For a long time, I made Peppermint Tooth Powder for the family and everyone happily used it from the youngest to the oldest of our family members.

There was only one thing I personally didn’t like about it. We always ran out at night. I mean always. By nightfall, I am usually staggeringly tired so running into the kitchen and throwing together a batch of tooth powder at that point was often just too much for me. There are obvious ways of preventing such a situation (such as not waiting until absolutely every particle of powder has been used!) but I came across a bit of information that has provided us with something even simpler for brushing teeth.

In my first post on oil pulling, I linked to my favorite page on the subject which is Karen’s Guide for Self Healing site. I happened to check back at that page a couple of months ago and discovered that there are many more comments there on her How to Do “Oil Pulling” page now than there were then when I initially linked to it, and with great bits of information throughout them. In those comments, Karen gives more information about her recommended dentifrices (i.e. substances with which to brush teeth). She has several great suggestions, one of which was so astonishingly simple that I jumped up to implement it immediately upon reading it. Dr. Bronner’s soap. Go read about it in comment #11 but do read through all of the comments to get a bigger picture of the how’s and why’s.

I pulled out another trusty empty rennet bottle (suitable for its small size and tip designed to let out one drop at a time) and poured in some Dr. Bronner’s. Almond is the flavor we happened to have on hand. I put it on the shelf in the bathroom and was done!

You literally put one tiny drop of soap on your toothbrush and have enough to brush your whole mouth thoroughly. It is so economical. I imagine the peppermint flavor is probably tastier but the almond is fine. No one has any trouble with it, not even the young children. I personally have some childhood trauma associated with soap in the mouth (!) but Dr. Bronner’s is nothing like Ivory and brushing is nothing like being punished so I have had no problem at all using Dr. Bronner’s in my mouth.

I don’t know anything about how Dr. Bronner’s kills bacteria. That is what dentifrice is principally for - killing bacteria. I am thinking that I may make up a batch of Peppermint Tooth Powder again and just have everyone use it once a week or so. I know that baking soda and hydrogen peroxide kill the whole spectrum of bacteria. Karen suggests perhaps using baking soda perhaps once a week. Others say to use it every day. I think I will strike an average between the two.

Meanwhile, though, I am very happy to have such a simple, economical, effective dentifrice that everyone can manage on their own and which never challenges me at night when I am tired!

From the beautiful mountains of southwest Virginia,
Leslie

If you would like to support the Pockets of the Future Project, prayers, encouragement and donations are always welcome.