Homemade Toothpaste

I have been using a crunchy toothpaste for awhile now. I thought I was doing pretty good by using it and truth be told, it was/is a great middle of the road toothpaste. I will still do a review of this toothpaste some day, as well as get into the details of why conventional toothpaste isn’t so great but not today.

As I researched more (will the research ever end? I don’t think so.) I learned about glycerin.

Glycerin is in almost every single toothpaste; crunchy or not. The problem with glycerin is that it coats teeth, which prevents saliva from interacting with teeth as it’s supposed to. Since glycerin coats teeth and prevents re-mineralization.

Since there is hardly any toothpaste without glycerin or the other ingredients I avoid, it was up to me to make my own toothpaste.

I made two different varieties; one for me (and my husband, if I can convince him) and one for my kids. The reason for the two different toothpastes is because I don’t want to use abrasive baking soda on my children’s teeth. I want to keep their enamel on their teeth. Although I doubt the recipe I made for myself is any more abrasive than store bought toothpaste, I wanted to play it safe and in all honestly, I think I’ll switch to their recipe in the future.

However, I am going to post both recipes just in case you want something with a bit more “scrub” to it.

Homemade Toothpaste

Recipe #1 (my original recipe until I decided I didn't want to use baking soda everyday)

2 TBS. Coconut oil softened

2 TBS. Baking soda

1/8 tsp. Stevia (which if you have the tiny scoop that comes with many stevia containers, it’s two scoops)

10 drops peppermint essential oil (or any other essential oil)

Mix together and store in a container. Dip your toothbrush into the toothpaste or scoop out with a spoon/popsicle stick/what-have-you.

Recipe #2 (my recipe that I originally used just for my kids but now use myself)

2 TBS. Coconut oil softened

1 TBS. Xylitol (I've found that it's best if you grind the xylitol into a powder in the blender/food processor first. Xylitol is a pretty coarse sweetener)
10 drops of peppermint essential oil (or any other essential oil) - keep kids in mind if you are making this one for them)

Mix together and store in a container. Dip your toothbrush into the toothpaste or scoop out with a spoon/popsicle stick/what-have-you.

If you want to make the toothpaste a bit more pliable (because coconut oil gets pretty hard in cold temperatures) then you can add a bit of your favorite liquid oil to the mixture.

Just in case you are curious as to why we would use those ingredients, I decided to give a little information on each one.

Ingredient Information

Coconut Oil – It’s anti-fungal and antibacterial. It also is said to stop tooth decay.

Baking Soda – It’s abrasive quality helps whiten teeth by removing stains. However, as I said since it is abrasive it can remove enamel, which is why most dentists do not recommend using it on a daily basis; especially if you are using baking soda by itself.

Stevia – Not really beneficial to teeth at all but it does help sweeten you toothpaste and it doesn’t cause problems for teeth like other sweeteners.

Peppermint Oil – Antiseptic and antibacterial. Plus it gives you that minty taste you’ve grown to love.

Xylitol – Like stevia, it is a sweetener. However, it prevents plaque from attaching to teeth and even enhances the re-mineralization of teeth!

If you are looking for a really crunchy toothpaste, give one of these recipes a try. They both work great and they are much cheaper to make than it is to buy a crunchy toothpaste.