Toothpaste has a history that stretches back nearly 4,000 years. Until the mid-nineteenth century, abrasives used to clean teeth did not resemble modern toothpastes. People were primarily concerned with cleaning stains from their teeth and used harsh, sometimes toxic ingredients to meet that goal. Ancient Egyptians used a mixture of green lead, verdigris (the green crust that forms on certain metals like copper or brass when exposed to salt water or air), and incense. Ground fish bones were used by the early Chinese.In the Middle Ages, fine sand and pumice were the primary ingredients in teeth-cleaning formulas used by Arabs. Arabs realized that using such harsh abrasives harmed the enamel of the teeth. Concurrently, however, Europeans used strong acids to lift stains. In western cultures, similarly corrosive mixtures were widely used until the twentieth century. Table salt was also used to clean teeth.In 1850, Dr. Washington Wentworth Sheffield, a dental surgeon and chemist, invented the first toothpaste. He was 23 years old and lived in New London, Connecticut. Dr. Sheffield had been using his invention, which he called Creme Dentifrice, in his private practice. The positive response of his patients encouraged him to market the paste. He constructed a laboratory to improve his invention and a small factory to manufacture it.Modern toothpaste was invented to aid in the removal foreign particles and food substances, as well as clean the teeth. When originally marketed to consumers, toothpaste was packaged in jars. Chalk was commonly used as the abrasive in the early part of the twentieth century.Sheffield Labs claims it was the first company to put toothpaste in tubes. Washington Wentworth Sheffield's son, Lucius, studied in Paris, France, in the late nineteenth century. Lucius noticed the collapsible metal tubes being used for paints. He thought putting the jar-packaged dentifrice in these tubes would be a good idea. Needless to say, it was adopted for toothpaste, as well as other pharmaceutical uses. The Colgate-Palmolive Company also asserts that it sold the first toothpaste in a collapsible tube in 1896. The product was called Colgate Ribbon Dental Creme. In 1934, in the United States, toothpaste standards were developed by the American Dental Association's Council on Dental Therapeutics. They rated products on the following scale: Accepted, Unaccepted, or Provisionally Accepted.The next big milestone in toothpaste development happened in the mid-twentieth century (1940-60, depending on source). After studies proving fluoride aided in protection from tooth decay, many toothpastes were reformulated to include sodium fluoride. Fluoride's effectiveness was not universally accepted. Some consumers wanted fluoride-free toothpaste, as well as artificial sweetener-free toothpaste. The most commonly used artificial sweetener is saccharin. The amount of saccharin used in toothpaste is minuscule. Companies like Tom's of Maine responded to this demand by manufacturing both fluoridated and non-fluoridated toothpastes, and toothpastes without artificial sweetening.Many of the innovations in toothpaste after the fluoride breakthrough involved the addition of ingredients with "special" abilities to toothpastes and toothpaste packaging. In the 1980s, tartar control became the buzz word in the dentifrice industry. Tarter control toothpastes claimed they could control tartar build-up around teeth. In the 1990s, toothpaste for sensitive teeth was introduced. Bicarbonate of soda and other ingredients were also added in the 1990s with claims of aiding in tartar removal and promoting healthy gums. Some of these benefits have been largely debated and have not been officially corroborated.Packaging toothpaste in pumps and stand-up tubes was introduced during the 1980s and marketed as a neater alternative to the collapsible tube. In 1984, the Colgate pump was introduced nationally, and in the 1990s, stand-up tubes spread throughout the industry, though the collapsible tubes are still available.