Didn't the army use tooth paste?

Open wide!

 

Hello dbf,

I realise the description in the advert for the Macleans "toothpaste" (dentifrice") tin at the start of your post are not your words, so time for a bit of old bloke clarification (if needed!) from me (not nit-picking mind, that's a whole other personal hygiene area!)

Tins, powder, "dentifrice", dentures for the use of.

Tubes, toothpaste, teeth for the use of.

Folks using the (compacted) powder (dentifrice) on teeth (still seated within gums) would be spitting blood as a result of shredded gums within a couple of uses.

Definitely tinned powdered stuff for dentures, though it didn't preclude folks from using either (powder or paste) on either (dentures or teeth). Toothpaste on/with dentures will work, but powder on teeth (real living teeth still resident within ones cake'ole) not recommended!

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

However before toothpaste in a tube there were cakes of toothpaste in a tin. From Colgate's own history

Prior to the 1850s, ' toothpastes ' were usually powders. During the 1850s, a new toothpaste in a jar called a Crème Dentifrice was developed and in 1873 Colgate started the mass production of toothpaste in jars.

This was in the USA - it took longer for Europe to catch up on this one.
I can remember tinned tooth pastes post war, indeed as a smallboy in rural Sligo it was the only kind the local shop sold, and they were not for dentures. However tooth paste in tins became associated with poverty and institutions and not an image that the marketing jonnies wanted.

 

My Dad (ex RAF) always used tooth powder on both his teeth and dentures. He told me it became habit after they had some 'rotten' Indian made toothpaste in Burma - in addition to the rancid hair oil.

 

The hair oil was probably made from old ghee - quite good for the hair but exceedingly whiffy.

 

I recall starting off as a nipper in the 1960s with tooth-cleaning product in a tin...I think the idea was that the sort of small boy who was always covered in paint or mud would swallow half a tube of anything if he was allowed to squeeze. There must've been a shortage of the favoured brand at one time too, as I've also used bicarbonate of soda...That fizzed !

 

Yep, we also used toothpowder from a tin for a while... I think it was Eucryl

 

Coincidentally, last Saturday while searching with the metal detector, I found a tube of toothpaste. This one is from the Kolynos brand. The complete set ( as you can see in the picture) s a reproduction which you can buy apparently. However I do not know where.

 

I can certainly remember using tooth powder in the 1970's.
To be fair British dentistry was pretty poor up to the 1980's. In 1983 when I was 19 I went to the local dentist as I was suffering toothache. He filled most of the teeth in my mouth and did 2 extractions all during the same visit. I was in agony for at least a week and I didn't visit another dentist around 30 years

 

Fang Farriers have been about for some time, if in not many numbers.
The Royal Army Dental Corps

With even adverts in WW1 for toothpaste, it appears to be a purchase item rather than issue.
Euthymol Toothpaste for Active Service

Appears toothpaste was Naffi supplied
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commo...a91-3a7b-4c21-be81-98da6dbc83cd/NaafiSupplies

 

Photo found on Facebook...