Toothbrushing suggestions

Brushing our teeth with twigs by the fire

I intend to try all of these I can make without using plastic, and then post my thoughts.

Suggestion 1 (courtesy of my great aunt):

Apparently in South Africa, people (used to? do still?) use the fresh, soft grey wood ash from the fire as a sort of toothpaste, and use a green young twig which they'd chew down until it had thin splinters sticking out of it as a toothbrush.

When it stops raining enough for me to be somewhere with a wood fire, I will try this, though I have been warned to be careful not to pick a poisonous stick to chew on.

So, in Finland I cut a twig off of a birch tree (everyone recommended birch because the sap is sweet), and began chewing. It seems the particular tree they use in Africa and India is not so incredibly bitter but this wore off after about five minutes or so. I got some ash from the fire and swilled it round my mouth- it actually seemed to work fairly well and my teeth were rather clean and did not go black as anticipated. The downside was that we'd been cooking salmon in the fire so the next day my mouth tasted as though I'd brushed my teeth with salty fish-ash. However, I tried some non-salmon ash after this and it was tasteless and pleasant. I really feel this to be a viable option, although as I don't have an open fire here I'd have to have one once and then collect the ash in a jar for future use.

Suggestion 2:

Baking soda. Apparently, though, this is quite strong and can wear away the enamel of your teeth so I suppose you'd have to dilute it with something else?

Suggestion 3 (courtesy of Becca Whitehead, who also sent suggestions 4, 5 and 6):

Citrus tooth powder

1 tbsp dried lemon or orange peel

6 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

Place peel in food processor, grind until it becomes a fine powder.

Add baking soda and salt, then process for a few seconds more

until you have a fine powder. Store in an airtight jar.



This looks doable from things I already have, although I'm not

sure if there's a specific way to dry citrus peel.

Suggestion 4:

Peppermint Toothpaste
6 tsps baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
4 tsps glycerine
15 drops peppermint oil
Mix ingredients together thoroughly until a paste forms. Store in
an airtight jar.

This is the one I'd really like to try, but I doubt very much
whether I can get either peppermint oil or glycerine
plastic-free.


Suggestion 5:

Rosemary-Mint Mouthwash
250ml distilled or mineral water
1 tsp of fresh mint leaves
1 tsp of rosemary leaves
1 tsp of anise seeds
Boil the water, add the herbs and seeds, infuse for 20 minutes.
Cool, strain and use as a gargle/mouthwash.


Suggestion 6:

Spearmint mouthwash
200ml water
50ml vodka
4 tsps liquid glycerine
1 tsp aloe vera gel
10-15 drops Spearmint essential oil
Boil the water and vodka, add the glycerine and aloe vera
gel. Removefrom the heat, leave to cool slightly. Add
the spearmint oil, shake well. Pour into a bottle, cap tightly.

Perhaps it's possible to get vodka with a metal lid? I expect,
though, that it'd have a plastic disc in the lid. Other than
that this seems possible; I'd like to get an aloe vera plant for
hair gel purposes, and perhaps you could substitute the oil
with real spearmint.