Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
It’s a rather well-known fact that regular toothpaste from the store contains a variety of dangerous ingredients. After all, the toothpaste labels themselves say “Poison”!
One of the most toxic toothpaste ingredients is sodium fluoride.
This chemical is so toxic that ingesting more than a pea size of toothpaste requires an emergency call to Poison Control. Fluoride also lowers children’s IQ as researched by scientists at Harvard.
Ingestion of too much sodium fluoride can cause a variety of symptoms within minutes including abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, headache, tremors, muscle spasms, seizures, and in severe cases, multi-organ failure.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel at all comfortable brushing my teeth with poison. Even if you don’t swallow the toothpaste, the chemicals in it easily get into the blood via the very thin gum tissue.
If you don’t believe that chemicals can get into your blood via simple contact with gum tissue, then try putting a tiny pinch of chewing tobacco between your bottom lip and your gums. I guarantee you will be dizzy, nauseated and ready to vomit in about 30 seconds (unless you happen to be a professional baseball player who chews tobacco regularly!)
Another really bad chemical in many conventional kinds of toothpaste is triclosan. Triclosan is an antibacterial chemical that is increasingly linked to hormone disruption among other things. I blogged about the dangers of this chemical in an article a while back titled Danger Lurks in Your Antibacterial Soap.
You should NEVER put chemicals in your mouth that you don’t want in your blood. You don’t need to swallow to be damaged by them.
Even Healthfood Store Toothpastes Not a Good Idea
What is less well known is that even toothpaste from the health food store should be avoided. While the ingredients may not be as toxic, the ingredients may hinder overall tooth and gum health.
For example, nearly all non-toxic toothpaste contains glycerin.
It is a sticky, sweet-tasting, clear, thick liquid that is a by-product of the soap making process. When you brush your teeth with toothpaste containing this chemical, some will stay on your teeth due to its extreme stickiness. This impedes the remineralization of your teeth with saliva as you sleep and can lead to cavities in the long term.
In addition, be aware that some health food store toothpaste shockingly contains sodium fluoride! There is simply no substitute for reading labels either for the food you buy or the cosmetics you use!
What to Use to Brush Your Teeth?
I have not used either conventional or healthfood store toothpaste for a number of years. I first got started using a simple, homemade mixture of baking soda and sea salt (3:1) after attending a fantastic, eye-opening lecture by the late Dr. Ray Behm DDS back in 2005.
Is homemade tooth powder or DIY toothpaste not your thing? Would you rather buy one that is juiced up with some wonderful herbs that benefit tooth and gum health? If so, then I would suggest taking a look at a product called Good-Gums.
Another excellent option is the product Shine from Orawellness that contains quality, healthful ingredients.
The product Good-Gums contains baking soda and sea salt, the primary ingredients of tooth powder dentifrice as recommended by Dr. Behm. It also contains beneficial soothing and antiseptic herbs such as myrrh, tea tree, peppermint, cinnamon, and cranberry. In addition, Good-Gums contains a whole food form of vitamin C.
Vitamin C is known to be critical to gum health and the avoidance or healing of periodontal disease.
You can find info about Pascalite at http://www.pascalite.com/AboutP.htm
They say: "Pascalite can be best classified as a calcium bentonite/montmorillonite of the non-swelling type. It's categorized as a white clay but this unique mineral is actually cream-colored."
My jar of clay powder says that 1/2 tsp contains 27 mg of iron, 80 mg of magnesium and 47 mg of calcium. Hope this helps.
Apparently as they make the soap the glycerine is a by-product. There is no way around it but at least no extra glycerine is added. The same goes for the Tooth Soap from Karen which, from what I remember, is recommended by Ramiel Nagel.
Joy in a comment above mentions Pascalite. I was wondering what is the difference between Pascalite and regular bentonite (which I already have at home). I contacted the company but I cannot get a straight answer from them. Hopefully Joy will see my post and maybe she can shed some light on it.
Seems nice, but the peppermint would be a problem for people that use homeopathic remedies. I wonder if they make a mint free version.
Hi Alina, I just googled the ingredients of Dr. Bonner soaps and the glycerin is retained so I do not think this would be a good choice for tooth brushing.
Hi Sarah,
I have been using Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap. What do you think of that? I started using it after I found out about Tooth Soap from Karen van Cleef. I think that ingredient wise Tooth Soap and Dr. Bronner’s are the same except that Dr. Bronner’s is a fraction of the cost of the Tooth Soap.
Great Article! It is an often overlooked fact, that dental health plays such a vital role to our overall health. Not to mention the fact that toothpaste is expensive. You can buy a whole gallon of raw milk for the price of one tube!
Thanks for sharing Joy!
I was using baking soda/salt, and my teeth started to get sensitive to hot/cold food. I read in a health newsletter about a natural clay powder called Pascalite. I have been using now for almost a year. My sensitivity was gone within a week and my teeth stay white. As a side option, you can swallow this, as it contains valuable minerals that are good for you. I would like to recommend this as another viable option.
Hi Kerry, you actually need to mail order this product from the website. I haven't seen it in healthfood stores – at least not yet.
Can't wait to give this a try. Can this be found in a Natural Food Store? Thanks! Love your blog – always such great info! -kg