You can totally make your own Peppermint Toothpaste!

DSC04897 - Copy I’m all for clean white teeth plus fresh breath but how about in the most natural way possible? Have you noticed the ingredients listed on a regular tube of toothpaste? Fluoride being one of those major ingredients by the way (and I learned it can affect thyroid function as well – yup).

Unfortunately, fluoride is considered toxic and has raised a lot of eyebrows lately. Let’s see what other ingredients are typically in a tube of toothpaste… ah, yes… sorbitol, hydrated silica, PEG-12, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium saccharin, FD&C blue no. 1, and it doesn’t end there…

As I continue doing more research, I’m learning there are many natural ways to get our teeth clean. Buying a natural toothpaste such as Desert Essence can certainly provide you with a more natural way since their line of toothpaste are fluoride-free (not to mention contains no animal-derived ingredients or harsh abrasives – go Desert Essence!). But if it can take minutes to make your own toothpaste (and with the additional benefit of less cost) why not do it? You can always add, remove, adjust the ingredients and create something more suitable to your taste. Not to mention, making your own toothpaste is a lot more safer after all, why introduce all those unnecessary toxins, ingredients and names-you-cannot-pronounce into your body?

I experimented with making my own toothpaste twice and the second time around, I’d say it was a success! It resulted in a light-weight toothpaste which did the job of cleaning and it left my mouth feeling pepper-minty afterwards (I love me some peppermint!). 😛

Here’s how to do it! Grab yourself a small container and add the following ingredients to it:

1/4 cup baking soda
1/8 cup coconut oil (make sure it’s in liquid form or at room temperature)
5 drops tea tree oil
40 drops peppermint oil
1 tsp Dr. Bronner’s peppermint pure-castile soap

Mix all these ingredients together. Now guess what? You got toothpaste! Yup, you’re all done!

Why did I choose these ingredients?

Well, baking soda is a given of course. Baking soda neutralize’s acids in your mouth and it kills germs. Plus, it whitens your teeth naturally so you can smile and show off your pearly whites! ;-D We often see baking soda in regular tubes of toothpaste and surely for that reason, to whiten those teeth!

600863_340745952700749_1511871412_n Coconut oil is used for “oil pulling” which is an ancient practice from the ayurvedic medicine tradition. I never heard of oil pulling until one of my buddies told me about it and he swears by it too (and I can totally see why). Oil pulling is a cleansing technique which involves squishing the coconut oil in your mouth for several minutes to remove harmful bacteria and germs. It helps perform detoxification which contributes to combating allergies. Coconut oil rocks! There’s so many uses for it and this is just one (or two)! So if it can do that, then sure enough, why not just brush with it?

Tea tree oil. This one I was hesitant about at first because it can have a negative effect if you ingest it. BUT one doesn’t ingest regular toothpaste anyways. Tea tree oil has way too many benefits and since it is a natural ingredient in some “natural” toothpaste such as Desert Essence, surely the benefits outweigh. Tea tree oil prevents plaque, combats bad breath and helps prevent gum disease (these are just a few by the way). Tea tree oil is another one of those natural magical ingredients that can be used for many purposes!

Peppermint oil has so many benefits (read for yourself) but I use it because I love the taste of it and the feeling of inhaling peppermint oil. It feels like my sinuses are all cleared up after using it! And, peppermint oil totally freshens your breath!

And castile soap, now this is an ingredient I recently learned of. Castile soap is a natural form of soap which is made with an olive oil base. The more I read up on castile soap, the more I wonder why I’m only now discovering this and haven’t been using it my entire life! The uses are just endless!

People actually started using castile soap as early as the 16th century believe it or not. In fact, the soap got its name ‘castile’ because it was first made in the Castilla region of Spain with local olive oil and it was named “jabon de Castilla”. What’s so unique about this soap is that it does not contain any animal fats (which are present in other soaps). It does not contain any harsh chemicals in the form of detergents, colors or dyes. And when the castile soap residue enters the wastewater stream, it doesn’t cause environmental pollution since there are no toxic substances in it. Now tell me, how can you beat that!

So, it’s Friday night and you have in your hands what I feel is a terrific and easy way for YOU to get creative. Get yourself to the store over the weekend and pick up those ingredients! And whip yourself up some toothpaste! If you want to get fancy, use cinnamon oil, sweet orange oil, spearmint oil, etc. instead. You can even add a few drops of stevia if you want to add some more sweetness to your toothpaste (I personally think it’s sweet enough already but that’s just me). Give it a try and let me know what you think! I would love to hear about it! 🙂