Saberes populares sobre prevención y tratamiento de enfermedades bucales en la comunidad Warao del Delta del Orinoco

Abstract

The Warao community is the oldest indigenous population in Venezuela. Their health situation and their traditional medicine have been studied by many authors, but after a literature review, no study showing how Warao people treats and prevents oral diseases has been reported. Hence, it was decided to conduct a research to describe the cultural knowledge about prevention and treatment of oral diseases in the Warao community of Pedernales. It was a qualitative, descriptive, transactional, field and variable feature study. The technique for data collection were the unstructured interview, semi-structured, occasional unstructured participant observation and non-participant and extensive field notes, with a study group comprised of 30 Warao people. For the analysis, the data were categorized and the results were conceptualized. It was observed that the Warao perform oral hygiene with tooth brushing, teeth cleaning is performed with water, fingers and sugar cane. They do not apply any treatment for asymptomatic oral pathologies and they do not know about fungal oral diseases. They use tobacco plant and religious practices as well as different parts of the coconut palm, coffee, crushed garlic, salt, among others for pain treatment. For the treatment of oral ulcers they use the plant called ’toad herb’, Temiche plant, coconut, baking soda, honey and lemon. For cutaneous warts they use different medicinal plants and cosmological beliefs in reference to a fishbone. Gingival bleeding is treated with mouthfuls of salty water or just water. Tooth extraction is used when tooth mobility appears. Finally, for other oral lesions like oral-facial swelling and multiple petechiae on the soft palate they use medicinal plants and oil from moriche worm. It is concluded that the Warao people only use oral hygiene as a preventive method and that treatment is only administered when lesions are discomforting and present pain symptoms.