and added fluoride to prevent cavity and decay. The latest invention is whitening toothpaste. Toothpastes nowadays, usually contain fluoride, flavoring, coloring and sweetener.