Tooth powder of salt, mint and iris (Vienna papyrus)
Polvo dentífrico de sal, menta e iris (papiro de Viena)
- Date
- c. century IV · confidence medium
- Place
- Nile Valley, Egypt
- Credited to
- Egyptian physicians of the late period
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A recipe from a papyrus mixing rock salt, dried mint, iris flower and pepper to clean and whiten teeth. It is the oldest surviving written dentifrice formula.
The figure of 5,000 years that circulates in the press has no clear support; the formula in the papyrus dates to around the 4th century AD.
What it led to
- dental hygiene with abrasive, scented powders
- toothpastes of the Greek, Roman and Islamic worlds
- modern fluoride toothpaste