Abstract
ABSTRACT. Traditional toothbrushes are used by the vast majority of people who cannot afford to buy the commercial toothbrush and toothpaste. The traditional toothbrushes are generally obtained from any slim woody part of a toothbrush tree. The main purpose of this study was to determine selected metals (Ca, Fe, Mg, Al, Cu, Cr, Ni, Zn, Mn, Pb, and Cd) in traditional toothbrushes obtained from three plants including Ligustrum vulgare L., Phoenix reclinata and Olea africana, which are extensively used in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by using microwave plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (MP-AES) after wet digestion. Recoveries of the metals in spiked samples varied from 90.4–107%. The overall mean concentrations determined (mg/kg, dry weight) were in the ranges of Ca (4267–36514) > Fe (131–318) > Al (81.6 –224) > Mg (45.6–122) > Zn (27.2–175) > Mn (20.1–29) > Cu (6.6–20.3) > Cr (6.7–8.9) > Ni (2.6–7.9). Analysis of variance at 95% indicated significant differences in the metals’ contents of three toothbrushes. The results indicated that the selected traditional toothbrushes are good sources of essential metals and free from Pb and Cd. Therefore, the investigated Ethiopian traditional toothbrushes are found to be safe for human use.
 
 KEY WORDS: Metal contents, Traditional toothbrushes, Wild privet (Ligustrum vulgare), Wild date palm (Phoenix reclinata), African wild olive (Olea africana), Ethiopia
 
 Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2021, 35(2), 257-272.
 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v35i2.4
Highlights
Oral health is part of total health and essential to the quality of life
The results showed that the L. vulgare samples collected from Kotebe site have higher amounts of Zn, Cr, Cu, Ni, Mg, Al, Ca, and Fe compared to the concentrations of those metals in L. vulgare samples from other sample sites
Linear regression correlations tests were performed to investigate the correlations between metal concentrations in the L. vulgare, P. reclinata and O. africana samples
Summary
Oral health is part of total health and essential to the quality of life. The World Health Organization puts oral diseases among the top five causes of burden in ‘lost healthy years’ worldwide [1]. The major cause of such oral diseases is due to dental caries which are mainly a result of poor hygiene. The traditional toothbrushes are important for the oral and dental hygiene of the users and may be useful in decreasing dental caries [3]. Long twig sections of 50 or 100 cm are cut and transported to the market before being cut to retail sizes The thickness of these toothbrushes is dependent on the type of tree and the part of branch harvested while the length is more dependent on the retailer [4]. The World Health Organization has encouraged the use of chewing sticks (traditional toothbrushes) as an alternative source of oral hygiene in poor countries where many people cannot afford commercial dental products
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