Before toothpaste came the toothbrush, which was probably invented in China about 1498, using animal bristles set into a handle.

It was not until about 1648 that something similar appeared in Europe (Paris). Certainly toothbrushes
could be bought in Britain in the year 1690, but not until 1938 was it possible to buy a nylon toothbrush, when this was invented by the use of Exton, made by the Du Pont Company, of America - and electric toothbrushes were first made by the Squibb company, of new York, USA, in 1961.

Toothpaste and tooth-powder used to be packed into round pots and basically consisted of a slightly gritty cleaning material and perhaps a polishing agent (such as jeweler's rouge).
Then in 1841 the American artist, John Rand, invented a tube, sealed at one end and with a cap over the opening at the other, which collapsed if it was pressed or rolled. He designed it for oil-paint, for the use of artists.

The first collapsible toothpaste tube was designed by Washington Sheffield, an American dentist, in 1892, and he established the Sheffield Tube Company to manufacture it.
This was such a good idea, that, in the same year. Beechams, of England, copied it and started selling their Beechams Toothpaste in tubes instead of in pots.