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Dorothy Copus Brush Can't brush your teeth? Chew a tree Few, if any, would argue that teeth aren't
important. Certainly not Don Quixote. Cervantes puts these words
in his hero's mouth: "Every tooth in a man's head is more
valuable to him than a diamond." Shakespeare, who lived in the same time period
as Cervantes, the middle 1500s to the early 1600s, went even
further with dental advice. In his play Coriolanus he says, "Bid
them wash their faces, and keep their teeth clean." This interest in teeth all began after I read
a recent article in the Nashville paper about dental hygiene.
The main point of the story was about chew sticks as an alternative
to toothbrushes. This ancient version of cleaning teeth has been
used for centuries by Africans and people in Middle Eastern and
Indian countries. She answered, "Black Gum, that was their
toothbrush then. There weren't any bought toothbrushes when I
was growin' up. You'd chew the end of a Black Gum twig till it
was soft and then use it to brush your teeth with, and use salt
and soda." In writing her book Gone With the Wind, Margaret
Mitchell labored painstakingly to be sure she had every historical
fact right. Her agent questioned her once about a reference to
toothbrushes in 1868. Was she sure? The author answered that indeed she had three
references in her notes on the toothbrush, including one from
the Oxford English Dictionary. She added, "I remember Grandma
telling me how the blockade cut off whalebone stays and toothbrushes.
They used split oak for the stays and for toothbrushes used a
twig (willow twigs were popular) chewed till it frayed into fibers." Today you can buy chew sticks in health food
stores for a little more than a dollar. They even offer them
with flavors, cherry, grape, vanilla or strawberry. To use them
you chew on the stick until it softens and then use the bristles
to brush. No paste is necessary. After brushing, the stick is
placed in your toothbrush holder to dry out until next time.
The disadvantage is that it takes longer than just picking up
a toothbrush which is already softened. The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
says of chew sticks, "For thousands of years much of the
developing world has been preventing cavities and gum decay by
using chewing sticks from the root, stem or twig of local trees
and shrubs." Their researchers found that the sticks release
antimicrobial agents that kill germs, fungi and viruses that
cause bad breath, cavities and gum disease. The moral of this tale is there is no excuse for not brushing as long as there are trees! |