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| My Homemade Toothpaste. |
Toothpaste. We all use it. Well, I
hope we all do! I can't even remember a time when brushing teeth was not a part
of my life. And now, as a Mom, I know the struggle of making it a permanent
part of my kid’s lifestyle. Not, as our family has become more and more aware
of what is in the products that we eat and what is in the products that we use
on our bodies, toothpaste was one that came into question. After reading
article after article about the bad chemicals that were in this brand or that
and feeling very uneasy about what was going into my kiddos mouth, I started my
search for a more natural alternative. Pinterest soon came to the rescue with
several different recipes to try. Now, I must sing my hubby praises here. He is
such a good sport. Most of the time he will try my crazy concoctions at least
once. He is sure to let me know if it isn't up to snuff, but at least he will
try it.
I must confess that I too was
sceptic. I love store bought toothpaste. I love the foam and the bubbles. I
love the minty fresh feeling that gives me squeaky clean teeth. There was
just one hitch: a wanted to avoid all the bad stuff. After I made my
first use of the natural homemade toothpaste, I was less than impressed. No
bubbles, no foam, and oh the saltiness! It was almost unbearable! It made me
salivate crazy and I literally had to stand over the sink to avoid it running
down the front of my shirt. I didn't want my experience to taint my husband
opinion, so I said nothing. And I waited. I wasn't going to give up with just
one try. After two days, I finally asked hubby his opinion. He and I compared
notes, and here are a few things we noticed right away:
· We had a big reduction in bad breath. Usually after waking
up in the morning, we would rush to brush because you could hurt someone with
that breath. But after a few days of using the natural paste, we would wake up
with less bad breath.
· A reduction in plaque. Again, this was one thing we both
found decreased. We still had plaque, and needed to brush regularly, but the
amount was less
· Teeth were whiter. After a week, my teeth were much whiter.
I wish I had taken a before and after, but I did notice a difference. Not
enough that I would say, use it as a whitener, but enough that I didn't feel I
was missing out on my whitening toothpaste.
· My sensitivity to the saltiness got better. I still have a
much greater production of saliva using natural toothpaste versus the store
bought kind, but I have gotten accustom to it.
· My husband tooth sensitivity disappeared. It took about 2
weeks, but he all of a sudden realized that his teeth were no longer sensitive
to temperature changes. WE proved this just last month when I was not able to
remake our homemade toothpaste when we ran out and pulled a tube of store-bought
stuff out of the cupboard. Two days into that, and he was complaining his teeth
hurt with every sip of cold water.
· My kids don't eat the toothpaste. My kids don't love
homemade toothpaste, but they certainly tolerate it. They have not tried, even
once, to eat it, sneak it, have it for a snack. I make theirs with an organic
strawberry flavor oil.
Now, we have been using our
toothpaste for over a year now, and haven't seen a dentist yet to get his/her
opinion yet. But from my point of view, I believe it is doing the job rather remarkable.
I'll keep ya'll posted after the next visit. ;)
Here are a few tips I can share from
my experience:
1.
Get a container that is easy to use.
This paste will be more liquid or solid, depending of the temperature of your
house. So having one that will facilitate both, is great. I use these travel
size containers I got at Target for around $3. They are over in the travel size
section. You can get something similar off of Amazon, but are a bit pricier.
2.
Find a flavor that works. My husband
prefers minty, so we use a peppermint oil. My kids hate that so we use a
strawberry flavor oil.
3.
Play with the ratios of salt. For my
kids, I use very little to no salt. It just makes it easier to get them to
accept the toothpaste.
I have made some modifications to
the original recipe that I am linking here:
My modifications are:
- I add more clay. It does give a red tinge to the toothpaste, but I like a bit more clay.
- The second modification is that I decreased the Stevia. I find that if I use Organic Coconut Oil, it is sweet enough all on its own to offset any need for a sweetener. I do add this for my kids, though.
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