Tango with Dant and Kesh Kanti

As the popular advertisement goes, these days, if you want to meet any of those sizzling Bollywood beauties, all you need to do is to have toothache. She will simply sneak in to your room or appear out of nowhere like an elf to ask you –  Do you have salt in your toothpaste(Kya aapke toothpaste me Namak hain) and hand you over a tube of the latest toothpaste with Salt, Neem, Charcoal and what not.

Colgate Palmolive opened its shop in India way back in 1937 and taught us Indians how dirty and disarray was our oral health without its products. As usual, a country reeling under colonial rule and its hangover post 1947, modern toothpastes gained instant popularity amongst the western educated neo elites. Our ancestors did elaborate research on dental health thousands of years ago at the time when the entire western population was anything but civilized.  The Egyptians used herbal twigs around 5000BC and the inquisitive Chinese produced the first toothbrush around 1500 Century. After 200 years of British rule, it was no wonder that Indians grew slavish attitude and presumed anything from the west to be superior and refined . Even the Americans underwent similar social phase post 1776.   

Is it not weird on the part of the MNCs like Colgates & Levers doing volte-face and  ask  us - Kya aapke toothpaste me Charcoal hain after ridiculing  us for decades  for using traditional Neem, Charcoal or  Salt !

My own Grandmother (Father’s Mother) never used modern toothpaste. All she used was twigs of Neem or other herbs. Every day she would gulp two cloves of raw garlic which kept her heart pumping without any hitch. Before she died at the age of 90 plus, she had still a pair of shining teeth with all 32 intact, excellent hearing and eyesight. Unlike us, she didn’t consume Pepsis and Colas in her lifetime and firmly believed there was someone up there in the heaven to take care of all.

Once, the hallmark of the Yoga centers at different places was the nameplates with photographs of boys and girls doing Yoga in complex posture as if more weird the posture looked, higher was the Center's efficacy. Those photographs were enough for common people like me to keep safe distance from yoga.  It was Baba Ramdev, who used the electronic media to awaken Indians  from deep slumber and popularize Yoga - one of the finest gifts  of ancient India to mankind. He may have been the cynosure of media attention for issues extending from east to west, but it was Baba who taught the nation that simple Anulom Vilom, Bhamree and Sabasana can do wonders to the human body.

A few days back, I was suffering from sensitive tooth syndrome. My dentist informed that old habit of reading newspaper with the toothbrush was the reason for shearing the enamel of few of my wisdom teeth. I am a compulsive net surfer and zeroed on a chemical named Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) ,  used widely in the modern toothpastes and other body care products from soap to Shampoos. Some of the side effects of this chemical are

·         Irritation of the skin and eyes

·         Organ toxicity

·         Developmental/reproductive toxicity

·         Neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, ecotoxicology, and biochemical or cellular changes

·         Possible mutations and cancer

I don’t know whether SLS impact on health is a rumor or real. But infertility has been almost an epidemic with the urban population. After having two sons, though I am least bothered about this scourge,  I have bought today two products manufactured by the Patanjali Trust where Baba Ramdev is the driving force - a tube of Dant Kanti and a bottle of Kesh Kanti to replace my Colgate toothpaste and a myriad of Shampoos off from the shelf. First, the price of Patanjali Product is almost one third less than the ones from Colgate and HLL and second, the smell is simply great and refreshing. Even though, I am using Colgate since childhood, I am having nagging problems with my tooth and all the shampoos failed to prevent me from going bald.

So, this time will do Tango with Dant and Kesh Kanti at the cost of Colgate, Pepsodent, L'real and others. Will keep you posted about the outcome of this new alliance.

You can contact Kamaljit at kamaljitmedhi1975@gmail.com