Wait! What’s In Your Toothpaste?
Do you remember your first trip to the dentist? (please keep reading hahaha… it’s okay if you need to cry a little. I will wait right here. There, there it’s okay.) Well, I remember my first visit to the dentist. I was entering into the first grade and it was time to get my teeth checked and cleaned. My mom being a nurse, followed the standard protocol of the time, taking me every six months. I remember the lobby, the smell, the high pitched noise from the drills in the other rooms and the sucking sound from the spit vacuum. I even remember my hygienist and the dentist himself. I remember the feel of the thick wool blanket they laid over my lap as they performed the x-rays. I remember the room, the black leggings I was wearing and I remember being absolutely terrified. The dentist even asked me what was wrong. The hygienist was such a kind woman who stayed with my sisters, mom and I until I was a teenager. Over all I would say it wasn’t a bad experience and I never did have any cavities growing up. I went to the same dentist until I became an adult. I was given the standard crest toothpaste, fluoride treatment, X-rays and told that good brushing and flossing was the only way to good teeth health and I believed it until I had my first baby at 25 years old.
After the delivery of my first born son my teeth started to fall apart. I followed the recommended pregnancy diet, took prenatal vitamins and had continued brushing and flossing as I’d always done. Yet the week after my baby arrived I ended up having to schedule my first root canal. I was devastated at the loss of the tooth. You see I felt like a failure. My parents had spent thousands and thousands of dollars on my teeth just in the braces and an implant (needed after getting guillain-barré syndrome; more on that another day) not to mention all the standard care. The amount of tooth sensitivity I was experiencing was concerning also. I talked to one of my sisters who struggled even more than I did with tooth issues. My mom also had troubles…
Fortunately for me I’d already begun my journey into gardening, eating a healthier more homestead type diet and becoming a certified herbalist. So as my studies progressed I learned that my decline in tooth health wasn’t actually all my fault!! I learned about the affects of fluoride, that tooth health is the accumulation of at least 4 generations before us (in my case back to the Great Depression when nutrition was terrible), as well as the foods we are currently eating. There were so many factors to consider. I took the information to heart and dedicated even more energy to making and growing real foods.
My son grew and I had more children. I had become very intentional with our diet and I was pleased to find I didn’t have as much trouble with my teeth the second pregnancy. One of the biggest differences in those two pregnancies was that I did not follow the standard pregnancy diet recommendations AND I did not take a typical a typical prenatal vitamin. I chose instead plant based supplements and what a difference it made!
Eventually it came time to take my kids to the dentist for the first time because I knew if they were like me one day they would need braces. I at least wanted them to have a better experience at the dentist than I did (that first visit I told you about was a cake walk compared to the rest of my days at the dentist office…) The steps I took to help my kids worked and they absolutely love going still to this day. There was one thing that really bothered me though. These kids that I’d worked so hard to provide good food for still had a mouth full of problems. Why? They brushed and flossed and in those days I was the one helping them with it so there really was no excuse. Except one thing… we were still using the typical toothpaste bought at the grocery store.
That’s when I went on a hunt to find ways to remineralize teeth and heal cavities naturally. Yes, that’s right you are reading that correctly. This is possible!! Yep, I’d been taught that cavities just had to be drilled and filled and it was a lie! I found this great article by wellness mama (one of my favorite blogs) about remineralizing and tooth health. I think you will find it just as helpful. After reading the article as well as many others I decided it was time to switch to tooth powder and away from toothpaste. I bought Dr. Christophers Tooth Powder and we began to use it. I figured the 6 months between my kids’ cleaning appointments was time enough to tell if it was working or not.
In the mean time I taught a deep dive class on toothpaste. I did a ton of research on the ingredients found in toothpaste and found out some very interesting and honestly disheartening information. Toothpaste is a cosmetic (cosmetic: involving or relating to treatment or product intended to restore or improve a persons appearance) and regulated by the FDA as such, in case you wanted to do more of your own digging here is their site with a list of common ingredients.
What does tooth paste contain? Here are some common toothpaste ingredients:
Sodium Fluoride to prevent cavities and keeps teeth strong but also is a neurotoxin in large doses. How much is to much? Here is a YouTube video with Jo Rogan (forgive the language) about the subject.
Abrasives to scrub the teeth clean. Commonly calcium carbonate; synthetic version of calcium and silica gels are used. Here is an article on how much abrasive is needed to actually clean teeth. Most toothpastes are way more than the average person requires. This site recommends no higher than a 7 on the list… aka baking soda. Water = a 1 on the list. Just using a toothbrush is actually affective enough. Brushing too hard can cause tooth and gum damage according to dentists.
Humectants to prevent the toothpaste from drying out, coloring and to make product attractive to customers. I think most of us have gone down the rabbit hole of how terrible food dyes are for us. Typically under names of glycerol, sorbitol and xylitol.
detergents to create lather and/or foaming commonly listed as SES
flavorings & sweeteners such as sorbitol, xylitol and aspartame these provide a good flavor and cover the flavor of other ingredients
thickening agents for ease of use
preservatives so toothpaste doesn’t mold; Sodium benzoate
While I don’t have time to go into each of these things here today I thought I would share my conclusion and highly recommend you to look these things up for yourself. Check out each ingredient on your toothpaste. Don’t just take what the FDA says at face value but look up the opposing argument and make up your own opinion. While most of these things don’t look bad on the surface the question I ended up asking was, are most of these things necessary for the health of my teeth? Could we just brush with water and toothbrush? Could we floss and eat well and call it good? And the simple answer I came up with was, yes. In the end I decided that it would in fact be better for our own family to skip the toothpaste that it was more than likely doing more damage than good.
You know know me though and I tend to take things one step farther. The bare minimum isn’t good enough. If there was something I could do to actually improve, heal and regenerate our teeth I wanted to do that.
What happened after using tooth powder for 6 months? Well I was pretty surprised by the results. My sons who both were on the list to receive fillings at their next appointments no longer needed fillings. Their teeth had actually improved so much that they have not needed fillings since using tooth powder. That was all the convincing I needed. But what also happened is that the tooth sensitivity I personally had been experiencing had completely gone away.
After some thought and the realization I could save money by making my own tooth powder I decided to go for it. I started by looking at the ingredients on the back of the Dr. Christopher’s brand and then looked at many other recipes online. I selected ingredients that I could purchase or grow easily as well as the ones that would help my families tooth health the most. Here is the recipe we’ve now been using for several years. I am still just as happy with it as I was back then.
Finished toothpowder, stored in the original jar I bought from Dr. Christophers years ago. Save plastic, reuse when you can.
Here is the recipe in case you’d like to make it for yourself.
3 parts oak bark, 1 part oat straw, 6 parts comfrey root (the FDA does not recommend using this internally, substitute with stinging nettle if you prefer), 3 parts horesetail grass, 1 part lobelia, 1 part cloves (optional), 2-4 parts peppermint, 1 -3 parts spearmint, 1/2 part stevia powder, 2 TBS clay, 1 TBS activated charcoal.
Using a dedicated coffee grinder grind each herb until it is a very fine powder. I grind them individually. Then filter through a fine sieve. You do not want to brush your teeth with chunks (I find the oak bark better purchased as a powder rather than whole; it is very hard to strain) Mix all ingredients together in a jar or container with a lid. Sprinkle a small amount on a wet toothbrush and use as you would any other toothpaste. I recommend giving your mouth a good rinse afterwards.
Some of the herbs I use in this recipe. I store herbs in glass jars to keep them fresh as well as keep pests out.
I purchase all the herbs locally or grow them myself. I highly recommend The Flour Mill if you are local. If not I’ve found bulk herbs that are the best quality and potency at Farmhouse Teas (disclaimer: this is an affiliate link), Mountain Rose Herbs, and Dr.Christophers Herb Shop.
Please reach out if you have any questions I will do my best to answer them.
I will say this: Using tooth powder does take some getting used to. You will probably miss the feeling of a “clean and fresh mouth” We’ve all been so conditioned to be “Crest Kids” so to speak. My encouragement to you is just make it a habit. Once you start to see the benefits it will get easier. It took me over a year to truly commit and finally ditch the toothpaste. Don’t beat yourself up if you revert back, just start over. You won’t regret it… or at least I havn’t yet anyway.
Do you have a favorite recipe or tip for natural tooth care or a story about something that led you away from the standard practice? Please share it in the comments! I ‘d love to hear it.
Learn & Grow
-Your favorite crazy plant lady
