PEDIATRICS Vol. 47 No. 4 April 1971, pp. 789-790
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Pica? or Dental Hygiene

F. K. Nkrumah 1

1 Department of Child Health, University of Ghana Medical School, Box 4236 Accra, Ghana

I read with interest the article by H. H. Neumann which appeared in the September 1970 issue of Pediatrics (46:441). I wish, however, to correct what I think is a gross cultural misinterpretation. I cannot subscribe to his view that the use of "kweapea" (chewing stick) or for that matter "sawee" (chewing sponge) in West Africa has anything to do with pica or is an expression of an instinctual need for something to chew on.