The Peelu Tree has been used for centuries by people in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to clean their teeth. A frayed branch of the tree is traditionally used. Now the Peelu USA company has incorporated Peelu fibers into a range of dental products, including toothpaste, toothpowder and a dental gum. Peelu is said to be less abrasive than regular toothpaste. I’ve been using the Peelu dental powder for a while now, and it seems to work quite well. I have to say that the taste of Peelu is not enticing: it has a dry barky taste. But I am impressed by its cleaning action.
Researchers have discovered a number of naturally occurring qualities in the Peelu tree, including: (1) a natural chlorine which whitens and removes tartar and stains, (2) tannic acid and Vitamin C, making it beneficial for healthy gums, (3) sulfur, which helps keep the mouth clean.
The botanical name of Peelu is Salvadora Persica: it is also regionally called Siwak, Miswak and Neem. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on this tree.
It’s available from Whole Foods and Amazon
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Please check the last paragraph of this post:
Neem [Azadirachta indica] is not the same as Salvadora Persica.
The information about “Neem” was taken from the Peelu company’s web site. I think it is a just a regional name, hence it’s not referring to the actual Neem tree:
http://www.peelu.com/PeeluAboutUs.html