Are these junk ingredients in your “natural” toothpaste?
Think all natural toothpastes and toothpowders are good? Take a closer look...
If you look at the actual ingredients in 95% of all “natural” toothpastes they’re not very good. Big money is spent on slick packaging and flashy marketing that highlights the latest, greatest ‘hot natural” ingredient like coconut oil or hydroxyapatite while the rest of the ingredients are mainly cheap fillers and superficial ingredients that do nothing for oral health.
The stakes are high when it comes to the ingredients used in oral care products since what you put in your mouth is readily absorbed through your mouth lining (oral mucosa) and into your body. It's important to remember each ingredient has the potential to help, hurt or do nothing in regards to health.
Below is the actual list of ingredients from a popular “natural” toothpaste brand. Grab the toothpaste you’re using— does it look similar?
As you’ll see, 9 of the 13 ingredients don’t benefit oral health — and some may hinder health. Like most “natural” toothpastes, it’s primarily cheap ingredients and fillers including sugar alcohols, highly processed, synthetic (e.g. “naturally derived”) ingredients and many that just focus on cosmetics qualities (e.g flavor, foam, slippery feel).
- Calcium Carbonate - aka chalk - a highly processed mineral, mild abrasive. An ok ingredient.
- Sorbitol - sweetener, sugar alcohol, no benefit for oral health & may affect gut biome
- Glycerin - sweetener and cosmetic to create slip, may inhibit remineralization, no benefit for oral health
- Water - cheap filler, no benefit for oral health
- Propanediol - solvent derived from GMO corn; preservative, no benefit for oral health
- Sodium Bicarbonate - baking soda, the best ingredient in the toothpaste
- Xylitol - sweetener, sugar alcohol, may help against bad bacteria (more effective in gum) & may affect gut biome
- Silica - aka sand — a harsh abrasive
- Hydroxyapatite - highly processed form of calcium and phosphorus, may benefit remineralization. If synthetic, it is a nanoparticle and the nanoparticle version is slated to be banned by the EU for use in toothpastes.
- Potassium Cocoate - surfactant (think soap) a foaming agent not needed with for cleaning teeth, no benefit to oral health
- Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Flavor - this could include a wide range of chemicals. Not an essential oil, no benefit to oral health
- Xanthan Gum - thickener, no benefit for oral health
- Stevia - sweetener, no benefit for oral health & may affect gut biome
Our Mineral Toothpowder is clean enough to eat — it's really more like food, and it works incredibly well (read our customer reviews). AND every ingredient is minimally processed, bioactive and put in for one sole purpose — oral health.
Our ingredients reduce gum inflammation, helps keep teeth strong and healthy, supports remineralization, reduces acidity (cavity prevention by decreasing erosion/deminerization), detoxes the mouth (traps bad bacteria, toxins and heavy metals) and improves mineral absorption (with over 74 macro and trace minerals).
For more see these blogs:
The Not So Good Ingredients Found in Natural Toothpastes
