Use woods toothpaste for white teeth and mouth cancer

 A container of Woods Areca Nut Toothpaste at the Museum of Human Disease

Woods Areca Nut toothpaste, sold in Europe during the late 19th century, was made from the pulverised charcoal of betel nuts, also known as areca nuts. While the toothpaste turned teeth black during use, it reduced the incidence of dental decay. I've posted an information sheet here about the history of areca nut toothpaste.

Chewing red betel nut fruit is custom in many Asian and Oceanic countries for it's mild stimulant effect. However, the practice is now widely discouraged, as the carcinogenic properties of the betel nut places regular chewers at risk of mouth and oesophageal cancer.

Stick it up your nose!

This week in "Old Pills for Odd Ills", we take a closer look at an old nasal douche on display in the Museum of Human Disease. Read the article by guest blogger Ruth Miller here

Old Pills for Odd Ills - Pinkettes

Try Pinkettes for laxative perfection!

Read the next installment of our "Old pills for odd ills" series here

Australians confused by antibiotics

Let's say you're sick. Runny nose, cough, sore throat, fever, headache - the works. You've got a cold. Not a mild one, but not as bad as the flu.

Do you need antibiotics? Would you ask your doctor for a script for them? A recent survey by the National Prescribing Service reveals that many Australians misuse antibiotics because they don't understand how they work. Not only that, our ignorance is contributing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Read my full article here.

"Have a cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie down"

Read the first installment of our "Old pills for odd ills" series at the Museum of Human Disease. This article about Bex powders was written by guest blogger Ruth Miller.

TB or not TB

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB), live in approximately one in three people worldwide. The bacteria can lie latent inside the body for decades until it becomes active in 10% of infected people. Active TB kills one person every 20 seconds.


Efforts to control the spread of TB received a much-needed boost last Tuesday when Sydney's Centenary Institute opened a new $1.2 million high biosecurity lab for tuberculosis research.

The new laboratory is fitted with airlocks and researchers must wear full biocontainment suits when handling and culturing the deadly bacteria.

Read more about the new laboratory and about tuberculosis in my recent article here

New job, new material

As part of my new job as an education officer at the Museum of Human Disease at the University of New South Wales, I'll be writing about current research and news about health and disease.

These articles will be posted on the Museum's website and are intended for a general audience as well as a resource for teachers and high school students.

The first article discusses two recent cases of typhoid at the Christmas Island detention centre. While the risk of the disease spreading was very small, these cases caused panic within the detention centre and in the residential areas of the island.



Interesting fact: People can carry and spread the bacteria (Salmonella typhi) that causes typhoid without displaying symptoms. One of the most notorious asymptomatic carriers of typhoid was Mary Mallon, known as Typhoid Mary.

During her career as a cook in the United States between 1900 and 1915, Mary is thought to have infected 53 people, three of whom died of the disease. She spent the last 23 years of her life quarantined in isolation to prevent her from spreading the disease to others.