Tales of Toothpaste

My Vitacost order came yesterday and I made DIY remineralizing toothpaste.  I used the recipe found on WellnessMama.com.

This recipe calls for calcium capsules emptied or pills ground up.  I used my Nutribullet to grind them to powder.  Placed it in a bowl with Xylitol and baking soda and peppermint oil.  I used a pastry blender to cut in the coconut oil.  The oil was still a little cold so it was a bit of a challenge.   In addition I did not grind the calcium as fine as I thought I had so test samples were very, very gritty.

At this point I was getting a little stressed out...here I was trying to save money and go more natural and I just wasted all this money and time...I am a creative person and I decided that I had nothing to lose and popped everything back into the Nutribullet and processed it.

Reusable travel tubes.

The results? A very liquid, runny mess that smelled really good!  I added more dry ingredients and processed it again and ended up with a slightly gritty melted ice cream texture.  Crossing my fingers that the coconut oil would harden, I put some in a travel tube I'd purchased at the drugstore (see pic), a tiny bit in a 'test' bowl and the rest in a storage bowl.

It hardened beautifully with the texture of a baking soda toothpaste.

Now, this toothpaste does not foam and because it is oil-based, it melts once you put it in your mouth.  You only need a pea-sized/half toothbrush, tiny amount.  I definitely recommend bending over the sink when you brush because it tended to run out of my mouth a bit.

The taste was rather minty so I may put more peppermint oil in next time.  My teeth felt really clean, my mouth felt fresh.  One thing I did notice was that my gums were a little sensitive but I think that's the baking soda.  I may decrease that next time but I'm thinking that my gums were already sensitive and this sensation should diminish over the next few days.

Another thing I noticed was that my toothbrush was oily.  The handle was a bit oily (from not bending over the sink the first time) and my sink was a bit oily.  I am not too concerned about clogging the drain because coconut oil has such a low melting point.

So the jury is still out on this for me.  It's a bit different than what I've been using for 50 years but I'm willing to use this batch (about the equivalent of a large tube of store-bought toothpaste) and then  see how I feel about it and see what my next dental checkup looks like. 

While I've mentioned this to two of my family members, I don't know if they've tried it yet.  Hub has a sensitive tooth, I hope he will be open to using it regularly to see if it will become less sensitive with the calcium.  More to come!

Have you ever made toothpaste?  Thought about it?  Read the ingredient list on your tube of toothpaste?  

Follow me on my DIY Adventure as I attempt to go green, save money and detox!