Black coal and white teeth

In the past, people used to clean their teeth preferably using charcoal. But the practice ended with the arrival of toothpaste and toothbrush.

I recall how we struggled to make charcoal powder for brushing teeth during my school days.

Every Sunday, a fistful of charcoal was collected from the kitchen after cooking breakfast and allowed to cool.

Then coal lumps were finely powdered in a grinding stone using a pestle-like object or on a flat stone surface.

A pinch of salt was added to it before it was stored in a small container for ready use.

Once, while pounding the coal, I got my finger crushed yet I kept silent for fear of facing the wrath of my parents.

Unlike now, children were not pampered in those days.

Endless supply

There was no dearth of charcoal as cooking in every household was done with firewood and cow dung cakes.

For some reason, if charcoal powder runs out, raw lump charcoal was used by making a paste after wetting it with water. Besides, ash from burnt cow dung cake, salt, limestone powder and even clay brick powder were used in emergency situations.

Neem tree twigs were another preferred choice for some for cleaning teeth.

When coal was used as tooth powder, tongue becomes black. But the same black coal was used by people to make their teeth sparkling white and to prevent tooth decay.

So the simple charcoal lumps took care of dental hygiene of mankind for thousands of years. It is slowly fading away, unknown, unsung and unappreciated.

How life was simple and practices were environment friendly in those days!

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