As many of you know, over the last year I have been trying to remove chemicals from our home and have started making many of my own cleaners, mixes and even personal hygiene items. During pregnancy I tend to have extremely sensitive teeth. I average 2 new cavities per pregnancy, and this being my 5th pregnancy you can see why I wanted to do something to not only reduce my sensitivity but also to strengthen my teeth. I've done a fair amount of reading on oil pulling, suppliments, remineralizing and natural/homemade toothpastes.
During Christmas vacation I ended up with a double ear infection that caused me so much tooth pain I was desperate. I began by oil pulling (swishing a tbsp. of coconut oil around in my mouth for 15 minutes then spitting it out). I did this twice a day for a few days and my mouth actually felt incredibly clean, but what I really wanted was a toothpaste that would help to strengthen my teeth in a way that tradition toothpastes were not. I mixed up a paste of baking soda, sea salt, coconut oil and some peppermint essential oil, stored it in a small mason jar and began brushing with this "paste." My teeth have NEVER been so clean, ever, not even right after a cleaning. I am one of those people that despite my constant brushing always seem to have a plaque problem, especially on the back of my front bottom teeth, that plaque is completely gone. My teeth still feel clean when I wake up in the morning, its kind of crazy! I will say that while this works amazing, it's taste is not fantastic and I definitely couldn't get my kids (or even my husband) to make this switch.
So now that my mouth is sparkly clean I need to get to work remineralizing my teeth, in hopes of reducing any current weak spots and preventing new ones from coming. I've had a few people express interest in trying out a remineralizing toothpaste so I figured I would make this post so you can see what it's all about.
I have fallen in love with http://wellnessmama.com/ and found that she has a couple of recipes on her blog for homemade/remineralizing toothpastes. I basically combined them together to form what I am currently using. This is my first batch and I am still storing it in glass jars with plastic lids (so as to not activate the bentonite clay), once I perfect the recipe I would like to invest in one of these silicone squeezable tubes.
Here is what you need:
(I purchased my ingredients thru Amazon and received free 2 day shipping with AmazonPrime, it's my new favorite way to shop!)
- 3 parts Calcium Powder
- 3 parts Xylitol
- 3 parts Baking Soda
- 2 parts Bentonite Clay
- 2 parts Celtic Sea Salt
- 4 parts Coconut Oil (I purchase a 54oz jar of organic extra virgin, cold pressed, coconut oil at Sam's club for around $16, I use this in my homemade lotion that I will post eventually)
- Essential oils (I typically use peppermint, wintergreen or a cinnamon one from Butterfly Express called Cinnamon Bear)
Measure out your ingredients in a glass bowl, since I was making a small batch I used tsps. as parts, but feel free to use tbsps. if you want to make a bigger batch. Stir it together, I use a plastic baby spoon since when working with bentonite clay you want to avoid metal so as to not activate it. Store in glass, I have found the 4oz jelly jars work great and you can recycle the plastic lids from 18oz peanut butter jars to use instead of the traditional sealing lid and ring to avoid metal. You can also store in squeezable tubes like the one I linked above, but will probably need to add a couple parts of distilled water to help it squeeze easier. Keep in mind that coconut oil is solid below 70 degrees and starts to melt around 70-75 degrees so depending on the temperature of your house this paste may be thicker or thinner.
This takes all of 2 minutes to make and if you read up on the ingredients used they will help to strengthen, remineralize and whiten teeth while reducing sensitivity. Just wet your brush, dip, brush as normal and rinse your mouth thoroughly. If I can convince Aaron to jump on this band wagon I will make us our own jars so we don't share germs (I did find the jar in the shower this morning so he just might be in!).
I hope this recipe helps, let me know what you think! In addition to my sensitivity Aaron is battling a pretty painful cavity that may require a root canal, I'm hoping that this paste will help to heal his tooth to the point that it won't be necessary, will keep posted about that.
