Did American cowboys keep a toothbrush and mouthwash in their saddlebags?
Mouthwash is a 20th Century innovation. A cowboy would take a green twig from a tree or shrub and chew the end of it until he made a crude brush of it, clean his teeth as best he could, and then toss the “toothbrush” on the ground. Manufactured toothbrushes have been around since before the American Civil War – regiments of Union soldiers on the march to Gettysburg in 1863 were seen to be carrying toothbrushes in their pockets. Cowboy days were good days for dentists, given the lackadaisical attitude of cowboys toward dental hygene…
