Toxic toothpaste

I've just been reading about all the nasties they put in toothpaste. Fouride, saccharine, propylene glycol....

Can anyone recommend a good natural toothpaste without all the crap in it?

you could saponify olive oil with mint /mint oil added. in a hardened form just use a cheese-grater to get shard sized flakes. then when you feel the need - bite down on 1or2 toothsoap flakes and brush. the best part is you get to broaden the flavour selection with experimentation!

I made up a mixture of baking soda, salt, xylitol, bentonite clay, coconut oil, and some essential oils. It's toothpastey and doesn't taste bad, but sometimes it's easier to stick the toothbrush into a box of baking soda and brush with that. I like to rinse with hydrogen peroxide for the antibacterial and whitening properties. Also, I oil pull, which means swishing oil around in your mouth for 10-20 minutes. I do it while I'm in the shower. It's supposed to be detoxifying. Lots of info about it on the web.

Here is the recipe we use: http://www.bulkherbstore.com/articles/bentonite-clay-toothpaste?s=toothpaste&id=RxVVU9yP

If we forget to make it and run out, we buy another version from friends that includes charcoal: http://livincleanandgreen.com/livin-clean-products/

Both are safe for the kids (actually GOOD for them to eat a little) and actually work BETTER than boughten (as confirmed to us by dentist comments)

Our family has pretty much ditched toothpaste altogether, I do keep on hand a tube of Tom's of Maine toothpaste for when we want something minty to brush with (not very often but we both grew up on this stuff so sometimes we don't feel clean without it), but the kids don't use toothpaste anymore. Most often, if we use toothbrushes at all, we just dip it in some baking soda (make sure to buy some that is aluminum free) to brush with. It takes a little getting used to at first, baking soda is salty tasting but in the end we feel it works better and doesn't contain a bunch of stuff we don't want on or in our bodies. It also rinses a million times cleaner. I used to rinse over and over when using regular toothpaste and I never felt that it was getting out of my mouth. 1-2 swishes with water after baking soda and it feels clean.

Another alternative is to ditch the toothbrush altogether and use teeth cleaning sticks. We have used miswaks for a couple of years now and the clean that it provides is way better than any toothbrush I have ever used. Again, something to get used to, it has a taste and odor quite unlike anything I have tasted/smelled before.

Here is the wiki on it if you want to read further : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miswak

You can purchase them on amazon for $3 each (S&H included) or around $1 each from Ebay (S&H included). The brand "Sewak-al-fallah" is supposed to be one of the best brands to buy. I hope this helps and if you have any questions about the baking soda or the Miswaks I am happy to answer them!

The Jason brand is flouride free and tastes good, I don't know about the other stuff listed in the OP.

Thanks for the tip Deku Buu! I have been using a mixture of baking soda, calcium powder and salt but have never heard of a Miswak. I am ordering one off of Amazon today. I love trying new things.

Eat a green apple, floss, brush with Lisrerine.

For cleaner than clean, use Lisrerine.

I've been brushing with just water for a good deal now. Seems to work - though to be fair I haven't been to a dentist for a professional opinion for a while either.

Tangentially - Can you believe the amount of R'n'D and advertizing which has gone into making the new Crest chocolate chip and cookie dough flavored green color skeemed over packaged new 'Be' brand toothpaste?

Those kinda things make me trip cold sober. For real.

I think I will try the toothpaste described in the video.



Daniel Vitalis also describes his dental hygene strategy in this video:

Holistic Dental Tooth Powder works very well for loose gums and tooth discolouration. Organic Ingredients: Plantain; white oak bark; peppermint leaf; aloe vera resin; horsetail; menthol from corn mint; myrrh gum resin; clove buds; lobelia seed; activated willow charcoal; goldenseal root; and licorice root. It does stain your toothbrush greenish-brown.

I tried pulling coconut oil, but could not keep it up for the requisite 25 minutes. I couldn't keep it up for 2 minutes, really.

I can't find Equisetum hyemale in my neck of the woods to make chew-sticks. Apparently, other types of horsetail are mildly toxic and it is an accumulative toxin. Anybody know an organic source of pinu for chew sticks?

As another poster has said, I use no toothpaste at all and get along just fine. I read about the fact that teeth actually remineralize between meals (due to calcium ions that can only form in a mouth without acidic food residue) but this only works if there is not already a coating of glycerin on the teeth. Regular toothpaste all contains glycerin - even the natural stuff does - because it helps prevent staining, as well as providing a good texture. That is fine for people who are concerned about staining, but I am more interested in longevity and I wanted to give my teeth every chance they can get to stay nice and strong.

I was a little nervous about going without toothpaste at first but I went to the dentist after having gone 6 months without it, and I had the best check-up ever! I didn't tell them until the end of the visit. They were very happy with my teeth and gums although once I told them about not using toothpaste they made a little noise about the need for fluoride (which I don't agree with). Basically I can't see a downside and I've been toothpaste-free for several years now. Also it is cheaper.

My husband still uses toothpaste so if I feel like I might have garlic breath or it's a special occasion I might use it once in a while. Most of the time if you have bad breath either just plain brushing will take care of it, or it is not from the mouth but deeper in, so toothpaste just masks the problem anyway. I even kept it from my husband at first and there were no complaints about my breath at all.

I have a sonic toothbrush which was the best purchase I have EVER made! I wouldn't recommend doing this without it. So my recommendation is to get a good sonic toothbrush - they cost about $100 - floss and/or use a water pic (which I do not do because I am lazy but they DO help), and skip the toothpaste altogether. Honestly if you feel like you have bad breath you can dab a little mint essential oil on your brush or use a mouth rinse afterwards. If you have gum problems you can consider rinsing with hydrogen peroxide - it won't do any harm.

Good luck!

Jody

Has anybody checked out Marjory Wildcraft's DVD, Alternatives to Dentists http://alternativestodentists.com/, and Ramiel Nagel's book, Cure Tooth Decay http://www.curetoothdecay.com/? If so, do you think this is quackery, or is there still some value in Dr. Weston Price's studies from the 1930s? http://www.westonaprice.org/. I'm only a medical lab tech, so I'm not qualified to comment. Do we have a dental hygienist or dentist among us that can critique the DVD and book?

I make tooth powder with 1/2 fennel seeds, 1/4 baking soda, 1/4 sea salt and an electric spice grinder. The fennel has a nice taste and is alkaline to neutralize acids that cause bad breath and tooth decay.

One benefit of the powder over paste is I carry a small bottle of it in my computer bag and never have to take it out for TSA when traveling.

I make my own tooth powder with herbs and bentonite clay and a little myrrh, then follow up with a sanguinaria root mouthwash. Our teeth are brighter and smoother, we also supplement with silica to keep our teeth/bones/everything strong.

Funnily enough I felt really liberated when I started making my own toothpaste, like I actually can create something that is good for my family and not have that fear that if I don't buy the name brand toothpaste that my kids will suffer. I'm sick of the fear tactics the medical/dental systems wield to make me buy they're crap.

We've been making our own toothpaste for a while. Each time I mention at work about how we make so many things instead of buying them ready made - people think we're weird. But hey I know what is going into what I consume.

I start with coconut oil in a jar and mix Bicarb in until its a nice paste consistency. Then I add peppermint oil to taste, or I add a drop of peppermint oil each time I brush. Nice and fresh. You can always add a little bit of salt and I've heard about people adding a calcium powder for remineralisation.

Rohan

i use just salt water; i dip tooth brush in and brush. the stuff just comes off the very easily off ther tongue as well and i do the oil pull.

my daughter introduced me to a kind of brush that collects plac rather than brushing it off. saying regular brushing pushes the plac into the gums. the brushes work very well and it collects the plac off the roof of mouth and all surfaces. she noticed her gums become healthier before she was having trouble with her gums. I have tried it and it works well but it takes some time. It collects a lot. i will get with her to get the name and share that later.

add; the brush uses no toothpaste at all. you just dab it on the surface you want to collect from and it collects stuff which you rinse off the brush and go at it again till you get all surfaces. very effective.

Here are two homemade toothpaste recipes that are also supposed to help add minerals to your teeth:

http://wellnessmama.com/8780/squeezable-homemade-toothpaste/

http://wellnessmama.com/2500/homemade-remineralizing-toothpaste-recipe/

Theresa McCuaig wrote:Has anybody checked out Marjory Wildcraft's DVD, Alternatives to Dentists http://alternativestodentists.com/, and Ramiel Nagel's book, Cure Tooth Decay http://www.curetoothdecay.com/? If so, do you think this is quackery, or is there still some value in Dr. Weston Price's studies from the 1930s? http://www.westonaprice.org/. I'm only a medical lab tech, so I'm not qualified to comment. Do we have a dental hygienist or dentist among us that can critique the DVD and book?

I am not a dental hygienist or dentist, but I believe wholeheartedly in the efficacy of Dr. Price's work, and in Nagel's method. Price's findings in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration correlate with Phytic acid and bioavailability studies done showing that children supplementing with Vitamin D3 have reduced dental decay, while those with added phytates (dietary substances which block absorption of calcium/magnesium by the body) have increased amounts of dental decay.

My amateur research has led me to believe that these things are necessary for tooth health, and since I have implemented them, my 4-year-old has actually remineralized a small cavity in her molar:

1. Diets high in Vitamins A and D, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and other trace minerals, provide oral conditions that can actually remineralize tooth enamel. If the body is lacking these nutrients, it will sacrifice the health of the teeth in order to save the bones.
2. Glycerin (found even in natural toothpaste) coats the teeth so that they cannot remineralize.
3. Silica in toothpaste makes teeth feel "slick and smooth," but gradually grinds down enamel. Our mainstream hygienist says she cannot imagine why it is put in toothpaste, other than to send people to the dentist more often and to increase sales of tooth sensitivity products!
4. Xylitol is useful in that it is a replacement for other starches and sugars in the mouth, and the bacteria that cause tooth decay cannot metabolize it.
5. Sodium Fluoride (I know, totally evil), does truly work to make enamel more hard/brittle. It has no place in our water, of course, because it is completely ineffective when taken internally (it only causes fluoridosis), but on the surface of teeth, it is effective. Hygienists claim that they can tell which kids have had topical fluoride treatments and which haven't.

So I feel extremely comfortable with our oral health and have had good results with a Traditional Foods diet high in A, D, and minerals, and low in phytates (in particular, we have stopped eating oats and whole wheat). We brush with straight xylitol powder mixed with a touch of calcium/magnesium powder. Baking Soda is only recommended (even by "mainstream" hygienists) for use once a week because it is abrasive, so no way am I putting it in my kids' daily tooth powder!

Since I have been following this method, I have watched as a small cavity in my 4-year-old's molar has completely remineralized using this method! I was skeptical, but it works! The cavity is gone!

The best stuff I have found for my family is Earthpaste by the Redmond Trading Company. It is made primarily from bentonite clay, sea salt, water and an essential oil for flavor. Most flavors have a tiny bit of tea tree oil (anti-viral/bacterial/fungal) and xylitol (minimally-processed sweetener and enamel-enhancer), but there are some without either as well. Orders over $40 ship for free, and they have great bulk sea salt from within the states. Small, local mom-and-pop kind of company; I've had a great experience with them.

http://www.redmondtrading.com/product-category/earthpaste-natural-toothpaste/

It's also just as easy to make your own variety from those ingredients. I want to warn against using baking soda, but I can't find the source I would use to back up my claims. I know it is widely recommended and practiced. Therefore, my unsubstantiated opinion is that it lends to gum recession and the destruction of the layer that protects the enamel. Perhaps someone else is aware of the study that I'm thinking of.

Edit: I also second Dayna Williams on Weston A. Price. My wife and I have been using Green Pastures brand of fermented cod liver and butter oil, and it has made a huge difference. In fact, prior to finding Earthpaste, we were brushing with water because we refused the toxic gick. My wife had terrible teeth (lots of cavities, etc), but after a few months of water brushing and cod liver oil, the dentist told her to keep doing whatever she was doing because her teeth were better than ever.

Frank,

many years ago, I was told by my dentist to stop using the toothpaste brand that had baking soda because my gums were starting to recede. I haven't seen a study on that either though.

My wife is experimenting right now,
but so far we have used a couple simple mixes.
One is coconut oil and baking soda. Anything else you add is just for taste or perhaps some added benefit.
The next is Bentonite Clay (there are two types, I think you are only supposed to use the Calcium type) and ground cinnamon. This one may take a LITTLe to get used to, but I really like it. you just slightly wet the brush, dip it in the powder clay mix and brush. Then thoroughly rinse with filtered water.

Both of these cost about 1/5 of any store bought brands.
And a plus, the kids don't put tooo much on their tooth brushes. With tube paste, we were going through a tube a month or so. it was easier for the kids to waste.

Dayna Williams wrote:Glycerin (found even in natural toothpaste) coats the teeth so that they cannot remineralize.

Glycerin is a preservative in natural toothpaste. It is known to be not great, but it is less bad than the other options.