The thing is, I like having teeth.

[callunav]

I'm so irritated by current tooth-care products.

25 years ago, a weird little company called 'Tom's of Maine' showed up and sold unsweetened, natural-ingredient toothpaste. Up until then, I hadn't actually noticed that toothpaste was sweet - singularly unobservant of me, I know - let alone that it contained saccharine. The unsweetened stuff took about two weeks to adjust to, after which I loved it.

I would still love it, if I could find it. Apparently the ubiquitous USian Sweet Tooth (I know other places are geared toward sweet too, but I feel bitter - so to speak - about the US's, mostly because that's where I live) has killed this proposition. Natural toothpastes - including Tom's of Maine - are mostly filled with sorbitol, glycerine, xylitol, erithritol, and stevia, now.

Oh, well.

I can live with it, even though I'd rather not. The real problem is that the fluoride bug-a-boo has reared its head again in a huge way, and almost everything that calls itself 'natural' - thus, no saccharine, no sodium laurel sulfate* - is also fluoride free.

I know that there are people who respond poorly to fluoride. I'm a huge fan of their having toothpastes they can use. However, I'm not one of them, and there is endless research showing that applying fluoride to the teeth not only helps regrow the crystaline enamel that protects them, it also results in larger crystals, making it harder for bacteria to get a foothold. On the other hand, there does not appear to be any significant research suggesting that rubbing something full of minerals against your teeth (e.g., bentonite clay) actually results in remineralization.

There are a few natural toothpastes out there with fluoride. They're mostly expensive, sweet, and minty. I'm giving them a try, anyway, but I'm not thrilled.

Tooth powder seemed like the way to go to get away from sweetness and detergents. There is some sweetening still going on, but it's pretty moderate. However, they seem universally to be non-fluoride.

I'm seriously considering taking things into my own hands. It's possible to buy sodium fluoride powder, and all toothpastes with fluoride list the amount of sodium fluoride as a percentage of the product, so I could use that as a basis for creating my own powder or paste. I hesitate because fluoride *can* be toxic in larger quantities, and it feels a little more precarious than even the more potent herbs I use. Also, for some reason, percentages are one area of math I often suck at. (I was really good at multivariable calculus, but somehow I repeatedly get percentages wrong. It's embarrassing.)

Also, the sodium fluoride powder is a little expensive.

Making my own would let me go genuinely unsweetened, or add a little glycerine if I wanted to, since it would probably be good for oral health anyway. And it would let me make something other than mint. The rise of spice-flavored tooth products (rather than strawberry bubblegum alternatives for children) is one trend I do like.

For all my hesitations, I think I'll at least start working out the math. A fluoridated, non-mint, non-sweet DIY tooth powder or paste would definitely contribute positively to my quality of life.



* It may be weird, but I don't feel the need for detergents in my mouth, and I don't require my toothpaste to foam just in order to prove to me that I did something.

Comments

[xyzzysqrl]

The BF has a strong aversion to mint, and finding mintless toothpaste...

...well, we gave up, after a while. So the mention-in-passing of "spice-flavored" products has me curious about them and prepared to go looking.

[callunav]

Tom's of Maine has a cinnamon clove flavor, including a fluoride one, under the Whole Care label. I like it, though for me it's too sweet. Clove is probably a keyword you can look for. There are also some fennel-flavored toothpastes, here and there, though most of them seem to be non-fluoride. I like that flavor, though.

You could also check out neem. I hate the smell of neem oil and can't imagine wanting it in my mouth, but A: people differ, and B: it may be different in a toothpaste. If you don't dislike it, it might be good. It has a very long history in dental/mouth care, long predating modern toothpaste.

In non-fluoride tooth powders, Simply Soony has an orange/spice flavor in a bentonite clay base which is mild but pleasant, and Frau Fowler has a salt-based spice-flavored powder that is extremely strong. For a while, I was mixing the two and trying to remember to use a fluoride rinse, but I was forgetting too often to continue.

Good luck! If you find something you love, tell me.

[redbird]

You might try the Tom's "silly strawberry," which is one of their children's flavors. It is significantly less sweet (and less strongly flavored) than any of the adult toothpastes I've tried, and the ingredients list "strawberry juice and other natural flavors," but no sweeteners.

Or maybe not: I looked again and it does have sodium lauryl sulfate, though I think less than in their adult toothpastes.

I definitely want fluoridated toothpaste, and in fact accidentally bought and then threw away one of their non-fluoridated flavors, but we get fluoridated water (we meaning anyone supplied by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority), which might be sufficient. (I may want to investigate this further, because Dr. Bronner's makes a cinnamon toothpaste, but it's not fluoridated.)

[callunav]

I feel like I want a fluoride toothpaste/powder, not just the water, although I do think that fluoridated municipal water is to a large extent responsible for my teeth being as good as they are. Let me know what your research turns up, though, if you do investigate it.

[adrian_turtle]

Would it serve your purposes to use toothpaste without fluoride, followed by a mouthwash WITH fluoride? Several companies make them, and you could be confident the dose was safe. I often use a bubble-gum flavored one intended for children--it's somewhat sweet, but it doesn't have aspartame, sucralose, or xylitol so it doesn't trigger migraines.

A lot of dental products use xylitol for its own sake, not just for sweetness. It inhibits bacterial growth and reduces dry mouth, so it's only reasonable to put it in toothpaste and mouthwash and everything. It's just infuriating that I'm sensitive to it.

[callunav]

Would it serve your purposes to use toothpaste without fluoride, followed by a mouthwash WITH fluoride?

That's actually exactly what I tried for a while, but I found I just wasn't using the rinse consistently enough. Maybe I should make a renewed effort...or just give in and go with the Tom's of Maine whole care line. SIGH.

[adrian_turtle]

Having run out of my fluoride mouthwash, I went looking for more this weekend. The ACT mouthwash bubblegum flavor I used before does not contain aspartame, sucralose, or xylitol. It may be too sweet for you. They make watermelon and pineapple flavors that look like they should be very similar, but those contain sucralose. It turns out that ACT also makes fluoride mouthwash for adults. It has the same fluoride content as the kid stuff, but the flavor options are mint and cinnamon. It's cinnamon like red hots, not cinnamon like the bark. Still, not super-sweet.

Of course, nothing helps if using it doesn't fit your schedule/lifestyle/bedtime routine.