Affiliations 

  • 1 Dental Faculty, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
J Nihon Univ Sch Dent, 1990 Sep;32(3):175-80.
PMID: 2230960

Abstract

Among 350 inhabitants of two villages, 31 (8.9%) cleaned their teeth using table salt and charcoal applied to their forefinger or a Melastoma brush. As a result, all had distinct forms of abrasion cavity on the labial surfaces of their teeth. All of the above three agents are highly abrasive and injurious to both the hard and soft oral tissues. This dying practice is only popular among a very small number of persons in the older age group, and should be discouraged.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.