"Oral" Tradition - Teeth Health & Afro-Herbal Practices

We are now 2 weeks out from Halloween, but we all know that isn’t the end of sweets season. If anything, we’re just getting started! From sweet potato casseroles to holiday festive drinks and peppermint sticks, much of the US and the world is swinging into the heightened sugar part of the year. And all that got me thinking, how have we (Black folks) – and how can we (modern peoples) care for our teeth? So, I did some digging.

Brush Your Teeth, Twice A Day!

Some aspects of historic/traditional oral care came by way of preventative measures. Chew sticks are essentially toothbrushes made of the frayed twigs of various trees (E.g. Licorice Root). The earliest evidence of chew sticks dates back to Northeast Africa (Babylonia and Egypt) between 3500-3000 BCE. That’s 5,500 years ago! Chew sticks often had a sharpened end for a toothpick as well, so flossing or similar mechanisms have been around at least that long as well. It’s worth noting that for us to find evidence of items from that long ago, that often implies that these items were in widespread use across their cultures for some time. Think of how difficult it would be for an object to be preserved if there was only a handful in existence at the time. Clearly, dentition has been a key aspect of human societies for many millennia.  

Plants as Dental Medicine

They say prevention is the best medicine. And medicine only works when you take it. So of course, Africans figured out very early how to use non-toxic plants in their food that support or perform dental hygienic functions. Many spices, plants, and processes common across time in Africa translated with our ancestors across the Middle Passage and reside deep in the fabric of African-American cuisine today. I’m going to list some below, but it is important to have a definition of Non-Toxic.

Non-toxic in African-borne herbal traditions refers to the assumption of non-toxicity for any plant used as food by humans and animals without adverse effects (2).

Common Foods & Dental Medicine Applications

• Clove – food and natural antiviral, antimicrobial, antiseptic, anti-fungal, circulation stimulating

  • In Western Medicine: clove oil contains Eugenol which is used in pulp dressing, cavity liners, and dry socket dressing.

  • Tradition: extracted essential oils for for tooth decay, oral ulceration

• Garlic (paste) – antibacterial, antiviral and fungal activity

  • Tradition: direct application to painful tooth to relieve pain (esp. due to gingivitis)

• Ricinodendron – native to tropical Africa; anti-oxidant, antibacterial stronger than most antibiotics

  • Tradition – boiled into a hot mouthwash for toothache

• Impomea batatas (Sweet Potato) – antimicrobial, Vitamin A, enamel formation

  • Tradition: chewed raw to support enamel formation, rinsed after

• Garcinia Kola – bark

  • Tradition: Roots and stems cut into short chew-sticks for cleaning teeth

Bring It To Today

In modern times, western medicine is inaccessible to most people in the world. If you are outside of dominant imperialist nation, access to medications is both inflated in price and access is inconsistent. If you are within one of these nations, specifically the US, you are reliant on our cockamamie health care system. A total pay-to-live system with plenty of accessibility barriers to many – if not most – Americans. These factors, along with thousands of years of practice in herbal interventions, have led to a blending of traditional and western medical interventions but many Black and Brown folks across the world. I know most Black folks will grab some hot water and salt for canker sores!

With this wave of reclaiming autonomy through traditional remedies, I watched Echinacea tea to manage a cold sweep the collective knowledge in the late 2000s – at least in my Black pocket of the East Coast. I believe in reclaiming chew sticks, especially for my stim-heavy folks. Not as a replacement for a toothbrush, but as a maintenance and support measure. Mixing a teaspoon of vinegar into some water can help relieve a sore throat (3). Always check in with a medical professional for exacerbated symptoms, but always check in with your own kitchen cabinet too.

Summing It Up:

You only get one set of (adult) teeth. Let's take care of them while we enjoy everything our cultures have to offer this holiday season. And we can start as easily as the seasonings we use. If you learned something, if you have any questions, please like, comment, share the article. If you want a deeper dive, let me know! (there are so many herbs and treatments I didn't get to) I'd love to make deep-dive series of topics our hood has an interest in.

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Sources:

(1) Teeth Cleaning Twig - Wikipedia (for summary of 'A Review on the Pharmagnostic Evaluation of Meswak, Salvadora Persica') - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeth-cleaning_twig

(2) Ashu Michael Agbor, and Sudeshni Naidoo. (2019). “PLANTS USED BY

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL HEALERS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ORAL DISEASES: A

REVIEW.” International Journal of Research - Granthaalayah, 7(8),

273-286. https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v7.i8.2019.670.

(3) Quandt, S. A., Sandberg, J. C., Grzywacz, J. G., Altizer, K. P., & Arcury, T. A. (2015). Home Remedy Use Among African American and White Older Adults. Journal of the National Medical Association, 107(2), 121–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0027-9684(15)30036-5