Homemade Tooth Paste and Tooth Powder

A few months ago, I decided to try making my own toothpaste once we had run out of the expensive, natural kind we were using. A friend of mine here in Saskatoon had tried it with pleasant results.

There are a ton of recipes online, and it took me the better part of Jaxson's nap to do some research and decide on one that a liked... And I couldn't even narrow it down to one after all that! I found two very different recipes and liked the sound of both of them, so I decided to make just a small batch of each!

I wasn't worried about either of these cleaning our mouths, because all the ingredients are cleansing, antibacterial and/or antimicrobial. I mean, I use coconut oil to oil pull with amazing results!

These are the two recipes I tried:

Wellness Mama's Remineralizing Tooth Powder, with my own variations based on my ingredient availability

I made this recipe as follows:

3 tbsp bentonite clay
1 tbsp baking soda
2 tbsp crushed mint leaf (ground with a mortar and pestle)
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ground cloves
Peppermint essential oil to taste

Crunchy Betty's Coconut Oil Toothpaste, again with my own small variations based on research and the availability of ingredients.

For this recipe, I used everything except the glycerin:

3 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp baking soda
Stevia extract to taste
Peppermint essential oil to taste

Both Adrian and I have been using them for a few months now and we both like them a lot!

:-) 

To be honest, it's kind of nice having two different kinds - that way, I have some choice. More often than not, I use the tooth powder in the morning and the paste at night.

Pros for these recipes:

1. They last forever! A single batch of each lasted Adrian and I almost 3 months.

2. Both keep my breath fresh and mouth clean all day.

3. The coconut oil one helps whiten teeth - at least I noticed a difference when I used that one exclusively.

4. Both taste great!

Cons for these recipes:

1. The powder texture takes a bit of getting used to and you really need to rinse out your mouth or you'll have a brown, gritty smile!

2. Both make a bit of a mess of your sink - the coconut oil paste requires washing with hot water, the powder just requires a quick wipe down.

3. The coconut oil paste hardens and needs to be scooped out with a finger or knife.

I ended up making another batch of toothpaste a couple weeks later, to take up to the lake with me so I could leave the original batches at home for Adrian, who had to come back before me for work. For this paste, I tried halfing the amount of baking soda, because I found the original recipe quite salty and have read that it can cause tooth sensitivity, though neither Adrian nor I, nor my friend and her husband have noticed this. I have to say, though, I do prefer the paste with less baking soda, and I still feel just as clean and fresh!

Tooth powder on the left, paste on the right

I'm super happy with all of these recipes, and am enjoying the nice, all-day clean and fresh feel!