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According to An-Nawawi
(1),
tooth brushing is the verb and the tool in which we use for
this purpose is called tooth brush, or tooth stick"miswaak".
What Prophet Mohammad told us
about tooth brushing:
 On
the authority of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with
him, reported: the Messenger of Allah( may peace be upon
him) said:
were it not that I might over-burden my
people I would have ordered them to use siwak (tooth-stick)
at every time of the prayer, and in another transmit, in
every ablution. Narrated by the
two Imams of hadith.
On the authority of Abdullah ibn
Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of
Allah said: " keep on doing tooth
brushing because it cleans the mouth and pleasures Allah"
narrated by al-Byhaki and al-Bukhari. And according
to Aisha said tooth brushing cleans the mouth and pleasures
Allah" narrated by ibn Majah from abi umamah, may Allah be
pleased with them.
Islamic jurisprudence on
tooth brushing:
An- Nawawi said it is sunnah and
not compulsory in any condition through the consensus of the
scholars.
Ibn al- Kayyim said: tooth
brushing is recommended act for both fasting and non fasting
person in any time because it is not specified in hadiths,
also it is needed for a person whose fasting in the sake of
Allahs pleasure and His pleasure is demanding in fasting
than any other time, so purification is the best deed for a
fasting person.(2)
Tooth brushing and its effect
on the health:
The mouth is the entry for food
and drinks and it is connected to the outer world, therefore
it is exposed more to the germs which we call orogerminal
group like staphylococci, streptococci, pneumococcus,
lactobacillus, bacilli and spirochaeta. These germs are
inactive in the healthy person, but it could be contagious
and harmful if the food remaining were in the mouth and
between the teeth until it ferments by the germs leading to
bad smell, tooth decay or salts accretion around the teeth
which could result in (dental calculus) or gingivitis and
pyorrhea. Furthermore, these germs could move to far areas
in the body making various infections like, gastritis,
sinusitis or tracheitis and it may cause abscess in
different places in the body(3),
moreover it may lead to pyotoxinemia or blood full of germs
causing pyrectic diseases. It is known that the most
important thing to take care of in the mouth is the teeth,
thus they have important functions and their diseases have a
big impact on the public health. Therefore, tooth brushing"
siwaak" can prevent these diseases, in fact the saliva
has condensed salts and if they were in a surface that is
far from the natural cleaning motions like the
tongue movement or unnatural like tooth brushing,
these salts will deposit especially in the gum forming
dental plaque. Then the germs react with the food remaining,
especially sugars that exist in the mouth, forming organic
acids that dissolve the enamel then the dentine. The tooth
decay becomes bigger when the carelessness of the mouth
cleaning continues.
Tooth stick:
In sunnah it is mentioned that
the prophet Mohammad used a tooth stick made of" al-araak"
and the araak tree is from the araakic family which is
always green. It grows in the hot areas in Aseer and Jeezan
in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Goor Al-Saad (near
Jerusalem), Yemen, South Africa and India. Fruits grow on
this tree; tasty and eatable, when it becomes ripe the tooth
stick is taken from its root and small bushes.
The miracle of sunnah in tooth brushing "siwaak":
An article written in a German
magazine (No.4, 1961)(4)
for the scientist Rodat, the chief of the germs institute in
Rostok University" I read about the tooth stick that the
Arab use as a tooth brush in a book written by a traveler
who visited their country; he mentioned it in a sarcasm way,
thinking that this action indicates retardation in these
people who clean their teeth with a piece of wood in the 20th
century, just then I thought maybe there is a scientific
secret behind this wooden piece ! The chance came when a
colleague in Sudan brought me a number of tooth sticks and I
started my researches on them immediately, I crushed it,
mixed it with water and put it on culture I realized it had
the same effect as pencillin. If people used tooth brushes
from hundred years, Muslims have used tooth sticks for more
than 14 century.
In observing chemosynthesis for
the araak tooth stick we will understand the reason behind
the prophet choice which came from Allah, the laboratory
researches confirm that the tooth stick, taken from
al-araak, contains bog amounts of gall and it is an
antiseptic substance which cleans and stops the ulemorrhagia
and strengthen it, also the existence of Sinnigrin, a
substance that has a very strong smell and taste which helps
getting rid of germs
(5).
The microscopy on the tooth
stick results that there are silica crystals and acidosis
calx which is useful in getting rid of stains and dental
calculus. In addition, Dr.Tariq al-Korey
(6)
says that there is chloride with silica; these are
substances that provide extra whitening, also a gummatous
substance which covers the enamel and protects the teeth
against cariosity.It is shown that vitamin C and amine trait
the damages on the gum, and sulfuric substance that fights
cariosity.
Reference : Islamic medicine p4 by Dr.Mohammad
Nezar al Dagr
The sources:
(1) Imam an- Nawawi"Al mjmw shreh al thzeeb"
(2) Imam ibin Kayyam al Jawsiya".Zad al maad mn hdee
keraleibad"
(3) Dr. Abdu al R'a zag Kelani" Medical facts in Islam"
(4) Dr.Gayath al Ahmad "The prophet medicine in modern
science"
(5) Dr. abu Hthaifa Ibrahim Mohammad" The importance of
tooth
brushing and how it is used" Tanta
(6) Dr.Tariq al- Korey, an article about tooth brushing in
Clinical
Preventive Dentistry Magazine. |
