Modern society provides us with all sorts of breath-freshening products: toothpaste, mints, mouthwash, gum, and even weird, translucent strips that dissolve in your mouth. By now, this seems quite natural. So it's hard to appreciate how interesting it is that Mentha spicata (spearmint) and Mentha × piperita (peppermint), a pair of shrubs native to Europe and Asia, have come to symbolize freshness for all of American society. What's more, says cosmetics historian Rachel Weingarten, "the idea that mint equals freshness is more of an illusion than anything else. It's a triumph of advertising." Peppermint does include menthol, which triggers receptors in your mouth that make it feel cold. But exclusively linking this feeling to our concept of "fresh breath" is pretty arbitrary — other countries, after all, have very differently-flavored toothpastes, such as clove and aloe. "Our current use of mint is very a modern kind of thing," Weingarten says. In ancient history, spearmint and peppermint were mainly used as food and drink flavorings, or as medicines. During the early Roman Empire, Pliny the Elder wrote that mint could be used as a remedy for 41 different ailments. Among other things, he wrote, it could be used to treat bleeding, liver disease, vomiting, and headaches. However, when it came to breath-freshening, this was his advice: "It is recommended to rub the teeth with ashes of burnt mouse-dung and honey."
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