Paste vs. Powder: what your teeth need
For millennia, Ayurveda has advised people on how to care for their teeth if they do not have time or access to powders, with the use of fresh twigs being the most traditional.
Paste vs. Powder
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who use tooth powder, and those who use toothpaste. Most of us have been unconsciouly programmed by the ads and commercials with claims that benefit chemical companies and not your teeth.
Ayurveda specifically advises the use of different powders at different times of the year and in different climates. Ayurveda uses ingredients made of coarse ground spices that are part of our diet and will not poison us if swallowed. If twigs are out of season or unavailable, Ayurveda recommends powders of ginger, black pepper and long pepper, known as trikatu; or the powder of three powerful fruits that are commonly used to detoxify the blood and liver, known as triphala. These powders are ideally applied with the finger, so we can feel the crevices and ridges inside the mouth, increasing body awareness and healing our gums with a dual sense of touching and being touched.
Ayurveda recommends a panoply of spices for cleaning the mouth. The plants and twigs of woods should be either kashaya (astringent), katu (acrid/pungent) or tikta (bitter). These lower the overabundant moisture of the mouth to prevent microbial growth. They clean out old oils and scum. Common herbs include darchini (cinnamon), neem (Azadirachta indica), babul (Acacia nilotica), arka (Calotropis gigantea), khadira (Acacia catechu), karañja (Pongamia pinnata), kakubha/arjuna (Terminalia arjuna), madhuka (Madhuca longifolia) and nyagrodha (Ficus bengalensis).
Use is based on the season, dosha, rasa and virya of the day. Experiencing taste is important, as it changes the composition of the saliva. Cinnamon can be used all throughout the year, as it is a sweet-astringent that is favourable for the spring and summer, and its pungent heating qualities are favourable for autumn and winter. More sour and salty tastes are recommended for spring. Neem is the best of the bitters and is excellent for the late winter and spring seasons as it cuts kapha and lowers pitta. Khadira is advised for the kapha cold season, as it is an astringent, which dries the oily nature of kapha and also decreases kapha and pitta as it is composed of the cooling and drying elements of earth and air. Madhuka is excellent for the hot windy season because its sweet and emollient properties lower the heat, decreasing the pitta and vāta effects of the season. Karañja is the best among pungent plants and is used in the rainy season, when both the heat of pitta and dampness of kapha are high.
For millenia, Ayurveda has advised people on how to care for their teeth if they do not have time or access to powders, with the use of fresh twigs being the most traditional. The instructions are very specific; after eating at night and early in the morning, use fresh twigs devoid of branches and knots, grown in good land; pick a new twig every day; find twigs as thick as a little finger and approximately twelve centimeters or five inches long; brush from bottom to top, as deposits tend to flow downward; rinse the mouth with clean water from a fresh river or water that was boiled the night before and kept in a copper vessel to cool overnight.
Modern toothpastes have the following components: abrasives, fluoride, humectant, thickening binder, flavoring, preservatives and foaming detergent. Mild abrasives serve to remove debris in a majority of tooth powders. Some also remove residual surface stains. Today’s toothpastes use calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, calcium phosphate dihydrate, chalk, alumina, dehydrated silica gels, hydrated aluminum oxides, phosphate salts and silicates. Ayurveda uses a coarse ground spice, such as cinnamon or clove, and/or micro-abrasion of natural bark or sea salt appropriate to the season.
Fluoride is used with the claim that it strengthens tooth enamel and re-mineralizes tooth decay. All toothpastes approved by the American Dental Association (ADA) do contain fluoride. The fluoride debate rages in waves, since the American public ignores evidence available at the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and websites that promote transparency. One of them cites a JAMA article, from 18 September 1943, which states that fluorides are general protoplasmic poisons. They inhibit enzyme systems, and water containing 1 ppm or more fluoride is undesirable. This was the AMA's stand on fluoridation until the US Public Health Service (PHS) endorsed nationwide fluoridation of the water, shortly after a lawyer of one of the largest producers of hazardous fluoride waste was appointed as the head of the US PHS in 1947. Many claim that the results of studies done under his leadership are skewed and were conducted without informed consent.
Few toothpastes are available today containing no sweetener, fluoride or SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate). The chemicals used to fluoridate 90% of public drinking water are industrial-grade hazardous wastes captured in the air pollution control scrubber systems of the phosphate fertilizer industry, called silico-fluorides. Ayurveda never saw a benefit in diverting chemical wastes into people’s mouth cleaners and instead chose to use spices and herbs.
The third component of modern toothpastes is some type of humectant to prevent water loss, such as glycerol, propylene glycol or sorbitol. The fourth component is a thickening agent or binder to stabilize the toothpaste. These include mineral colloids, natural gums, seaweed colloids and synthetic cellulose. Ayurveda used twigs and powders. Tooth powders do not require water, thickener or binder and last for decades, much past the government-issued expiry stamp date, and fresh sticks do not require stabilization or artificial humectants.
The fifth component is a flavoring agent. Saccharin and similar non-natural sugar sweeteners provide taste. Dentists choose to quietly ignore the contradiction between this and their simultaneous campaign to stop eating sweets and sugary candies that cause cavities. On paper, flavoring agents must not promote tooth decay. Ayurveda recommends the benefits of bitters and astringents in mouth cleaning as these chemicals generally are naturally antibacterial and antifungal, and dry the mouth and reduce kapha. Experiencing all six tastes in the day also properly stimulates all components of the salivary glands. Coloring and preservatives are added to preserve shelf life.
The last component of modern toothpastes is detergent to create foaming action and include sodium lauryl sulfate, also known as sodium dodecyl sulfate, or sodium N-lauryl sarcosinate. These chemicals have been banned in many countries, as a result of incriminating evidence and safety data but they are popular due to the public misperception that foam means soapy clean. Focus groups show that people do not think they are getting effect of the cleanser unless it has foam.
Some old-style toothpaste companies in the West continue to promote powders of salts and pure baking soda, used widely before industrialization. In India, Ayurvedic spices are commonly marketed as the cornerstone for medicinal dental preventive care, adding ‘modern’ components to compete with mainstream toothpastes. While tooth powder remains available in most Indian groceries, the convenience, charm and advertising placement of toothpaste has won the mainstream’s attention. Only when people suffer dental maladies do they become conscious of the potential choices we could be making around dental aids.
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Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya is a Fulbright Specialist 2018‐2023 in Public Health. She serves as Clinical Asst Professor of Family Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, NY. Her bestselling book Everyday Ayurveda is published by Penguin Random House. To order an autographed copy, write to bhaswati@post.harvard.edu .