Toothpaste! Oh boy, I really started rethinking toothpaste when our firstborn, Lola, was old enough to start brushing her teeth. Here I had this toddler, who couldn’t be trusted to spit it all out and not swallow, and I wondered… what exactly is she ingesting? I took a closer look at the ingredients on various traditional and natural kids toothpastes as well as my own toothpaste, and was pretty appalled. I did more research and learned something that may be quite surprising to you! Did you know that we don’t actually need toothpaste to clean our teeth? Flavored toothpastes may make the experience more “enjoyable” and make our mouths feel fresh – but the actual act of brushing, and flossing, are what removes sticky plaque – and this is the main goal. The ingredients in common toothpaste, are not actually necessary! That means, it’s totally a good idea to rethink the ingredients you’re putting in your mouths, and in your kids mouths. Our mouths are actually highly absorbent because they’re full of porous mucus membranes capable of absorbing toxins even when we spit and rinse, and children swallow a large amount of the paste they’re putting on their brush. Let’s take a closer look…

Fluoride

This ingredient deserved it’s own paragraph, because there is so much controversy around it. No pun intended, but things get a little sticky when the discussion on fluoride comes up. Many dentists agree fluoride is necessary to remineralize and keep tooth enamel strong, yet fluoride is a known endocrine disruptor that affects your bones, can damage your brain and even your thyroid gland, according to a scientific review worth reading. Children are particularly at risk for overexposure to fluoride and it’s adverse effects – like dental fluorosis. What is that? Dental fluorosis is a common disorder resulting from excess fluoride ingestion, and occurs when teeth are forming during childhood. You can learn more, over at the National Institute of Health. Consider that we are putting this in our mouths 365 days a year, twice a day, as well as drinking it in our tap water and what that accumulation might look like. Also consider that tooth decay is on the decline in countries that don’t fluorinate and those that do. So with this information at hand, how can we remineralize our teeth and keep them strong, sans fluoride? I love this toothpaste concoction we make in our home, that contains gentle abrasives for removing plaque, natural alternatives for remineralizing teeth and keeping the enamel strong. 

Remineralizing Naturally

The first step, is to make important dietary changes like avoiding juice and choosing whole fruits instead, for less natural sugar. A more obvious change that can feel hard to implement with kids – is to really minimize candy and be sure to brush and floss well after consuming.  Cut out processed foods as much as possible, as they contain fermentable carbohydrates that demineralize teeth over time. These carbs then feed bacteria in your mouth, which release phytic acid and contribute to tooth decay. This is also a reason to cut out as much phytic acid from your diet as possible, and why soaking and sprouting is so important. If you want to learn how to do it, check out my guide. Another thing you can do, is work on ingesting more healthy fats, vitamin C-rich foods, phosphorus and calcium-rich foods and eat more celery (it’s Mother Nature’s dental floss). An easy kitchen switcheroo, is to toss out your stripped and processed table salt and replace it with Redmond’s Real Salt which contains 60+ trace minerals and is actually healthy for you. 

Remineralizing the teeth naturally, was motivation to start making my own toothpaste. THIS homemade recipe is easy to do once you stock the ingredients, but sometimes we don’t have time to make it, or are traveling and need something simple to transport. I wrote a Monday Musts all about my top pick for store-bought toothpaste, and bonus, included a discount code just for you!