Given our advancements in the fields of science, medicine, technology, and industry many of
us tend to look back and judge – sometimes harshly – the civilisations that came before
us with the standards of our current generation.
In more advanced countries, people would look at practices by ancient peoples as mildly
unnerving and downright disgusting especially when it comes to hygiene.
However, we need to understand that these people had to make use of whatever resource
is available to them at that time as much as our generation exploits what little resource
we have left.
Take, for example, one of the greatest empires of Western Civilisation: Rome.
Since their rise to their eventual collapse, the ancient Romans have been leaders in politics,
science, and technology for the centuries that they have spent marching through Europe,
Africa, and parts of Asia.
They have made revolutionary contributions in farming and industry as well as the military
sciences.
In fact, the ancient Romans were incredibly advanced in medicine that they were the first
to perform Caesarian sections to pregnant women, carry out non-lethal amputations, and
even conduct eye surgeries; all of this with just the resources that they have on hand.
Their knowledge of the human body was incredible that, even in the field of dentistry, the
Romans were able to keep their pearly whites in pristine condition.
Several studies of Roman remains show that many of them have incredible teeth and that
their civilisation, no matter how ancient by today’s standards, only have a 5% rate
of gum disease such as periodontitis.
Compared to today’s rate of 15% to 30% in the United Kingdom and 38.8% in the United
States, this figure is pretty significant and gives us a rare glimpse of just how seriously
they took dental hygiene.
Bear in mind that in those days the profession of dentist did not exists and in the rare
occasions that a tooth extraction needed to be done, a Roman would go to a surgeon instead.
Also, the idea of regularly flossing or picking out toothbrushes with activated charcoal was
not even a concept to them.
What they used was no magic potion or some ancient mixture of long-extinct herbs and
plants.
To keep their teeth shiny and clean, they used urine.
Before you start cringing at the idea of urine touching your lips, allow us to explain the
science behind this choice of dental hygiene product.
Despite the lack of extensive documentation and records regarding the use of this bodily
waste as a dental cleaning agent, it is widely known that urine – whether animal or human
– was part of the average Roman’s daily life.
Why urine?
Simple.
Urine has a complex chemical composition – despite the waste products mixed in with it – that
has effective cleaning properties and this is mainly attributed to urine’s high ammonia
content.
Ammonia is a common cleaning agent that many of us, even today, have stored in our sheds
and cupboards to get rid of grime and germs from any surface in our home.
The ammonia in urine has such a strong capability of cleaning that physicians in ancient Rome
believed that urine helped to whiten teeth – and they did.
Also, though it is not scientifically proven, these physicians also believed that by cleaning
your teeth and washing your mouth – yes, washing your mouth – with urine, you will
be able to prevent the eventual falling off of your teeth.
Urine as a dental hygiene agent, in fact, proves to be quite effective that many of
Rome’s elite citizens and nobility pay handsomely for urine imported from Portugal, believing
that it is the most potent one there is.
The ammonia component of urine also proves to be more than useful outside dental hygiene.
Predating the use of bleach, Romans would use urine to wash their clothes and keep their
white garments white.
Ammonia from urine was, in fact, so useful that they would also use it to clean sheep
wool before processing it into garments.
The wool would be soaked in urine that was collected from latrines and other places,
stamped on to agitate the material, and later on washed to make it white and, believe it
or not, clean.
Tanning was also among the many uses Romans found in urine.
By tanning, we meant tanning leather and not lathering up with a vat of cow urine.
In the early days of veterinary medicine, the Romans also used urine to treat sick livestock.
Sheep with bile issues were made to drink human urine and livestock with lung disease
were given urine through the nose.
Roman bee farmers even used urine to treat their sick bees, and foul and poultry were
treated of bird flu by dabbing their beaks with the pungent liquid.
There have been a multitude of uses for urine in the time of the ancient Romans but using
it as teeth whitening and mouthwash takes the cake for being the most bizarre.
Before we begin to judge, the use of urine in dental hygiene was persistent until the
18th Century when commercial mouthwash would be laced with ammonia extracted from urine.
Though using urine in any practical or medical application has long since been phased out,
we have to remember – once again – that we should look upon how ancient civilisations,
such as the Roman Empire, managed to make do with what they have in order to live happy,
healthy, and productive lives.
We do not encourage anyone to try it out though because there are other, much more hygienic
ways of cleaning your teeth.
Urine is still a waste product that carries a number of pathogens that are harmful to
our health.
So, the next time you have a toothache or need to get your teeth whitened, we recommend
a good dentist and some wholesome products from your local pharmacy.