Crushed charcoal for whiter teeth
TOOTHPASTE and toothbrushes had no place in our home when I was a child.
The index finger took the place of a toothbrush.
Crushed charcoal and fine salt substituted for toothpaste.
Salt or charcoal would be rubbed over the teeth and gums.
That was pretty much the case with most families in the banana farming community of rural Chatsworth and other out-of-city areas before tooth brushing became the norm and affordable.
At our house rough salt would be crushed on a grinding stone – fine salt was then a luxury of convenience.
Charcoal would be gathered from the Welcome Dover stove and pulverised.
Charcoal would also be retrieved from the bowl-ah, a brazier made from a paraffin container that heated the flat rods that were used to singe the sheep’s head and trotters.
I looked forward to using the rods to burn the hair on the sheep’s ears, sprinkling rough salt and then giving them a quick roasting over the fire.
Until today, nothing has quite matched the flavour and sensation from crunching through the blackened pieces of cartilage.
And there’s nothing gross or “yuck” about this!
Salt has been an inexpensive and time-honoured mainstay in natural tooth care, treatment and healing.
Charcoal was long used as a purifying agent that absorbed impurities.
I had ample time to think about how we used to clean our teeth in days gone by during the two hours I recently spent undergoing dental surgery.
While Dr Kersen Moodley drilled deep into my jawbone to position metal posts on which replacement teeth will be positioned in about six months’ time, I bemoaned the three teeth I had lost.
I lamented the fact that I had obviously not paid enough attention to my parents’ admonition during my boyhood that we only get one set of permanent teeth and it must be properly cared for to last a lifetime.
I weighed up that the cost of the three artificial teeth, which would allow me to again munch on my favourite snacks such as roasted cashew nuts and peanut brittle, would have bought seven brand new Toyota Corollas at the price I paid for my first car in 1980, complete with radio-cassette player and audio booster.
While the miniature hammer drill painlessly but jarringly bored into my lower jaw, I regretted using my teeth like tools.
Gnawing on pencils, chewing ice, ripping open packages, opening bottle tops and chewing cornish chicken bones, had obviously taken its toll.
I also wondered whether it would not have helped if I had stayed with salt and charcoal to clean my teeth instead of switching to toothpaste when we moved from the farm and acquired an electric stove.
I know many people who had cleaned their teeth with anything other than toothpaste for many years and were blessed with pearly whites that remained healthy well into old age.
My father had a full set of good teeth until his demise at the age of 91.
Even when he had changed to using a conventional toothbrush, my father would occasionally trudge into the garden in search of a twig from a particular tree that he would fashion into a crude toothbrush.
He would chew on the twig until it became soft enough to brush away unwanted build up on the teeth.
It was as if he craved a dental reminiscence of an era gone by.
As long ago as 3000 BC, the ancient Egyptians constructed crude toothbrushes from twigs to clean their teeth.
Similarly, other cultures such as the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Indians cleaned their teeth with twigs.
Tooth sticks are still used widely in many countries today and are sold in bundles in the villages of India and in small boxes in Ayurvedic medicine outlets.
The neem tree, quite similar to the Syringa berry tree, is most popular for tooth sticks.
The neem tree is also used as an ingredient in natural toothpastes to prevent gum disease and tooth decay.
Tamils refer to tooth sticks as pal kucci.
In Hindi they are called daant chhadee.
Among Muslims, the tooth stick is called miswak and is still commonly used in many Muslim countries since it is advocated in the hadith (written traditions relating to the life of Prophet Muhammad).
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that toothpaste is actually not necessary to properly clean teeth.
All that is needed is a good toothbrush – or a tooth stick.
Toothpaste provides a pleasant feeling in the mouth and leaves a fresh after taste.
The same can be achieved simply by chewing a clove or cardamom.
The tooth stick, on the other hand, contains natural ingredients, which are beneficial for oral health.
According to research published in the North American Journal of Medical Sciences, it has been found that a tooth stick provides greater mechanical and chemical cleansing of oral tissues as compared to a toothbrush.
Tooth sticks contain ascorbic acid, tri-methylamine, chloride, fluoride, silica and resins, which have proved potency to heal inflamed and bleeding gums, produce stimulatory effect on gingiva, remove tartar and other stains from the teeth, whiten teeth, provide an enamel barrier and increase salivary flow.
Antiseptic, astringent and bactericidal properties in tooth sticks help reduces plaque formation, eliminate bad odour and improve the sense of taste.
Toothpaste manufacturers would appear to have latched on to the fact that no matter what they do, they cannot avoid going back to age-old trusted remedies for real results.
Hence there are many herbal toothpastes in the market.
There is also toothpaste, which contains salt.
It may not be long before a toothpaste containing charcoal lands on supermarket shelves.
Fancy using black charcoal to make your teeth white.
Toothpaste manufacturers have not entirely come clean in their marketing activities.
It is no figment of my imagination that like many other household products that have shrunk over the years, while the price has stayed the same or even increased, toothpaste tubes have become smaller. Rather than disguising the fact that toothpaste has become more expensive by repackaging it in a slightly smaller pack, and then hoping we won’t notice, manufacturers should have done the transparent thing and put up the price of the existing pack.
Which also reminds me of the story about a bright idea to improve business.
I cannot say whether it is true or not, but it is a legend for its intrinsic simplicity from which I am sure we can all learn.
Back in the 1970s, a young man approached one of the large toothpaste manufacturers and said he had an innovation which would cost them almost nothing to implement, but would yield an immediate 40% increase in business.
He offered to sell them the exclusive rights to the idea for R5 million.
However, the executives of the company were greedy and would not spend such money.
They thanked the young man and said they would get back to him.
A big meeting of the company’s marketing and technical staff was called and they were tasked with proposing ideas for increasing business by 40% for little cost.
Two weeks later and no useful ideas had emerged.
So, they called back the guy and said he had got a deal.
After the money had been handed over, he gave them a brown envelope containing a small slip of paper.
On this slip were the words: “Make the hole bigger”.
If you increase the diameter of the hole from 5mm to 6mm, the volume of paste squeezed out for the length along the brush is increased by 40%.
Most users will consume the tube that much faster and will need to buy more.
I trust toothpaste manufacturers will not buy into such marketing ingenuity.
It is already bad enough that Marie biscuits have become smaller, strips of chocolate Easter eggs have become shorter and long-life light bulbs do not last as long as the makers claim. Yogin Devan is a media
consultant and social commentator. Share your comments with him on: yogind@meropa.co.za