
Umar Ahmed flashes pearly white enamel every time he smiles.
Expanding up in Somalia, Umar did not go to the dentist. He brushed his teeth with a miswak twig, a unwanted fat adhere about the length of a plastic toothbrush. The twigs improve on Salvadora persica trees indigenous to India, the Center East, and Africa that are frequently recognized as toothbrush trees.
When Umar moved to the United States at age 16, dentists complimented his excellent tooth.
“Whenever I go to the dentist, they say, ‘Hey, Umar, your gums are healthy and every little thing seems to be fine. What do you use to brush your tooth?’ And I say, ‘Only miswak,’ ” reported Umar, 41, who still utilizes miswak.
After Umar graduated from Metro Point out University with a degree in economics, he went to perform in corporate The united states, even however he was an entrepreneur at coronary heart.
Around the training course of functioning at United Health and fitness Group, Convey Scripts, and Wells Fargo, Umar talked to his colleagues about applying miswak sticks, and was shocked by how intrigued they were. He understood he experienced the seed for a future small business.
Umar also learned a ton about the harmful outcomes of plastic on the atmosphere. Most plastic toothbrushes just can’t be recycled because their factors really don’t crack down conveniently and some modest sections get stuck in equipment.
Points we use every solitary day ruin our ecosystem.
Umar Ahmed
Could one thing like biodegradable, pure miswak sticks address the challenge of an estimated billion plastic toothbrushes landing in U.S. landfills just about every calendar year, he puzzled?
“I believe it’s time to do something about that strategy,” Umar informed himself in 2016. “Things we use every solitary day spoil our natural environment. And this product I know about can develop into something additional natural like a bamboo toothbrush.”
Until finally DuPont introduced nylon in 1938, most of the entire world took care of their oral overall health with miswak sticks or twigs from other shrubs or trees. Only the rich could afford to pay for toothbrushes built from boar bristles and bone. Now, lots of persons close to the world–including immigrants to Minnesota–continue to use miswak twigs, which are conveniently accessible for sale at East African markets for $1 every single.
Recognizing that miswak might not enchantment to persons accustomed to plastic toothbrushes, Umar selected bamboo to make a prototype toothbrush that he hoped could be wholly compostable.

Turning twigs into a overall health corporation
Umar officially released Twiggy Fresh new in 2018, a line of eco-friendly oral health and fitness goods that originally provided miswak. The miswak goods have been sooner or later phased out in favor of bamboo toothbrushes.
The item lineup now focuses on bamboo toothbrushes designed to be composted every single three to 4 months, dental floss made from corn and silk, a stainless steel tongue scraper, and even a bamboo-based mostly electric toothbrush. (The foundation of the electrical toothbrush is not compostable.)
The major strategy is that we’re taking small techniques and starting to be a lot more mindful about what we use each and every solitary day.
Umar Ahmed
Umar realized bamboo–a sort of grass–was an environmentally audio choice because it grows quickly. Finding a content for the bristles was trickier, and the early Twiggy Fresh versions utilised nylon. Due to the fact then, he’s switched to nylon-like bristles created from castor oil beans, which are biodegradable .
“The most important thought is that we’re getting modest steps and getting to be extra mindful about what we use each and every one working day,” said Umar, noting study that suggests that most people today use 300 toothbrushes in a lifetime.
At first, Umar sold the toothbrushes in a shared skyway house in the vicinity of the IDS Middle in downtown Minneapolis. He has also hawked his items at trade shows and particularly enjoys telling kids about Twiggy Clean.
“One time at [Midtown] International Marketplace, a tiny girl about 8 or 9 years outdated came again to me following I’d demonstrated her the toothbrushes,” Umar stated. “She had been contemplating a lot more about it, and she mentioned, ‘Hey, if we lower a large amount of bamboo down, what will happen to the pandas?’ ”
Although the children’s model of Twiggy Fresh toothbrushes element pandas on the offers, Umar assured her that pandas do not try to eat the wide range of bamboo he uses.

‘We really don’t see a great deal of minority-owned companies represented on the cabinets.’
Article-pandemic, Umar won a short-term spot at the Shopping mall of America’s Group Commons, a retail space for businesses impacted by civil unrest next the 2020 murder of George Floyd. His stint there finished in 2021. Umar sells Twiggy Fresh new on the net, and is crowdfunding to employ the service of staff to help with income and marketing and advertising.
“I have the foundation,” mentioned Umar, who is at present functioning the Minnesota-centered enterprise from Dallas, Texas, whilst doing the job other section-time positions. “But to go from below to significant retail outlets is not straightforward.
“I just take my youngsters to Concentrate on,” he added, “and we don’t see a whole lot of minority-owned businesses represented on the cabinets. We deliver a large amount of dollars to the retail business, but there is an prospect gap that exists in the market. I’m not satisfied to just be a client I want to be part of persons generating prosperity.”
Some studies exhibit that miswak sticks may have oral health rewards, specifically in lessening plaque, due to the fact miswak consists of antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral qualities, in accordance to a 2015 evaluate in Saudi Professional medical Journal. But the American Dental Association only recommends brushes with bristles.
Sahan Journal requested Dr. Helen Kim what she endorses to clients. Not every person arriving in Minnesota has teeth as healthful as Umar’s, explained Kim, a health practitioner of dental surgical treatment and dental director of People’s Heart Clinics and Solutions, which serves a lot of African immigrants.
“I do see some damages from using [miswak], for the reason that it’s not heading in amongst the tooth properly, and I see a ton of stains on teeth,” she reported. “That can also be a fluoride concern,” she additional, due to the fact faucet drinking water in some places is not correctly supplemented with fluoride.
One more possible problem about applying twigs, she mentioned, is that micro organism can improve much more very easily on natural material. They’re also not quick to sanitize. Miswak twigs at Minneapolis’ Karmel Mall are bought in plastic packaging with instructions to rinse and retailer the sticks in the wrapper in a interesting, dry spot.
“I persuade my clients to have an electric toothbrush,” Kim said, adding that these implements are far more successful than manual brushes.
A bamboo brush like Twiggy Contemporary, and especially the line’s electrical selection, Kim explained, “is a totally nice” idea. “It normally takes everybody’s attempts to preserve the earth thoroughly clean and great for the next generation,” she stated. “But whatsoever toothbrush you have, if you do not use it nicely, it does not operate! Master the procedure on how to use it nicely, and brush at minimum twice a day.”
Kim brushes three occasions a working day.
Umar no extended works by using exclusively a miswak twig. He’s lucky, he reported, to opt for between miswak and various Twiggy Clean brushes every time he brushes. His three little ones? They’re intrigued by miswak, but use Twiggy Fresh new brushes.