23/08/2017
A smile is not just a curve ..
Dr Navaneetha Kamath
@ Info Dr's Ayurveda
It was as usual a busy day at the dispensary, when suddenly Krishna and Yashoda barged into my otherwise normal mind with out any intimation. It so happened when Master Krishna, 5 yrs came to my room along with his mother clutching a half eaten chocolate bar in his hands. With in seconds of entering the naughty kid got hold of the paperweight on my table and was busy playing with it. I tried to draw his attention towards me and asked what his problem was. Instead of answering, he looked at his mother, who gave me a detailed history of his stomach ache. As I tried to examine his stomach, he curled up and looked at me doubtfully. I told him with a smile that we don't give here any injections and asked him to open his mouth instead. After assurance from his mother he obliged, giving me a good view of a range of teeth with caps, few with carries, discolored, and uneven . That is when suddenly,Yashoda looking into Lord Krishna's mouth came into my mind.
Krishna's is not an odd case. Half of the young generation are suffering from dental problems. It is said that mouth is the mirror of your body. A healthy mouth indicates a healthy lifestyle and awareness towards personal hygiene.
Ayurveda has a lot to offer in prevention and management of dental problems. Ayurveda considers teeth as byproduct of bone tissue and the health of teeth can be directly correlated to health of bones. Food and nutrition also play an important role in dental health along with practicing oral hygiene.
The daily regimens of dental care recommended by Ayurveda are
1. Dantadhavana or cleaning of teeth
2.Jihwa nirlekhana or tongue cleaning
3.Gandoosha & Kabala or holding and rinsing the mouth with oil, ghee or suitable decoctions.
For dhanta dhavana Ayurveda recommends own index finger or twigs/ chewing sticks in the morning as well as after every meal to prevent diseases. Ayurveda insists on the use of herbal brushes, approximately 9 inches long and the thickness of one's little finger. These herbal sticks should be either kashaya (astringent), katu (acrid), or tikta (bitter) in taste., with only one exception Yashtimadhu โ Licorice which is sweetish, but yet mentioned as tooth stick. The method of use is to crush one end, chew it, and brush with thus formed filaments slowly. In Ayurveda, dental health is held to be very individualistic, varying with each person's constitution (prakriti), and climatic changes.
Tooth-brushing is an activity carried out with a toothbrush which is a special little brush designed for use on teeth. First tooth brush came into existence in China in 1498, where coarse boar hairs were attached to bamboo or bone handles. In 1938 nylon bristles were introduced. Chewing a medicinal stick may be held equal to the activity of โbrushing the teethโฒ, but it is not similar to be given the same name, specifically because sticks that are chewed are used entirely differently from brushes.
Early Indians, Arabs, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans used chewing sticks for cleaning the teeth. Tooth sticks were found in an Egyptian tomb of 3000BC. It is mentioned in Tipitaka (Buddhist canon of 5th BC) In Islamic Hadith, Meswak sticks (pilu)-sticks of Salvador persia are adviced for dental cleaning while the Guru grantha sahib of Sikhs advice them to use Dhatuns ( natural sticks) to clean teeth.
Chemical examinations established that these sticks contain natural ingredients, which are beneficial for oral health like ascorbic acid, tri-methylamine, chloride, fluoride, silica, resins, salvadorine etc which have proved potency to heal the inflamed and bleeding gums, produce stimulatory effect on gingiva, remove tartar, and other stains from the teeth, re-mineralize dental hard tissues, whiten teeth, provide enamel barrier, and increase salivary flow, respectively. In addition, chewing sticks also contains volatile oils, tannic acid, sulphur and sterols which attribute to anti-septic, astringent and bactericidal properties that help reduces plaque formation, provides anti-carious effects, eliminates bad odor, improves the sense of taste, and cures many systemic diseases.
The stems or roots should be fresh, healthy, soft, without leaves or knots and taken from specific plants. The neem is a famous herbal chewing stick. Chewing on these stems is believed to cause attrition and leveling of biting surfaces, facilitate salivary secretion and, possibly, help in plaque control, while some stems have an anti-bacterial action.
Some of the twigs that can be used are of Acacia, Mahua, Indian beech, banyan, calotropis, nerium, Arjuna, Babool, costus etc. Twigs of tamarind, moringa, bilwa, peepal, chaste tree Bauhinia etc and twigs of poisonous and unknown plants are not to be used.
With reference to the individual's constitution and dominant dosha, it is stated that people with the vata dosha dominance may develop atrophic and receding gums, and are recommended to use chewing sticks with bitter-sweet or astringent tastes, such as liquorice and black catechu or the cutch tree respectively. Pitta dosha dominant individuals are more prone to mouth ulcers and bad breathe and are recommended to use chewing sticks with a bitter taste such as the twigs from the margosa tree or neem and the arjuna tree. Those with the kapha dosha dominant are likely to have pale and hypertrophic gums and are asked to use chewing sticks with a pungent taste, citing the fever nut or Caesalipinia and the common milkweed plant or Calotropis.
The miswak is a teeth cleaning twig made from a twig of the Salvadora persica tree, also known as the arak tree or the peelu tree. Miswak when compared to the toothbrush has positive effect on enamel, is antimicrobial and helps improving gingival recession, provided proper instruction had been given on how to brush using it.
In south India, ripened mango leaf is widely used for cleaning teeth. A fresh mango leaf is washed and the midrib is removed. Leaf is then folded lengthwise with glossy surfaces facing each other. It is rolled into a cylindrical pack. One end of this pack is bitten off 2-3mm to create a raw surface which is rubbed on the teeth - pack is held between the thumb and the index finger. At the end, the midrib, which was first removed, is used as a tongue cleaner. Mangiferin a compound present in mango leaves has shown significant antibacterial property against certain strains of Pneumococci, Streptococci, Staphylococci, and Lactobacillus acidophilus.
When using index finger, powders may be used. Some of them are:
Trikatu (Black pepper, long pepper and dried ginger).
Trijatam (cardamom, clove, pachila)
Rocksalt+mast wood seed
Rice husk ash,
Rice husk ash+salt+Black pepper
For the children who are getting the secondary dentition, fine powders of special materials are advised like coconut shell charcoal powder, a mixture of powders of de seeded dried fruits of solanum, Trikatu, nutmeg, clove, rocksalt and common salt in equal amounts.
Jihwa nirlekhana is the next step which cleanses the tongue stimulating the tastebuds. It is advised to be done with a narrow blunt twig around 7 1/2" long. Coconut leaf midrib is used effectively for this purpose.
Gandoosha and Kabala (now a days popular as oil pulling) mentioned in the Ayurvedic texts is to be done with gingelly oil or ghee or with medicated decoctions prepared with nalpamara, acacia, babool etc according to the condition. These are two primary oral cleansing techniques useful to treat as well as to prevent oral diseases.They prevent dryness of lips, mouth and throat, lip cracking, tooth decay, gum diseases, oral malodour etc; strengthening teeth, gums and jaws. Kabala or Gandusha is said to cure about 30 systemic diseases ranging from headache, migraine to diabetes and asthma.
Brushing is contra indicated in the cases of mouth ulcers, fever, indigestion, in those who have a tendency to vomit, asthma, cough, thirst etc. Kabala & Gandusha can be used to clean the oral cavity in all such cases. In Gandusha, the oral cavity is filled completely with liquid medicine, (so that gargling is impossible) held for about 3-5 minutes, and then spitted out. In Kabala Graha, a comfortable amount of fluid is retained with the mouth closed for about 3 minutes, and then gargled. It is a simple rejuvenating treatment, which, when done routinely, enhances the senses, brings about a feeling of freshness and invigorates the mind. These can also ward off bad breath, dryness of mouth, dull senses, exhaustion, anorexia, loss of taste, impaired vision, sore throat etc. A study in plaque-induced gingivitis. comparing them and the chlorhexidine mouthwash, showed Gandusha- kabala better in reduction in plaque and micro organisms and better gingival scores
These powerful yet simple detoxifying techniques have recently become very popular as surgery or medication could be prevented for a number of chronic illnesses.
The western world is waking up to the huge potential of Ayurvedic dental care as you come across packets of Neem and Miswak sticks being sold at exorbitant prices at supermarkets and online marketing gaints like Amazon are delivering them at your door step. Compared to tooth brushes, twigs are more eco friendly, economical, easily available from our neighbourhood, needs less or nill maintenance, and there is no need of paste. More over, twigs are more hygienic as they are discarded after single use,than the tooth brushes which harbour bacteriae due to their repeated use. But while using them, hardness need to be checked and the one suitable to our need and constitution should be selected and excessive scrubbing should be avoided.
If Ayurvedic dental health practices are to be acknowledged as part of primary health care, use of safe, easily available, quality products and practices should be ensured based on available evidences. Scientific validations of the materials and techniques only could justify their incorporation into modern dental care. Publicity of these techniques using appropriate media would benefit the general population by giving more confidence in the ancient practices, thus creating healthy smiles.
"Let us move forward with a smile,
As teeth are now 'n' ever, in style"
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