When I made the decision to simplify my life, the very first product I decided to make was this Simple DIY Toothpaste.
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We were purchasing fluoride-free, non-toxic toothpaste from the store – which was great, but it was rather expensive. Plus it still had a couple ingredients that I wasn’t a huge fan of. I figured it was probably the easiest thing to start with, in terms of replacing our personal care products with homemade versions.
And I was right! Homemade toothpaste takes mere seconds to make, and all you need is some baking soda and some essential oils.
Not all essential oils are created equal
Now… a word about essential oils. This was actually the DIY that took me down the rabbit hole of learning about essential oils. I THOUGHT all essential oils were created equal (boy, was I wrong).
After scrolling Pinterest to find the simplest DIY recipe I could find, I realized I’d need some essential oils. I headed to the health food store, looking for orange oil (thinking that’s what my kids would like).
I knew NOTHING about essential oils (less than nothing, if that’s possible). I had no idea if they were edible, or what. So when I took the orange oil up to the counter, I thought I’d better ask if they were safe to ingest – after all, my kids were going to be putting it in their mouths.
Her answer actually shocked me: “no, these aren’t safe for internal use”. I mean, I know I knew nothing about essential oils, but I ASSUMED that if it was just made with oranges it wouldn’t be harmful to ingest.
Confused, I left the store and went home to Google….
As it turns out, the essential oil industry is entirely unregulated. People can literally put anything they want into a bottle, slap a label on it that says ‘100% pure essential oil’, and that actually means nothing.
Many brands of essential oils contain fillers, synthetics, fragrance boosters, or are diluted with an unknown carrier oil… but you would never know, because they are not required to put it on the label (since essential oils are not considered food).
Hmmm…
Surely there is a company out there that cares enough to produce a high quality essential oil, with NO fillers, NO pesticides, NO synthetics, that was simply a pure essential oil that was safe enough to ingest.
Why I chose dōTERRA
My search led me to doTERRA. I actually spent about a month researching… because that’s how I roll. I need to know that what I’m using on my family is 100% safe and healthy. When it comes to my children’s health, I don’t settle for second-best. As much as I TRIED to find something negative about doTERRA, I simply couldn’t.
It seemed they were the company that actually DID care. Because the industry is unregulated, they created their own standard, called Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade (CPTG). They wanted their essential oils to be the highest quality in the world, and they needed a standard to measure themselves against.
These oils are tested a MINIMUM of 7 times, both internally and third party, to ensure there are absolutely no contaminants, pesticides, or anything else other than the pure essential oil. They also test for quality and potency. They source their oils from where the plants grow natively, which is the best way to get potent, high quality essential oils.
I could go on about all that, but I’ll save it for another post.
Suffice it to say, that I knew I had found my brand. I went ahead and ordered my starter kit, and got to work!
Now, onto the reason you’re all here… the recipe!
Simple DIY Toothpaste (Tooth Powder)
Ingredients:
Aluminum-free baking soda (I recommend Bob’s Red Mill brand)
Essential oils of your choice – the kids like wild orange & peppermint, I like cinnamon & peppermint!
Do you know that wild orange essential oil acts as a natural tooth whitener? And it tastes great, too!
Optional Additions:
Coconut Oil – makes it into a paste rather than a powder
Sea salt for minerals
Activated charcoal for whitening
Bentonite clay for remineralizing
Remineralizing tooth powder with clay
Directions:
In a small jar (re-use something you have), fill it almost all the way to the top with baking soda.
If you wish to add in any of the optional ingredients, leave room for those.
Add about 20 drops total of the essential oils (if you’re using cinnamon, use only about 5 drops, and the rest peppermint, as the cinnamon is HOT!). If using wild orange & peppermint, do 10 drops each.
If adding coconut oil, add a teaspoonful at a time until you reach your desired, paste-like consistency.
Stir very well with a spoon until all the ingredients are well blended.
Make a separate jar for each person in the house if you will be dipping your toothbrush in.
Otherwise, you can keep a small spoon next to it in the bathroom so that people can apply it to their toothbrush.
Don’t worry, the essential oils have anti-bacterial properties so it’s not gross to dip a clean toothbrush into the jar, as long as you’ll be the only one using it.
That’s all there is to making your own homemade tooth powder or tooth paste! If you decide to make your own, let me know in the comments. What flavour did you go with?
