In Africa, small twigs cut from wild trees are used as toothbrushes. They work so well that some upmarket health stores in the US are selling 'chew-sticks' as the natural form of dental care.
Brush your teeth every day, dentists say. In Africa, that can mean keeping your toothbrush in your mouth all day long.
Across the continent south of the Sahara, many people go about their daily business with a small stick or twig protruding from their mouth, which they chew or use to scrub their teeth.
Cut from wild trees and shrubs in the bush, this is the African toothbrush. Its users swear it is much more natural, effective and cheaper than the prettily packaged but pricey dental products on sale in pharmacies and supermarkets.
"It cleans your teeth more than plastic brushes, with the liquid that comes out of the wood," says Marcelino Diatta, a stick twitching from his mouth as he seeks handouts from foreigners in downtown Dakar.
In Senegal, the chewing stick is called "sothiou", which means "to clean" in the local Wolof language. In east Africa, the stick is called "mswaki", the Swahili word for toothbrush. Their users say the sticks are also medicinal, providing not just dental hygiene but also curing a variety of other ills.
Dental experts agree they seem to clean teeth well and some upmarket health stores in the US have been selling chew-sticks as a natural form of dental care.
"It's good for your stomach and your head . . . it whitens your teeth and gets rid of bad breath," says Abedis Sauda, a Senegalese street vendor.
Traders in Dakar and other Senegalese cities sell neat bundles of the pencil-sized sticks - usually about six inches long - on the pavement, offering a variety of different types of wood at different prices.
Elimane Diop, 70, dressed in a blue boubou robe and white bonnet, extols the virtues of his wares with all the pride of a salesman for a multinational healthcare company, explaining the advanta ges of a new design of brush or type of dental floss.
"This is the Dakhaar . . . It cleans really well," says Diop, holding up a slender, knotty twig with a dark brown bark.
Another bush toothbrush, the Werek, is cut from the branches of the gum tree, while the thicker Neep-Neep helps ease toothache. "If you've a bad tooth, it's a medicine," says Diop.
The Cola, cut from a soft, whitish wood, is prized for its sweet taste. If chewed, most of the twigs fray into finer strands, which have the effect of "flossing" between the teeth or, if rubbed up and down, can scrub tooth enamel clean as well as any brush. But they can taste bitter compared with commercial toothpastes.
"There are several documented studies which suggest that the cleaning sticks are at least as effective as normal toothbrushes and paste in maintaining routine oral health," Christine Wu, professor and associate dean for research at the University of Illinois College of Dentistry says.
She says some laboratory studies indicate plants from which some of the sticks in Africa are cut contain protective anti-microbial compounds that act against the bacteria in the mouth which cause tooth decay and gum disease. "And if these sticks do contain fluoride, as plants do, then this would be beneficial for caries prevention," Wu says, although she stresses more research needs to be done on the sticks.
The World Health Organisation (WHO)encourages the use of chewing sticks as an alternative source of oral hygiene in poor countries where many cannot afford commercial dental products. - (Reuters)