Or you can try making your own, with a drop or two of essential oils to make it taste a bit more appetizing.Īnd it might even be better for you than toothpaste! The more abrasive nature of the powder means that it’s a great way to dislodge plaque from your teeth. We’ve moved away from using crushed oyster shells and chalk (ew?), but head into your nearest store, and you’ll likely find tooth powders made from baking soda, charcoal, or salt. Tooth powders might sound like something pretty recent, but this is what your ancestors were probably using in order to keep their teeth shiny. Want to go away from the chemicals and scrub your fangs with something that’s a bit more natural? Herbal tooth powders might be the option for you! It also doesn’t provide too much in the way of dental protection. But you’ve got to be careful not to keep it on your teeth too long, or it can cause damage. If you’re using it responsibly (and it’s a very good idea to check out correct measurements before you start putting it in your mouth), it’ll certainly get those teeth gleaming. One important note, though: Be sure it’s diluted before trying to use it in your mouth. It’s one of the critical ingredients of those toothpastes that promise to give you a gleaming smile, so some choose to cut out the middleman, and use peroxide to clean their teeth. Well, if you’ve ever used a whitening toothpaste or had a whitening treatment carried out by your dentist, the chances are that you’ve already had a peroxide party in your mouth. Whaaaa-? Isn’t that the stuff we use to bleach hair? Why the heck would you want to put peroxide in your heckin’ mouth? Great if you’re trying to avoid it, but if you’re prone to cavities, it means that you miss out on that recommended protection. It’ll foam up way more than you think! Fans love that it’s nonabrasive, and often less chemical-tasting than regular toothpaste.īut does it work? It’ll certainly keep your teeth looking pretty sparkly as usual - but again, there’s usually no fluoride in its ingredients. When you buy it, it’ll often look almost like a deodorant stick - all you need to do is wet your toothbrush, rub it over the surface of the soap a few times until it starts to bubble, then clean your teeth just as you would with regular toothpaste. Yup, such a thing as tooth soap actually exists, and you can buy it in stores or online. Plus, you don’t really want to ingest more salt than you need to. Salt can work pretty well because it’s abrasive, scraping all the harmful stuff off your teeth… but, it can do its job a little too well, damaging the enamel on your teeth. And on the whole, it seems to be pretty correct - salt raises the pH in your mouth, making it a deeply uncomfortable living situation for all those pesky microbes.īut it’s a double-edged sword. Salt has many good uses, including cleansing, so it’s a logical step to assume that it’ll kill off all that bacteria in your mouth. Hurrah! On the downside, there isn’t too much research on the subject, which means that it’s fairly unknown as to how it might affect your long-term dental health. On the bright side, some small studies show that coconut oil’s antimicrobial properties could be pretty awesome for reducing plaque and gingivitis. It basically comes down to treating coconut oil like a mouthwash, except that you’re swishing a teaspoon of it around your mouth for about 15 minutes, making sure you draw it through all the gaps in your teeth. The technique has been used in India for thousands of years. Heard of oil pulling? It’s a dental care trend, though certainly not a recent one. Oh, and it tastes like butt.īaking soda is a viable alternative to toothpaste, but if you’re prone to cavities, or not keen on the taste, it might be wise to keep it to an occasional use. And it doesn’t have fluoride, so you might be at higher risk of developing cavities. One is that it might not whiten teeth quite as well as a lot of beauty bloggers think - in fact, possibly not as well as regular toothpastes. Well, there are a couple of things to consider before you go to the supermarket, and throw eighteen boxes into your cart. It’s cheap! It’s mildly abrasive, which means that it boots all that nasty plaque off your teeth! It might reduce cavity-causing bacteria! And it whitens your teeth! What’s not to love? Let’s kick off with the most commonly-chosen alternative - baking soda, aka sodium bicarbonate. If you’re ready to ditch the tubes and try something different, which one should you plump for? What’s going to clean your chompers and give you that Hollywood smile - and maybe save you a bit of cash, too?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |