Dental Herbs at A Glance

You might know that tooth brushing and dental flossing are very important for a good oral hygiene, which you should properly perform more regularly than you do. Fortunately, there are myriad home remedies for enhancing your overall dental health.

How to brush your teeth naturally?

A tooth cleaning twig or a twig toothbrush is a natural tool made from a plant or tree having antimicrobial properties. In fact, there is a lot of plant species can be used for the formation of a tooth twig, like; Bay, eucalyptus, oak, fir, juniper, salvadora persica, gum tree, tea-tree, neem, gouania lupuloides, cinnamon, olive, and walnut. Mostly, trees having better roots form the best twigs. According to experts, twigs are rich in volatile oils which cause the stimulation of blood circulation, plus, they also contain tannins (powerful astringent), and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Compared to ordinary OTC toothbrushes, natural or bush toothbrushes have the following benefits:

1. Besides having the same protective effect as synthetic tooth brushes; they are much more economic (↓16% in cost), and more green in their life cycle (no harmful biological effect)

2. They are home made from your owned trees.

3. Easily maintained and cleaned

4. No toothpaste is required

5. Treat halitosis or bad breath, like cinnamon

Be careful that extensive and violent scrubbing with twigs can harm your gingiva extremely.

Also, classic toothpaste can be substituted with herbal medicine; keeping in mind that natural tooth cleaning powders has warming effect (enhances blood circulation in gingiva), astringent effect (stops bleeding and tightens gingival tissues), and detoxifying effect (cleans food debris and removes plaque)

The most famous natural tooth cleaning powders are:

• A combination of potassium alum (astringent) and powdered salt

• Prickly ash bark

• Tea tree oil (very diluted solution)

• Ash of the calyx of the eggplant

Natural mouth rinses made of herbs are useful too, for example, a daily mouth wash with chaparral is proved to prevent dental decay significantly. Furthermore, massaging the gums with a preparation of 5 parts alum powder, 2 parts rock salt powder, 3 parts black pepper powder, and 1 part turmeric root powder can cure all gingival diseases.

How can herbs treat periodontal diseases?

Most periodontal diseases are due to overgrowth of bacteria in oral cavity. Usually, accumulation of plaque and tartar worsens the conditions. Therefore, herbs which have anti-bacterial powers, as well as potent healing ability of damaged connective tissue, can treat PD effectively, like amla, turmeric, bilberry fruit and hawthorn berry. Also, mouth rinses made of echinacea, eucalyptus, and myrrh are used.

Mouth sores or canker sores are caused due to many factors, including deficiency of some important nutritional elements (e.g. iron, B12, and folic acid), auto-immune factors, common cold, chemotherapy, constipation …..Etc.

Gotu kola (Centella asiatica) is the most effective herbal treatment for mouth sores; the recommended dose is drinking a tea of 1 ounce of gotu kola powder.

Another potent home remedy for treating mouth sores is to put a pinch of licorice root (anti-inflammatory and enhances tissue healing) directly on the sore. According to mouth sores caused by chemotherapy; chamomile mouthwash is the best treatment.