08/06/2026
Today is ! How might you keep your breath fresh if you lived in the Hudson Valley in the 17th century? (Important note: We, of course, recommend following your own dentist’s advice over any of these historic remedies!)
By this time, bone-handled toothbrushes with horse or hog’s hair bristles had been around for centuries, but they could be costly and not everyone used them. Many turned to an easier solution: a chewing stick. With one end smashed and soaked to soften it, the fibers of a wooden stick would become soft and would help brush the plaque off one’s teeth when chewed. Native Americans often used birch or willow branches for this purpose. African people, trafficked to the region as the enslaved labor force of the colony, were used to using chewing sticks made from Salvadora persica, aka the toothbrush tree. No doubt they adapted this practice to the locally available trees.
You might also use a powdered tooth polish. A tooth polish could be made of a myriad of substances, and each dentist or travelling tooth-puller doubtless had their own combination to recommend. One Dutch publication from 1669 recommend a home recipe with ingredients including red coral, date pits, pumice, and porcelain. Those more experienced in medicine, however, warned against the danger of using “harsh powders” with abrasive agents, such as German doctor Frederick Hoffman, who recommended things like crab shells, alum, and musk in his dental treatise published in 1698.
But if you didn’t want to go to all that trouble, you might freshen your breath simply by chewing on herbs and spices to replace unwanted odors with fresh scents. European sources of the time liked to use nutmeg, cloves, licorice, or cardamom for this purpose. Native Americans similarly used mint, sage, or pine needles.
🖼: The Smoker, by Joos van Craesbeeck, c. 1635-1636
De Reuk (The Reek), by anonymous, c. 1683-1684
View of North Pearl Street in Albany, by James Eights, c. 1800s
