35 Guests
Natural dental care
Wild plants for tooth care
Sea salt; finely grind some sea salt and rub into teeth with your finger.
Charcoal; collect some cooled charcoal from your spent camp fire and grind into a powder, rub into your teeth to remove recent plaque and freshen breath, add some dried ground sage, mint, white Mulberry or eucalyptus leaves or cinnamon bark to the charcoal grinds for added therapeutic benefits and flavour. Rub on the teeth with your finger and rinse away with water or an infusion of the plants just mentioned and detailed below.
Tree; Certain species of Eucalyptus - Myrtaceae family:
Manna Gum - Eucalyptus viminalis, E. Angustifolia, Myrtaceae family, manna from leaves, bark****
Lemon Scented Gum - E. maculata citriodora, Myrtaceae family, manna from leaves****Fresh leaves (powerful antiseptic, anti bacterial and astringent), chewed and spat out when spent, or dried & ground into a powder and added to ground charcoal (see charcoal above). Manna exudates, scarped from the leaves or stems rubbed over teeth before rinsing or infused to create a mouthwash to gargle and spit out when spent (powerful antiseptic, anti bacterial and astringent).
CAUTION: Over use of plants with powerful volatile essential oils: Eucalyptus can have a harmful effect on the body.
Found; Australia and Tasmania
Tree; White Mulberry - Morus alba – Moraceae family, leaves are odontalgic, with antibacterial, astringent properties beneficial in treating gums and teeth, Use either fresh, chewed and spat out when spent, or dried & ground into a powder.
Found; E. Asia - central and northern China.
Toothbrushes, chew sticks & toothpicks
Toothpicks and toothbrushes can be easily made from the twigs of some trees whose woods that are non toxic and contain antibacterial, antibiotic or other anti-microbial properties. Chew-sticks are the traditional ethnic toothbrush used for centuries around the world and still used by many people today. Break of a green twig and chew the end to separate and fray the fibrous strands to create 'bristles'. Rub the bristles over your teeth allowing the thinner strands to poke between your teeth and gums, taking care where the teeth meet the gums. Spit out any remaining plant material and rinse with water or an infusion of beneficial wild plants (see above).Scientific research proves that these ancient methods of chewing on 'medicinal sticks' results in much stronger, healthier teeth and gums than today's chemical toothpastes and plastic toothbrushes!
To make a simple toothpick, use a clean knife to sharpen the end of a very small thin twig.
Plants with anti-bacterial properties useful for making tooth picks
Tree; Acacia, young, fresh twigs.
Found;
Tree; Birch - Betula
Found
Plant; Manna Plant – Tamarix gallica – Tamaricaceae family, use as a chewstick, manna from plant is astringent and cleansing.
Found; Temperate Europe
Tree; Arak - Salvadora persica, used for centuries for chewsticks throughout Asia and Africa, known as miswak, mswaki, sothiou, Dakhaar
Found; Africa, Middle East,
***
Tree; Certain species of Eucalyptus:
Cider Gum - Eucalyptus gunnii, fresh stems used as chewsticks,
Grey Gum - Eucalyptus punctata, fresh stems used as chewsticks,
Found; Australia and Tasmania
CAUTION: Over use of plants with powerful volatile essential oils: Eucalyptus can have a harmful effect on the body.
Tree; Neem - Azadirachta indica, young peeled twigs for chew-sticks. Traditionally before composting the spent neem stick it is bent into an arc shape to scrape the tongue clean.
Found; Tropical Asia
Characteristics; A tall tree, growing up to approx.30 m. After 2 to 3 years old it flowers, they are white with a sweet smell like honey. The fruit are(approx.2 cm)and oval shaped when ripe, with a pale coloured seed inside (approx,1.5 cm).
Plant; Senna - Cassia vinnea, the roots
Found; Throughout the tropics and rare in temperate, sub tropical regions
Characteristics; Typically shrubs, from herbs to small trees. Leaves grow opposite each other. Flowers are usually yellow, occasionally white, with 5 petals grow alternately to each other up a flowering stem, fruit is a legume, with seeds growing in a pod.
Tree; Cedar of Lebanon - Cedrus libani - Pinaceae family, Young branches as chewsticks, bark, shredded and chewed for 20 mins until spent, then spat out. Needles as toothpicks or infused to make an antiseptic mouthwash to gargle and spit out.
Found; N. Africa to W. Asia - Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.
Tree; Ash - Fraxinus excelsior, young stems contain manna**** use as chewsitcks.
Found; Eurasia
Characteristics; A deciduous Tree growing to approx. 30 m (98ft)
Tree; Manna Tree - Alhagi mannifera - Leguminosae family, young flowering sprigs as chewsticks.( Active properties in the exudates = diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant and laxative**)
Found; North Africa - Turkey
***
Natural chewing gum
Natural chewing 'gums' have been use traditionally to clean teeth and keep teeth white and keep gums healthy and tight***
Tree; Peru Balsam - Myroxylan balsamum, the resin from the tree, chewed continuously by native Indians in South America.***
Found; Central and south America
Characteristics; Large evergreen trees growing up to approx 40 m. Leaves are 15 cm long with 5-13 leaflets. Flowers are white growing up a stem with yellow stamens, produced in racemes. Fruit is a pod approx 7–11 cm long and contains a single seed.
Tree; Certain species of the Pinaceae family:
Larch: Larix deciduas/ Larix europa - Pinaceae family, inner bark (antiseptic and balsamic******) shredded , gently rubbed over teeth and gums and chewed for 20 mins before spitting out. Authors own suggestion needs confirmation (The inner bark is well documented as being edible)
Found; Temperate to arctic regions of northern hemisphere
Western larch - Larix occidentalis - Pinaceae family, Tamarack, manna from the trunk9antiseptic), the inner bark and resin removed from beneath the bark chew as gum, rubbing gently around the teeth and gums to remove plaque and release antiseptic properties. Authors own suggestion needs confirmation (Native American Indians chewed on both on bark and resin*******)
Found; Western temperate regions of the Americas, Canada
Characteristics; A tall deciduous tree, growing approx 130 feet. The leaves are very soft needles, pale green, turning golden in the autumn.
Tree; Douglas Fir - Pseudotsuga menziesii - Pinaceae family, Resin (antiseptic) i from the trunk, the inner bark and resin removed from beneath the bark chew as gum, rubbing gently around the teeth and gums to remove plaque and release antiseptic properties. Authors own suggestion needs confirmation (Native American Indians chewed on both on bark and resin)
Found; Western N. America - Canada to California. Occasionally temperate Europe.
Chir pine - Pinus roxburghii - Pinaceae family, manna from the bark and stems, chew as a gum Authors own suggestion needs confirmation
Found; Himalayas
CAUTION: Over use of plants with powerful volatile essential oils: trees from the Pinaceae family can have a harmful effect on the body.
Toothache
Plant; Yarrow - , the fresh leaf applied direct to your aching tooth will help to relieve the pain.**
Found;
Tree; Certain species of Eucalyptus:
Manna Gum - Eucalyptus viminalis, E. Angustifolia,
Resin (powerful astringent) remove resin from tree, soften (with heat if necessary and cram into painful tooth cavities where gum has become infected) remove after 20 minutes. Author suggestion needs confirmation
Found; Australia and Tasmania
CAUTION: Over use of plants with powerful volatile essential oils: Eucalyptus can have a harmful effect on the body.
Tree; White Mulberry - Morus alba – Moraceae, leaves are odontalgic, with antibacterial, astringent properties beneficial in treating gums and teeth.
Found; E. Asia - central and northern China.
Plant; Willow - Salix, bark contains the mild pain reliver Salicin(See First-aid-natural pain relief fro further details
Abscesses
Tree; Weeping Willow – Salix babylonica – Salicaceae – family, leaves, a decoction of the leaves used for to treat abscesses
Found; Temperate regions throughout the world
Citations for this section
*S. Muhammad and M. T. Lawal
Department of Biological Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University P.M.B.2346, Sokoto-Nigeria.Department of Biology, Sokoto State Polytechnic, Sokoto-Nigeria.Scientific Research and Essays Vol. 5(14), pp. 1788-1795, 18 July, 2010 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/SRE
**Stuart. M. (Editor) The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism
*** S. Muhammad1 and M. T. Lawal
2Department of Biological Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University P.M.B.2346, Sokoto-Nigeria.Department of Biology, Sokoto State Polytechnic, Sokoto-Nigeria.Scientific Research and Essays Vol. 5(14), pp. 1788-1795, 18 July, 2010Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/SRE
**** Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants.
***** Cribb. A. B. and J. W. Wild Food in Australia.
*******Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany
********Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption.
********** PFAF database citations;Yeung. Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. Institute of Chinese Medicine, Los Angeles , Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publication, Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses.
