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Homemade Toothpaste - Boholistic Mom

Why Not to Buy Regular Toothpaste

Take a gander at the ingredients listed on the back of a tube of whitening toothpaste:

Sodium fluoride, Triclosan, water, hydrated silica, glycerin, sorbitol, PVM/MA, copolymer, sodium lauryl sulfate, flavor, cellulose gum, sodium hydroxide, propylene glycol, carrageenan, sodium saccharin, titanium dioxide

What are these things and why are they in our toothpaste?  Read below to find out what these chemicals are and how they may be affecting your health.

Sodium fluoride

Whatever you believe about Fluoride, whether we need it or we have no need for it, the fact is that we have fluorinated water, fluoride in our toothpaste, and fluoride at the dentist.  This is a lot of fluoride to be consuming when it is toxic in certain amounts.  Finally, consider this, why add fluoride when is it possible to prevent cavities through diet change?

Triclosan

Right here the FDA says animal studies of Triclosan “have shown that triclosan alters hormone regulation” and “other studies in bacteria have raised the possibility that triclosan contributes to making bacteria resistant to antibiotics.”  Of course, as usual the FDA also states, “Triclosan is not currently known to be hazardous to humans.”  However, if it affects the hormones of animals, wouldn’t it also impact humans?

Sorbitol

Sorbitol is both an artificial sweetener and a laxative.  Why does toothpaste need to be sweet?  And why would anyone want a laxative in their toothpaste that they use regularly?

Sodium lauryl sulfate

In this article by Drugs.com, sodium lauryl suflate is considered acceptable besides an increased chance of canker sores.  Sodium lauryl sulfate can also aggravate atopic eczema when used in moisturizers.1 How the sodium lauryl sulfate is created and how it is used may change how skin reacts to this chemical.  It is a foaming agent which may help with cleaning, but when it comes to teeth who cares if it foams?

Other Ingredients

Rather than listing the research for other ingredients, take an opportunity to research the rest on the web.  In fact, begin to research what is in your food, your cosmetics, your cleaners, everything!  Don’t take my word for it.  Know what is entering your body so you can manage the amount and toxicity of the chemicals you ingest or place on your body topically.  Only you can manage your health properly.

 

Solution to Pollution

As a Boholistic Mom, I love throwing out the rules.  I don’t use toothpaste!  I don’t use fluoride.  Rather than chemically protecting teeth, my family’s teeth are maintained by a healthy diet and cleaned by tooth powder.  Care to join us?  The recipe for my homemade tooth powder is below!

 

DIY Homemade Tooth Powder

Rather than getting out measuring spoons each time you need to make homemade tooth powder, it is much simpler to just use a scale.  You can even double the recipe to make a larger batch.  Be sure that your baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate and doesn’t have any additives, the same goes for your salt and your peppermint oil.  Here’s the recipe!

35 grams – Baking Soda (–> Bob’s Red Mill Baking Soda)

6 grams – Finely Ground Sea Salt (–> Redmond Real Salt Fine Sea Salt)

6-10 drops – Peppermint Oil (–> my Essential Oil Post)

Note:  Be sure to research whether you should use Peppermint Oil during pregnancy.  You can substitute Lime Oil or Lemon Oil or leave it out depending on your needs.

 

Brooke Shambley

THE Boholistic Mom

Portrait-Brooke-300-x-300

 

Resources

Weston A. Price Foundation – Website with information regarding eating traditional foods

Cure Tooth Decay – A book that details how teeth can actually repair themselves

Mother Nature Network – What’s in Toothpaste?

 

1.  Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Aqueous cream: contains sodium lauryl sulfate which may cause skin reactions, particularly in children with eczemahttp://www.mhra.gov.uk/safety-public-assessment-reports/CON251956 (accessed 6/15/2016).

 

Affiliate Disclosure

I am an Amazon Affiliate and the links included in this post (including some of the pictures) will take you to Amazon.  As an affiliate, I get paid when my readers shop from those links.  Feel free to shop from the links if you’d like to support my blog, but feel free to shop elsewhere especially locally!

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