....
PS. Why you hate dogs? Dog is man's best friend. What is wrong with you?
BTW, I am not a Muslim and I'll never be one, but I will try Miswak sticks to see if it works.
Objective and logical thinking is considering issues without preconceived truth. Of course that means completely ignoring any issue a religious text claims is good or bad. This does not imply prejudice against claims in such ancient works. Rather it means no prejudice FOR OR AGAINST.
Semaforo errs in the following argument regarding science and medical practice...
theories accepted into orthodoxy are often disproved every so often... for example, the idea that margarine or vegetable based shortening is healthier than animal fats was part of orthodoxy, and has now fallen out of favor. Anyway, suffice to say that something being a doctrine in western medicine is far from it being an immutable and established fact.Shifts in opinion in science and medicine are part and parcel of moving the state of the art forward, and thus are diametrically opposed to religious nonsense such as immutable truthies. However, the Miswak stick is just a stick, no more or less than a primitive toothbrush.
As you can see from the following history, it's not even an Islamic invention. Rather the Islamic invention is incorporating the practice into religious cult rituals along with many other ways of regulating and controlling the minute aspects of daily life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ToothbrushBefore the invention of the toothbrush a variety of oral hygiene measures had been used.[2] This has been verified by excavations in which chew sticks, tree twigs, bird feathers, animal bones and porcupine quills were recovered.
The predecessor of the toothbrush is the chew stick. Chew sticks were twigs with frayed ends used to brush the teeth[3] while the other end was used as a toothpick.[4] The earliest chew sticks were discovered in Sumer Mesopotamia in 3500 BC,[4] an Egyptian tomb dating from 3000 BC,[3] and mentioned in Chinese records dating from 1600 BC. The Greeks and Romans used toothpicks to clean their teeth and toothpick like twigs have been excavated in Qin Dynasty tombs.[4] Chew sticks remain common in Africa[5] the rural Southern United States[3] and in the Islamic world the use of chewing stick Miswak is considered a pious action and has been prescribed to be used before every prayer five times a day.[6] Miswaks have been used by Muslims since 7th century. This reminds me of a great quote from a contemporary German philosopher (roughly translated) "Objectivity is a myth- it presumes an observed without an observer."
I haven't found any more logically convincing and rich tradition as the Islamic tradition, and it never ceases to amaze with new insight with continued study. There are many differences of opinion and these are actually very meritorious if contentious at times, and Islam has shown itself remarkably resilient to changing circumstances. I can say for myself that my understanding of the religion is constantly growing, and I frequently learn that I have been wrong about this or that issue.
The use of the miswak is indeed ancient, and again if I truly felt after many years of using both a modern plastic toothbrush and a siwak, that the toothbrush got my teeth cleaner, I would use it. I generally mistrust industrial medicine because there is simply too much incentive to maximize profits by the medical equivalent of planned obsolescence- ensuring repeat business.
The long track record of the siwak, in many cultures where there was no dental industry, indicates that it has staying power. Fluoride is not the only compound in the miswak. Just an excerpt from a summary of research on the siwak at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1013905212000181Chemical analysis of S. persica miswak has demonstrated the presence of β-sitosterol and m-anisic acid (Ezmirly et al., 1979; Ray et al., 1975); chlorides, salvadourea, and gypsum; organic compounds, such as pyrrolidine, pyrrole, and piperidine derivatives (Galletti et al., 1993); glycosides, such as salvadoside and salvadoraside (Kamel et al., 1992); and flavonoids, including kaempferol, quercetin, quercetin rutin, and a quercetin glucoside (Abdel-Wahab et al., 1990). The roots and bark of the S. persica tree are composed of 27% ash; a high ratio of alkaloids, such as salvadorine and trimethylamine; chlorides and fluorides; moderate concentrations of silica, sulfur, and vitamin C; and small quantities of tannins, saponins, flavonoids, and sterols (Akhtar and Ajmal, 1981; Al Lafi and Ababneh, 1995; Farooqi and Srivastava, 1968). High amounts of sodium chloride and potassium chloride were noted, along with other sulfur-containing organic substances (salvadourea and salvadorine) (Dorner, 1981).
S. persica miswak contains nearly 1.0 μg/g of total fluoride and was found to release significant amounts of calcium and phosphorus into water (Char et al., 1987). Repeated chewing of S. persica miswak was found to release fresh sap, which may have an anticariogenic effect (Almas and al-Lafi, 1995).However, another study noted that a negligible amount (0.07 μg/ml) of fluoride was released when S. persica miswak was soaked in water (Hattab, 1997). Farooqi and Srivastava(1968) isolated benzylisothiocyanate (BITC) from S. persica roots, and Ezmirly and El-Nasr (1981) demonstrated that BITC is an end-product derived from the enzymatic hydrolysis of the glucosinolate present in the plant. BITC is a chemopreventive agent that is thought to prevent cariogenic and other genotoxic compounds from reaching or reacting with target sites on the treated tissue (Al-Dosari et al., 1992; Benson and Barretto, 1985; Benson et al., 1980; Wattenberg, 1977). At a concentration of 133.3 μg/ml, BITC was found to have virucidal activity against Herpes simplex virus 1 (al-Bagieh, 1992). In addition, BITC has exhibited broad-spectrum bactericidal activity (Pulverer, 1969) and was found to inhibit the growth and acid production of Streptococcus mutans (Al-Bagieh and Weinberg, 1988).
Other components of S. persica also have beneficial effects on oral health. The sulfur content in the ash of S. persica roots was found to be as high as 4.73% (Galletti et al., 1993). Sulfur has a bactericidal effect (Abo Al-Samh, 1995) and vitamin C was found to help in tissue healing and repair (Almas, 1993). Silica acts as an abrasive and was found to help in removing stains from tooth surfaces (Al Lafi and Ababneh, 1995; Khoory, 1983). The astringent effect of tannins may help to reduce clinically detectable gingivitis. Tannins were found to inhibit the action of glucosyltransferase, thereby reducing plaque and gingivitis (Gazi et al., 1992). Resins may form a layer on enamel that protects against dental caries (Al Lafi and Ababneh, 1995). Salvadorine, an alkaloid present in S. persica miswak, may exert a bactericidal effect and stimulate the gingiva (Almas, 1993). The mildly bitter taste of the essential oils in S. persica miswak stimulates the flow of saliva, which acts as a buffering agent. High concentrations of chloride inhibit the formation of calculus (Akhtar and Ajmal, 1981) and aid in removing stains from tooth surfaces (Almas, 1993). Saturation of calcium in saliva due to the use of chewing sticks was found to promote enamel remineralization (Gazi et al., 1992).