Underrated Invention: Toothpaste

A while back I wrote an article about how Pillows are a very underrated and under appreciated invention. I brought this to my readers' attention after hearing a conversation on "What is the greatest invention of all-time?" There were certainly some very valuable things in the conversation but why does everything have to be the best ever? Why can't we just appreciate the small things that are actually genius inventions?

One of the things that we should appreciate more is toothpaste.

Most people don't realize how long toothpaste has been around. Some form of toothpaste has been used dating back to the 4th century A. D. Toothpaste didn't become popular until the 19th century though. The toothbrush became popular before toothpaste and originally people just dipped the toothbrush in water. But eventually it became popular to make toothpaste to clean your teeth with. Toothpaste has come a long way since then too as you can now find toothpaste in wonderfully delicious flavors.

Like with the pillows it's easy to under appreciate toothpaste at first. If you really want to appreciate toothpaste then just imagine what life would be like if toothpaste didn't exist.

Think about it for a minute. Imagine someone you know that has the most horribly bad smelling breath. Well without toothpaste every single person walking this earth would have breath that smells even worse than that person. Without toothpaste that nasty taste you get in your mouth when you wake up the morning would linger for most of the day. Without toothpaste everybody would get cavities. Without toothpaste everybody would lose his or her teeth at a much younger age.

It goes beyond just cleaning your teeth though. There are actually many other things you can do with toothpaste. Here are a few other uses for toothpaste.

If you have shoes that are scuffed up then you can squirt a dab of toothpaste on your shoe and rub it with a soft cloth. Then clean it with a damp cloth.