Dentistry has changed over the years. With the advancement of ingredients and toothpaste brands that have come and gone, we’d like to show you a little retro fun in dentistry with these vintage toothpaste commercials.
Pepsodent
In the 1920s, Pepsodent’s sales were so dismal, the toothpaste was almost pulled off the shelves. Instead, the company took a chance on sponsoring the pilot episode of AMOS ‘n ANDY, which became a huge success. This Pepsodent commercial from 1957 is accompanied by a little jazz combo and touts the ingredient, “Irium.” Although Pepsodent is still available for sale, in 1994 it was made known that Pepsodent did not actually contain Irium.
Ipana
Ipana was first introduced in 1901 by the Bristol-Myers Company and sponsored many radio programs of the day. Bristol-Myers gave up Ipana toothpaste with the advent of color television (and therefore advertising) and focused on pharmaceuticals. If you’ve seen the cult classic movie “Grease,” you’ll no doubt recall Jan singing the Brush Up song at the girls’ sleepover.
Colgate
Colgate was originally sold in glass jars starting in 1873. It introduced the first tube toothpaste in 1896. This Colgate commercial from the 1950s plays a snazzy jingle while illustrating how dental decay starts. A sign of the advertising times, Colgate shows how clean teeth help the boy get the girl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9QrFa3tDwvY
Crest
Still sold today in some countries under the name Blend-A-Med, Crest had a fairly late start in the United States — 1955. Crest has had many memorable commercials (remember the Cavity Creeps?), but Crest’s “You Can Say Anything With a Smile” campaign was more wry. Watch the soon-to-be-groom and his attorney “smile down” the bride-to-be. After all, a winning smile is mighty convincing.