Page 39 - British Museum: SYTYGIB Medieval Castle

If the folk at the fair didn’t do it, your friendly neighbourhood barber would. That’s right! The person who cut your hair would also remove your molars. Just nip down to your local hair salon and ask for a quick trim and a couple of false teeth please!
But hey, at least they had anaesthetics to stop the pain just like they do today. Wait. What’s that? Oh yeah – they dIdN’T! The rotten old teeth were just yanked out with a pair of pliers and nO pain relief. Probably stung a little.
This finger is so handy!
FANCY THAT!
Rich kids had toothpaste made from flour, honey and mint mixed with a metal called alum. They didn’t have toothbrushes though, so they’d just have to use their finger or a twig. Poor kids used a cloth to wipe their teeth. As long as they didn’t get mixed up with the cloth for cleaning the loo. Yeuch!
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Health and medicine