I have been looking at exactly what is in toothpaste recently, and it doesn’t make for good healthy reading. So, I have had a go at making my own with bicarb and a oral herb mix I made myself.
It’s a well-known fact that it is the brushing of your teeth that does the good cleaning work, not the toothpaste. In fact, toothpaste is not really needed at all; it’s just that we like the ‘mouth feel’ of it. The claims made on the packaging are very persuasive, but look more closely and you will find it is trying to sound like it can do something but without quite making a medical claim which would get the manufacturers into trouble. One I just looked at says ‘Fresh Breath, White Teeth’ on it. It’s not saying the toothpaste can give you those, but it is implying it.
Anyway, I thought I would have a go at making something a little more healthy. Here is the recipe:
You can mix a herbal tincture yourself as I did or, if you prefer, buy something like the Weleda, PeriGum or Aloe Dent mouthwash. Simply mix 1 part of your liquid to 2 parts of bicarbonate of soda.
For example, mix 50ml (about 3 tablespoons) mouthwash into 100ml (about 8 tablespoons) of bicarb and combine well. You can adjust it to suit the texture you want but generally that should do it. Store it in a pump or squeezable bottle and use a pea-sized amount as normal to brush.
If you can’t be bothered with that, even easier would be to put some bicarb into a jar and add a few drops of essential oil like peppermint or fennel and store. Then, to brush your teeth, dissolve a little in a small amount of water and keep dipping your brush into the dissolved bicarb mix frequently whilst brushing.
Remember to brush for at least 2 minutes and concentrate on the backs as well as the fronts.
In case you want it, here is the mix I have made for myself because I have genetically poorly gums:
I tablespoon each of the following herb tinctures:
Turmeric
Gotu Kola
Licorice
Hawthorn
Plus about 5-7 drops each of these essential oils:
Peppermint
Clove
Lavender
I then use 1 tsp in half a cup of water daily as a mouthwash and use the same tincture as above to make a tooth ‘paste’ with the bicarb. Do not swallow.
For more oral health ideas, check this earlier post.