Health Tips -Which one is better; a finger , a twig or a tooth brush

Shri. Mallinath Hemadi ,B.sc (Agriculture),Consultant -Natural Farming

Analyst who are experts in oral health care have recently done lot of research and published their experiments where statistics says person in India averagely uses 190 gms/year of toothpaste where as in USA it is 375 gms/year/person. Although most of these analysis underestimates indians with respect to oral care, similar such studies says 95% of adults in India have gum problems which is a quite contradicting fact. Many kids living in rural india are habituated to usage of neem twigs for oral care and they have hardly used brushes during their childhood. Similar analysis and studies are used to create inferiority complex among Indians, later which influences on paste consumption and usage of brush among educated class.It is an irony that intellectuals fail to understand that mere consumption of paste will not result in improving dental health because most of the oral problems are reported in countries which have high consumption of paste and usage of brushes.Now we will explore the reasons and factors that influences the oral care industry, impacts of this industry on health of users and environment.

Oral health Industry - Impact on Environment and Health
First is with respect to contents used and health in tooth paste ,fluoride is one major ingredient of toothpaste for the betterment of oral health. But there is one class of experts who says fluoride causes skeletol flurosis which can be seen only at advanced stages, can destroy lining of stomach and intestine, destroy muscle energy. Now we need to dive deep to see if it is really necessary that we need to use toothpaste which contains harmful substance in it. In managing one , are we indeed destroying other parts of our body is a million dollar question that requires answers from each one of us.Toothpaste also contains nicotine which is a well known carcinogen, says one of the study of major toothpaste; it is observed that nicotine in one dental care product (one tooth paste) is equivalent to nine cigarettes. So all non - smokers should think whether to use it or not. More importantly ,all consumers of toothpaste should understand dental problem is serious or cancer is serious.There is one study which quotes that the plastic we use and throw is reaching sea and once this sea water is used to extract salt from it, plastic is entering the salt. So salt we consume is containing plastic. The brush we use creates small plastics as brush is made of plastic material, and these small plastics material is called micro beads, these micro beads are in such a small size that our waste water treatments plants cannot handle it. Now with a long process the plastic is reaching our plate and to stomach, imagine you brushing teeth with plastic and say plastic is not good for health. So it is very high time to think of using brush along with paste also.
Modern studies reveal dental health in India is very poor because we won’t use modern paste and brush, but at the same time when are checking the reality facts with our close and aged family members we could feel dental health in earlier days was very good, they had strong tooth till their death etc, we need to rethink and evaluate these modern day studies based on available information from our family and elders on which must be the right one and decide .



Alternatives to Chemical and Plastic-Impact on Health and Environment

So with all this reasons above we should shift from present day chemical paste and plastic brush to natural ones?. Does this meant that we shift to other brands or entire methodology itself. So alternative to brush is our fingers and paste will be cow based tooth powder or twigs of many plants are used for the same like pongamia pinnata, neem , Guava, Tamarind etc.

Save Environment -Practice at Home
One shift from chemical tooth paste and brush will result in huge improvement in overall health apart from oral health as well as saving estimated 2500 tonnes of plastic waste daily mainly from paste ,brush and materials used to pack them .This will also save our countries exchequer in a larger way in coming days to come as if one goes by the popular saying "grain by grain makes heap of grains".
We will be saving the already endangered forest which otherwise will be cut to make packaging material, in India it is estimated to be 300000 metric tonnes of paper used by single company (major one) for packaging purpose. 12-24 trees are required to produce 1 ton of paper, now imagine number of trees required to produce 300000 ton of paper which is for only one major player of oral care industry Imagine how much CO2 would this forest consume and release oxygen thereby help in controlling global warming or temperature increase. In the process of making this paper and packing material lot of water is polluted, air is polluted which also need to be accounted for the making of tooth brush and paste .Imagine the microbes in the bathroom where our brush is kept, brush washed also contains at least to some extent sugar content of paste we used. And this sweet material on brush becomes very good place for microbes to grow. The microbes in the bathroom start growing on brush. And this brush again we use and say we are taking care of oral health. Instead if we use our thumb for brushing we can reap the benefit of acupuncture also, along with clean and greener brushing material the thumb.Currently toothpaste industry is valued to be 750 crores and and it is estimated that 700 million toothbrushes are sold every year (this valued at Rs 700 crores). Imagine all this dumped into clean environment and later we our self volunteer for clean India -Swachh Bharat. 

Imagine the other industries which are directly and indirectly associated with oral care like transportation, electricity, advertisement, pharma and chemical industries which are all leading to environmental pollution may it be air, water and even soil.

Cow based Tooth Powder - Strong Alternate to Modern Chemical and Plastic Materials
There are many small gaushalas and farmers producing this tooth powder and selling and even you can make it for yourself. If you start buying from nearest manufacturers instead of big brands in this also, you can help yourself for better health and help for cleaner and greener environment. And your off-springs (children) can lead happy life in clean environment.
Imagine these money of 1450 crores (paste + brush industry value) spent on cow based tooth powder and plant based material for brush like twigs without any chemicals, the number of cows can be fed with this money itself will be almost 12 lakhs at the rate of Rs 12000 per annum, which is 0.6-1 % of Indian cow population. Meanwhile these many cows will help atleast 1.2 lakhs farmers or landless labourers to get their job, along with quality milk for them and you also, which otherwise today we are getting adulterated milk. This again helps in reducing chemical fertilizers, pesticides which also have a great contribution for water pollution. So we will be out of vicious cycle.
Hence a small decision by you today will lead to a great practical solution for many of present day human problems.

Now Decide -Be the One You Wanted to Be
We may face issues and lot of trouble in shifting to the newer alternative especially some may feel guilty or shameful in front of friends,family and colleagues for using such materials .We are confident this too is a passing phase .It is just a matter of time before others join us in this cause .
Compared to modern paste , this powder makes your bathroom little dirty and you may need to clean more regularly but it will be worth taking this risk compared to the harmful effects of paste and brush. Initially getting tooth powder or it's materials also may also be difficult but once you start demanding it, at later stage you start getting it at your door steps.So with above understanding of all pros and cons of paste and brush it is high time we decide to shift to natural gau based tooth powder and wish you all take a positive decision for your health and clean environment for your kids.

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