Dixie Tries It: Make Your Own Toothpaste

Dixie

What the hell is irium?

So, I mentioned I'm secret hippie, right? Come with me down the hippie rabbit hole, we're going to talk about making your own toothpaste. It's surprisingly easy and nothing at all like brushing your teeth with a poultice of patchouli and kale, like you would it think might be.

Buying toothpaste kind of sucks. It's expensive, no one tells you the difference between extreme whitening or 3D whitening, and you never know if it's going to one day peel the inside of your mouth off. Standard toothpastes have the unfortunate tendency to scrub away parts of my flesh and natural (or "natural", depending on the brand) don't clean my teeth worth a damn. Seriously, if you buy the Tom's of Maine SLS-free toothpaste, you might as well take lessons from Jessica Simpson and rub your teeth with your sleeve. And some of the ingredients of other brands...I'm not sure how the hell tea tree or myrrh are supposed to clean my teeth. But, I digress. Anyway, so I figured I had nothing to lose when my mom sent me a recipe for homemade remineralizing toothpaste from Everyday Paleo. It could not possibly be any worse than that Tom's SLS-free crap.



The recipe will require you to make a visit to your local health food store. Just about every health food store I've been into, independent or chain, carries the necessary ingredients. To make the toothpaste you will need:

5 Tablespoons of Calcium (or Dolomite) Powder
2 Tablespoons of Baking Soda
3 Tablespoons of Xylitol
1 Tablespoon Liquid Castille Soap (I use Dr. Bronner's peppermint castille soap)
3-5 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil (to get desired texture)
10+ drops of Essential Oils of choice (optional) (I use Peppermint)
10 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract (optional - to preserve longer)

Before you make the toothpaste, go to Everyday Paleo and read the entire article for a bit of information about the recipe. It's short, I promise. Okay, now to make the toothpaste, do the following:

Mix calcium powder, baking soda and xylitol in a medium sized bowl until well mixed.
Add coconut oil, liquid castille soap, and essential oils and Grapefruit Seed Extract (if using).
Mix well with a spoon or immersion blender until smooth.
Store in a small jar or container and either dip toothbrush into it or use a small spoon or Popsicle stick to apply to toothbrush.
Use as you would your normal toothpaste.

And that's it. It's really that easy. I stored mine in a pasta sauce jar at first and moved it to a smaller jar as I used it up. The price tag of all the ingredients up front might give you a bit of pause, but I'm not joking when I say that I've been using this batch for four months and I still have at least two, maybe three, months worth left. The priciest items are the calcium powder and the xylitol, but everything else is cheap.

How does it work, you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked. The first time I used it, I almost fell over. It was the cleanest clean my teeth have ever known. Better than literally anything else I have ever used. I have been using this paste to brush my teeth for the past four months and it really is the best. My teeth feel smooth and clean after I'm done, it has whitened the stains that tend to collect where my enamel is slightly pitted, and, best of all, the dental hygenist commented how good my teeth looked at my last visit. That's the best result of all, ladies and gentleman, no scary prognosis from the lady with the pointy metal mouth instruments.

There is a bit of a learning curve with this paste, however. It is not like a store-bought toothpaste. Made according to the recipe, it doesn't foam up like a toothpaste out of a tube would. It might if you added more castille soap, but I stuck to the recipe in that regard. Also, you will figure out as you go how much coconut oil you require for the texture you want. I started out with 3 tablespoons, but it was too gritty for my taste. So, after a couple weeks I increased it to 4.5 and I make sure to stir it when it feels too dry. As for the taste, I like my toothpaste to kick me in the mouth with minty freshness, so I added 15-20 drops of peppermint oil.

I really recommend that anyone who is even remotely curious try this recipe. My teeth always feel clean and it hasn't even once irritated the inside of my mouth. Plus, when you're making it you get the added benefit of feeling like a mad scientist with bowls of white powder and droplets of potions. Go try it!