Homemade Toothpaste

I thought I'd do a follow-up post about making your own toothpaste for those of you who might be interested.

As I was looking at various recipes, I ran across this page, which weighs the pros and cons of making your own toothpaste.  The pros are you save money and avoid bad stuff. The cons are you have to research and spend a little time and effort.  I thought that was kind of funny.  It really wasn't difficult at all, although the some of the ingredients are not what most people would have on hand.  I didn't have them on hand until just recently, but I love having them because you can use them for so many things!

Although honey does have sugars in it, which is listed as a reason to not use it in the above link, I decided to add it to my toothpaste not only for the sweetening factor, but also because honey is antibacterial.  This page has a whole list of uses for honey, one of which is diluting it in water and using it as a mouthwash.  Since the honey (and consequently the sugar) doesn't stay on your teeth, I don't imagine it could cause tooth decay.  But I'm not an expert or anything, so take the advice of the first link and do your own research. ;) Other sweeteners I've seen used are stevia and xylitol.

Here is a kind of homemade toothpaste buffet.  It lists options for the basic ingredients of most homemade toothpastes, including several essential oils.  This way you could flavor it any way you (or your kids!) would like.  You should note that not all essential oils are created equal, and for internal use you should make sure the EO is therapeutic grade.

The essential oils are not just for flavoring, this article talks about some of the EO's in the above link (plus lavendar) and how their antibacterial properties aid in preventing dental problems.

So there have it. A few resources for the interested and adventurous.  Let me know if you decide to try it!  Cuz that would be fun. Then we could, like, swap toothbrushing stories and stuff.  Um, yeah.  I'm going to bed now. G'night!


PS Apparently I only had one link in my last post.  I fixed it, so now both recipes are there.