Buddha's advice on Brushing Teeth

[danieLion]

What is shown here is very similar to what Ajahn Sumedho showed me when I briefly stayed at Wat Ba Pong in the mid 70's:

A chewstick, called a suwak, was probably the earliest toothbrush.

The chewstick for cleaning teeth was apparently borrowed from the Chinese and Babylonians. It is first mentioned as a common method of cleaning the teeth by the Romans. It consists of a stick a little smaller in diameter.than a pencil and about 6 inches long. It is made from any one of a number of fibrous woods. One end is chewed to separate the fibers and then the teeth are scrubbed one at a time. This method is still used in many parts of Africa and many Islamic countries.

http://drjuggles.com/history-of-dentistry.php

And here it is for sale:

http://izismile.com/2011/06/13/a_unique ... _pics.html

miswaks are available on Amazon.

Kull.

[Cittasanto]

I am wondering if there are any way to make that in the British Isles?

[piano piano]

It is available from Germany at this source
http://www.zahnbewusstsein.de/english/s ... uerste.htm

I am using the SOLO brush since some time with good result. In that practice you brush only the upper part of a tooth a few times to left and right. What also must be used though are interdental brushes, for most bacteria live there. I am planning to change to the Swak brushes when I am back in Europe later next year.

These are some of the ingredients in Miswak

Fluoride hardens the enamel
Silicate for gentle cleaning
Vitamin C preservative
Tannins astringent
Saponins cleansing agent
Flavonoids antibacterial
Potassium, Calcium remineralization

source see link above

[piotr]

Hi Cooran,

I'm just dipping into Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of the Anguttara Nikaya - The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha - and am interested to see that there was no aspect of ordinary life that could not benefit from advice from the Blessed One.

Here is his advice on good mouth hygiene

Somewhere among Fives there is a sutta about benefits of walking and a sutta about benefits of eating porridge. There are probably more suttas on similar topics but that's what I can recall right now.

[mynameisadahn]

This is interesting. Just for everyone's information, I wanted to mention that this tooth brushing issue was also addressed a great deal in Islam. (I am not Muslim, this is just my understanding). As some may know, Muslims pray multiple times per day, and I believe the use of the "miswak" stick is suggested after each prayer. It was also encouraged during Rammadan, I believe.

Just a comparative religions point, I suppose.

[cooran]

piotr said: Somewhere among Fives there is a sutta about benefits of walking and a sutta about benefits of eating porridge. There are probably more suttas on similar topics but that's what I can recall right now.

Thanks Piotr! I'll keep an eye out for them.

with metta
Chris