“As Egyptians’ oral health went into a steep decline, so did their civilization.”
– quoted from The Excruciating History of Dentistry by James Wynbrandt –
“I am Khnum, . . . master of creation. I have created myself, . . . For I am the master who makes, . . . who first came forth, . . . fashioner of everybody, guide of each man to his hour. ”
– quoted from the hieroglyphics of the Famine Stela –
“Khnum Contemplating his Chewing Gum”
painted on Egyptian papyrus with a mixture of pulverized Egyptian onyx, gelatin, gum arabic, and beeswax
Khnum
– Mary Jo Magar –
I first created myself, then came earth
As clay to give myself form and then form
Alike a world of others to conform
To being different but same in worth.
Yes, I am the first sculptor to give birth
To birth. I molded the pharaohs to norm,
Fired them with life as blood to keep them warm,
Painted their clay as flesh to feel life’s mirth.
But the soul of the clay is its content,
Its minerals, its match with teeth and bones,
Which must be kept strong, thus to reinvent;
So I made a gum of clay that postpones
The fall of bones, teeth, and empires misspent.
Chew now, not in an afterlife’s unknowns!
For several years, I hand made and sold my own biodegradable chewing gum (which does not degrade sidewalks) using montmorillonite clay, sunflower sap (Native American tribes used this as a gum base), xylitol, and essential oils for flavoring. I named the gum Khnum after the Egyptian god of creation who molded human beings from clay on his potter’s wheel.
Montmorillonite clay is very beneficial for oral health and health in general when taken internally as a mineral supplement: it effectively remineralizes bones and teeth.