Green Dentistry

As a vegan you are relatively limited by commercial toothpaste options and if you're concerned about artificial and harmful substances, you are limited even more.  Glycerin, for example, can prevent teeth from re-mineralisation and this appears in the ingredients list of even some of the more natural toothpaste products. 

We had bumped into a friend back in April who had been using clay to clean her teeth for a few months.  She said that she felt it had really improved the condition of her teeth.   In fact, she had lovely white shiny teeth.  It was something that I had been meaning to experiment with for a while so it reminded me that I really should have got around to investigating it myself.  With that I bought some green clay powder and started to look into how to make my own tooth powder.  I think our friend had just been using clay on its own but I wanted to make something which had the taste of toothpaste a little more.  Searching on-line I found that a combination of clay, bicarbonate of soda and essential oils were popular so went about making my first tooth powder. 

Muddy Grin Toof Powder

4 tablespoons of clay (I use green clay)
1 tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda (an aluminium free one)
10 drops (or to taste) minty essential oil

Put it all in a ceramic or glass jar (metal can affect the clay) and shake it all up.  Wait a few seconds for the dust to settle!  Dip a wet toothbrush in and brush away.  Don’t worry if your teeth look dirtier than dirty during the brushing as it will all rinse off!  Have a good rinse after to get all the gritty bits of the clay out.

I have been using this powder now for about 3 months and I have to say, I think it has made my teeth whiter and I really like the taste.  I even had a check up at the dentist and he said whatever I was doing (I didn’t tell him for fear of appearing a raging hippy!) that I should keep on doing it.  I think I might reveal my secret next time!

Please do check out all the information yourself regarding the use of home made tooth products as, although I think it has been extremely beneficial (both financially and health wise) to me, I base this purely on my own personal experience.  If you do ask your dentist remember than most of them seem extremely set in their ways and would only advise the use of products that are most commonly commercially available.  Remember that the biggest expert on your own body and mind is an informed you!