Comments on: Making tooth powder

By: kelsey

kelsey — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:27:22 +0000

I think the best reason these days to use tooth powder would be the fact that there is glycerin in toothpaste which apparently coats your teeth and doesn’t allow calcium and other minerals the help rebuild and protect your teeth! Has anyone else read or heard of this?

By: Will

Will — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:13:20 +0000

I’m not the best person to use as a comparison since my teeth have always been good, but I’ll give you an update. I continued using tooth powder for about six months after this post (so nine months total). The tooth powder didn’t really do anything for bad breath, so I used a mouthwash as well.

My teeth are still fine. If I remember correctly, I switched because my current batch started clumping up (it got wet somehow) and I found a good SLS-free toothpaste that wasn’t so sweet. I believe it’s one of the Arm & Hammer brands. I also switched to an electric toothbrush more recently and the powder doesn’t work particularly well with that. I do find myself using a lot less toothpaste at a time now and that reduces the foaming to something more manageable.

My parents remember using tooth powder when they were kids, so it hasn’t been that long since people were using it. I think the bigger change was the addition of fluoride to the water and toothpastes.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:19:23 +0000

wow wow, sorry, it has been like 3 years! even better! how are your teeth?

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:17:59 +0000

I tried making my own toothpowder today based off your 1 part baking soda, 1 part salt recommendation. Oy very that’s salty! Its sad that I am so accustomed to sugary toothpaste. Here is what I am wondering though – this is very similar to how people used to clean their teeth, and in the past dental hygiene has not been the best. I know there is fluoride in my water, but if I use toothpowder will I have more cavity/breath/whatever issues? What has your experience been? (since its been a year and a half since this post I am even more curious. Have you stuck it out?) thanks!

By: Jasmine Turner

Jasmine Turner — Sat, 01 May 2010 05:36:39 +0000

Bad breath or halitosis can be easily elimated by using mouthwash with hexetidine or triclosan.`,;

By: Will

Will — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:45:37 +0000

That’s a good idea. Thanks, Leslie!

How well does the duct tape method work? It seems like it would be easy to bend the last out of shape.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:37:36 +0000

Hi there,

if you mix baking soda and hydrogen peroxide together, you have the best toothpaste. The h202 will help kill bacteria in your mouth that leads to tooth decay and a cosmetic dentist in nyc said it’s also great for whitening your teeth.

like your blog, I checked it out because I wanted to make my own lasts and some friends have had shoes made by shoemakers who just used a tube sock and duct taped the foot over the sock and then…sounds like Glen’s method after that…..

By: Will

Will — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:33:35 +0000

Karen – I’ve heard of Tom of Maine’s SLS-free toothpastes, but haven’t been able to find it. Of course, I’ve been pretty happy with the tooth powder, so I also haven’t really been looking since my first hunt. In general, I also prefer fewer ingredients (that I recognize) to more ingredients. Baking soda and sea salt ranks up there for me for that reason as well as the price.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I can get the podcast to work like that. As a workaround, you could click through to the comments before starting the podcast. Then you could listen as you read the comments. Not perfect, I know, but it might be less annoying. I could probably also set it up so that the podcast only shows up once you click through to the main article if that would help.

Very interesting, Ian! I thought that pretty much everyone had fluoridated water nowadays. Checking the water report is good advice, since I’m a big believer in the benefits of fluoride and wouldn’t want to cut it out entirely.

I’d be happy to give you some tooth powder to try out, but it does take a couple of days to get used to it.

Jessica – I’m glad someone else is having good experiences with tooth powder! I wouldn’t mix salt in with a multi-purpose baking soda container. You might try mixing them in a smaller container just for brushing. A small film canister would do well for that, if you have any left over from the days of physical film.

I think using a regular toothpaste every once in a while isn’t a bad idea. When I have to meet with clients, I use some of Maggie’s toothpaste to make sure that my breath is okay. I don’t think toothpaste really goes bad, so you could use your whitening toothpaste while your friend is in town and then switch back to baking soda immediately, leaving the toothpaste for other special occasions.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:13:38 +0000

I started brushing with plain old baking soda about three months ago as part of a budget cut. I used to use a sea salt toothpaste I spent a fortune on, but I felt it made my teeth cleaner than regular toothpaste, but I found baking soda did just as good of a job.
I keep my baking soda in an old bottle that prenatal vitamins came in. I just shake a tiny bit into my palm and wipe it up with my wet toothbrush, then brush my teeth. Recently I went out and bought a tube of whitening toothpaste because a friend of mine from my first deployment is coming to visit me and I want to look really good when he sees me (I’ve kind of had a crush on him for a few years now), but once this tube is gone, its back to good old baking soda. I’ll have to try mixing sea salt in, but my bottle of baking soda is used for more than just tooth brushing. I also use baking soda as deodorant (just rub some on my arm pits, it works great), foot powder for my boots (do they design Army boots to stink more than regular shoes?) and facial scrub. I don’t know what adding salt will do to it’s effectiveness in those other uses.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:50:28 +0000

Having to deal with water issues fairly often at work, I would like to point out that not all city water contains fluoride. If you want to know, all water systems are required to create an annual Consumer Confidence Report, which lists what all they test for in the water, what the levels were, along with some (hopefully) useful facts and info. EPA has a database of them online, and if not you can always call up the utility company who is required to have some way of getting you a copy, too. Usually it’s the local dentists who push for water fluoridation, as it is not mandated to be done on the federal level (some states may have mandates, but I’m not sure there)

Tooth powder sounds interesting, but I’m not sure how quick I’ll be to get rid of my tube of admittedly overly sugary paste. Maybe in the future, at least after my latest tube runs out.