Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

to be SHOCKED by something MIL told me about her childhood?

79 replies

SybilBeddows · 19/06/2011 18:02

This was Derby in the 1930s, working class family (her dad was a builder), well-looked-after in general, they had a bathroom and were not neglected or living on the breadline.

They never brushed their teeth.
And their dad told them if they wanted to clean them they should get some soot from the chimney and do it with a finger, or if they didn't like the taste of soot they could use salt.

When she was 8 she saw an advert for toothbrushes and begged and begged her mum to get her one, and her mum finally gave in but she didn't know what to do with it.

I am

OP posts:

wimpybar · 19/06/2011 18:51

my dad and mum were both born in the 30s and brushed their teeth dentistry was a bit grim but they defintely had their own teeth for most of their lifes!

ednurse · 19/06/2011 18:51

My nan also had her false teeth for her 21st birthday.

Fernier · 19/06/2011 18:52

My grandmother on one side has terrible teeth, front ones are all false back ones are barely there any more! And yet despite the fact that my tiger set of grandparents were 25 years older and from the exact same area that set both had wonderful teeth until they died they MUST have taken care of them.

Fernier · 19/06/2011 18:53

That grandmother with no teeth was born In 1938 the other set were born around 1910.

fatlazymummy · 19/06/2011 19:00

Both of my parents and my PIL's had no teeth with full dentures.[all were born in the 30's]. My Mum and Dad had theirs removed in their 20's. I know my Mum and MIL lost theirs due to gum disease in pregnancy. I don't know if any of them had toothpaste and brushes when they were children though.
From what I understand so many people of this era had dentures because of the NHS being set up after the war. So many people suddenly had free dental treatment after years of neglect and this was considered the most effective treatment.
Of course modern dentists try to avoid fitting dentures unless it is a last resort.
psammead said that it was a different world then, and that is very true. I don't think many younger people appreciate how tough life was then.

Mumbrane · 19/06/2011 19:00

Were your parents poor?@wimpybar. My dad was one of twelve children and they were cripplingly poor.

mrsjohnsimm · 19/06/2011 19:05

DH's grandmother (born around 1920) also had a complete set of false teeth as a 21st birthday present.

chibi · 19/06/2011 19:06

My fam are from other euro countries, rural southern italy and the balkans

wimpybar · 19/06/2011 19:06

my mum was oldest of ten and dad was only child, definitely working class. they were londoners though, if that makes a difference. dad told me he used to visit the london dental hospital for treatments.

Original poster

SybilBeddows · 19/06/2011 19:08

I can imagine Derby being more backward than London in these matters.

OP posts:

Yeni · 19/06/2011 19:24

I brushed my teeth with salt as a child because we had a teacher who was always banging on about brushing his teeth with soot or salt in the olden days and how everything was better then. As an 8 year old I had limited access to soot so I plumped for salt. Could I have done my teeth any long term damage? We had plenty of Colgate at home, and my parents certainly didn't know I was brushing with salt.

The same teacher told us we wouldn't need jobs when we grew up as everything would be done by computers. I never had any ambitions and I wonder if this is why.

LRDTheFeministDragon · 19/06/2011 19:25

I think it has to do partly with whether you're in a hard or soft water area - one of them (soft?) tends to attack your teeth, and that combined with no fluoride in the water/not the greatest nutrition would mean your teeth were likely to be in a worse state at an early age.

Clytaemnestra · 19/06/2011 19:42

A company (I think maybe Lush) did a black toothpaste a few years ago, with charcoal in it to aid teeth whitening. So not as unusual as you might think! :)

Pumpernickel10 · 19/06/2011 19:47

I'm shocked she's shocked

lookingfoxy · 19/06/2011 19:49

My friend not even 10/15 years ago had no toothbrushes or toothpaste in her house EVER, this is despite her having 6 children, needless to say she has none of her own teeth now in her forties. I have no idea what state the childrens teeth are in.

Original poster

SybilBeddows · 19/06/2011 19:54

LRD - it would also depend on diet.
All this processed food and sugar can't be good. I can well believe people managed without much tooth brushing for centuries and it's only in the 19th and 20th century it started to have seriously bad consequences.

Pumpernickel - not only am I shocked, I am now shocked no-one else is shocked!

OP posts:

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 19/06/2011 19:55

my mum had all her teeth taken out in 1960 as they were sensitive to hot and cold, apparently falsies were the solution so they just whipped them all out.

my dad had all his back teeth taken out on one side by a dentist who misunderstood instructions from his family dentist and he had to go back and have the other side taken out (because of decay) so he has no big teeth on top on either side!

meltedchocolate · 19/06/2011 19:57

My mum, now aged 48, lost all her top teeth aged 14 because her parents never thought it was necessary to make her, them having been brought up in the same way as your MIL.

LRDTheFeministDragon · 19/06/2011 19:58

sybil, I think diet and nutrition refer to the same thing.

But yes, true. I know my granny told me when she was having her children, adults didn't really drink milk ... she was considered unusual for drinking it during her pregnancies, and this was in teh 50s.

meltedchocolate · 19/06/2011 19:59

Mums teeth these days would have been easily saved but back then (only 34 years ago) falsies were still pretty standard

Original poster

SybilBeddows · 19/06/2011 20:12

oops sorry LRD, skim-read your post and didn't see the bit about nutrition.

I wasn't just thinking about lack of the right nutrients though, I was also thinking about things like sweets or drinking fruit juice, which you might do on top of an otherwise excellent diet and still harm your teeth, ie creating conditions for decay as distinct from not having the calcium to build strong ones in the first place.

OP posts:

LRDTheFeministDragon · 19/06/2011 20:20

'Tis fine, I was just being a pedant.

But you're right - and my dentist says people only realized fairly recently how bad fruit acid is for teeth (the old saying is 'an apple a day keeps the dentist away').

oldraver · 19/06/2011 20:30

My MIL came form the west end of Derby (the roughest of the rough) and was born on in the 30's. She lost all her teeth by the time she was 25 and blames it on pregnancies (3) but I dont think she has ever brushed teeth (she has other questionable personal hygeine habits)

I think coal and salt were quite common

lifechanger · 19/06/2011 20:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

quirrelquarrel · 19/06/2011 21:18

Roald Dahl had all his teeth out at 20 or so and persuaded his family to have theirs out too. It seems to have been quite a trendy thing to do!

Flip

1 2 3 4