What was listerine invented for

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Visit the IIIF page to learn more. View manifest View in Mirador. Description Listerine, now a product of Pfizer Inc. While used today primarily as a mouthwash for oral health and hygiene, it has been sold as a surgical disinfectant, a cure for dandruff, a floor cleaner, a hair tonic, a deodorant, and as a "beneficial remedy" for diseases ranging from diphtheria and dysentery to small pox and gonorrhea. Listerine, named for Sir Joseph Lister, founder of the practice of antiseptic medicine, was first formulated in St.

Louis, MO in by Dr. Joseph Lawrence and Jordan Wheat Lambert. Lambert's Pharmacal Co. People who want to attack the medical establishment will look for any excuse to tell us that many of the conditions we supposedly suffer from are fabrications by doctors, big pharma, or even dentists to try to get people to buy more medicine and services.

Then he ran a marketing campaign for Listerine based on bad breath that skyrocketed the popularity of the remedy. But Listerine was already an established remedy long before this, and bad breath was a recognized condition even before Listerine was invented.

Listerine was developed and marketed as a prescription antiseptic in the s. Although intended as an all-purpose antiseptic, it mostly proved its value for injuries to the mouth, and it was widely used for this purpose. In fact, it was so popular that in , it was allowed to move from the prescription medicine side of the store to the over-the-counter side.

CALL Ortho: Last week on our blog, we got to the bottom of bad breath and taught you how to treat it. People have lived for millennia without the freshest of breath, and it has even been discovered that early people tried to fix this problem.

The Egyptians, for example, made an early form of a breath mint almost 3, years ago. They mixed up batches of boiled herbs and spices and blended them with honey to make sweets that could be chewed or sucked on. The Chinese are credited with creating the first toothbrush — made from boar bristles — in the s. The s saw the beginning of antiseptic use.

Surgeons like Dr. Joseph Lister began using antiseptics in their operatories and found that patient survival rates improved. Then, in , Lawrence created a new antiseptic for use in surgeries and for cleaning wounds. He called it Listerine mouthwash, named in honor of Dr. The Lambert Pharmaceutical Company bought the rights and formula to Listerine and began to market it for all sorts of ailments. It was during the s that bad breath became more than just a fact of life.