By Mass Halal Editorial Team

For generations of Muslims, a small twig has been part of daily worship and daily care. Now a Sudanese American dentist trained in Boston is trying to bring that twig into the modern bathroom. Dr. Omer Elrayah is the founder of RemoBrush, a bamboo toothbrush with bristles infused with miswak, and his story connects New England clinics, crowdfunding and a long-held Sunnah.

From Commuter Student to Clinical Instructor

Boston University's Graduate Medical Sciences program featured Elrayah in an alumni spotlight in March 2026. He earned a Master of Science in Oral Health Sciences from BU in 2018, then went on to Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. He told BU he grew up in New Hampshire and wanted to stay close to family, so he commuted to class. He said he studied on the bus.

After graduating, Elrayah told BU, he worked at a community health center in Roxbury and in a private office in New Hampshire. His LinkedIn profile lists roles as a general dentist at The Dimock Center and at Manchester Advanced Dental. He also worked as a clinical instructor for third- and fourth-year dental students in Boston, teaching students from Harvard, Tufts and BU. He called meeting fellow program graduates in that role "a fulfilling full circle moment." In the same interview he mentioned working with a dentist in Virginia, where he said he has since moved.

The Twig Behind the Idea

Elrayah told BU that his patients, whether at the community health center or in private practice, kept facing the same problems: gum sensitivity, bad breath and cavities. "I'm from Sudan," he said, "and back home and throughout the Middle East and Asia, there are a lot of people who use this twig called Miswak."

He said he recommended miswak to patients, but many did not want to use a twig. "That's when a light bulb came out, and I said, 'Okay, why can't I just make it a little bit more modern?'" The company name, he explained, is simply his first name spelled backwards.

A Sunnah Rooted in Daily Life

Miswak, also called siwak, is a chewing stick usually cut from the Salvadora persica tree, often called the arak tree. For Muslims it carries meaning beyond hygiene. In a hadith recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said that if it were not a hardship for his community, he would have commanded them to use the siwak before every prayer. Another narration describes the siwak as purifying the mouth and pleasing to the Lord. Many Muslims use it before salah, after waking and while fasting. Researchers have also studied miswak's antibacterial properties, and Elrayah pointed to that research in his BU interview. RemoBrush's website describes its brand as "Rooted in Sunnah. Built for Today."

Built on Bamboo and Crowdfunding

According to the RemoBrush website, the brush has a biodegradable bamboo handle and plant-based bristles made from castor bean oil, with miswak extract infused into the fibers so they are water-activated. On LinkedIn, Elrayah describes the bristles as patent-pending and calls RemoBrush the world's first toothbrush with miswak-infused bristles. Mass Halal has not independently verified either claim. The company now also sells a children's brush, electric brush heads, a tongue cleaner and a miswak and neem toothpaste.

RemoBrush launched on Kickstarter in December 2024. According to Elrayah's LinkedIn profile, the campaign was fully funded in just four hours. In February 2025 he announced a campaign on LaunchGood, the Muslim crowdfunding platform. He later wrote that more than 300 backers around the world supported it there. In 2026 he announced on LinkedIn that he had become an official LaunchGood Ambassador.

A Mission Beyond the Bathroom Sink

Elrayah told BU that he is trying to bootstrap the company for now, even though some investors are interested. He said the business started to match what he was earning as a dentist, so he decided to give it more priority, while still working on his clinical skills. His goal, he said, is for RemoBrush to become "a sustainable oral care leader globally," to help replace plastic brushes and to fight "oral care disparities here and abroad in places like Sudan."

For Muslim families in Massachusetts, it is a familiar tradition in a new form, created by someone who trained in this region's dental schools and clinics.

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