If you’re planning to live naturally, oral hygiene is the final challenge. Truth be told. If you’re trying the natural skin care options and already clean your house with the natural alternatives, turning to natural dental health products isn’t very easy to do.
Recent research has shown that traditional oral hygiene products don’t do much good to your teeth and many of them are made with ingredients that are a lot more harmful than you’d think. science-backed natural toothpaste can take care of your oral hygiene a lot better than you’d think.
To understand why you should turn to the natural toothpaste, let’s take a closer look at your oral microbiome.
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What do you need to know about microbiome?
Our mouth is, in fact, the home for various species of bacteria, and many of them are good for us, whereas some are invading our mouth. You shouldn’t worry about your oral health if you have the right balance of bacteria. In that case, you don’t get many bacteria in the biofilm that covers your teeth, and your gums and enamel are doing just fine. When your bacteria have a good balance, your saliva is going to maintain a neutral pH, containing just the right concentration of the enzymes that improve digestion.
Here’s how to know that the balance of bacteria in your mouth isn’t good:
- Bacteria is going to go into your bloodstream through your gums, leading to problems to various parts of your body, brain functions and circulatory system including. Your gut microbiome is going to suffer as well.
- Your mouth gets more acidic, which only encourage unwanted bacteria to grow. If the imbalance is maintained, the bacteria is going to affect both your gums and teeth. Your bad breath is one sign that should set you off.
- Your immune system is going to deteriorate as well. As it’s the gateway to the gut, our mouth is, in fact, fundamental for our immunity, and 80% of it resides in our mouth. Once the numbers of the pro-immune bacteria in oral microbiome drops down, you’re going to feel sick, especially ent-related diseases (ear nose throat).
How do traditional products harm us?
Don’t grab the toothpaste and the mouthwash just yet as many classical dental products are formulated with ingredients that eliminate bacteria no matter if it’s good or bad for your health, thus creating conditions that help the unwanted bacteria to grow. The antibacterial ingredients that eliminate both good and bad bacteria, alcohol, chemical additives, and sweeteners are only some of the ingredients to blame.
Not only that the aforementioned ingredients are ruining the oral microbiome (and the gut microbiome as well), but they may worsen the conditions that they’re supposed to solve (bad breath is one). Even if the oral hygiene products may hide or destroy the odor-causing bacteria for a short time, they may also help the bad bacteria and not raise the number of good bacteria, as they should do.
On top of everything else, many of the hygiene products that include ingredients that whiten your teeth, are also going to wear down your enamel along with the whitening. Peroxide and abrasives are too strong for your enamel, weakening it and increasing the risk for future damage.
You may have noticed that your teeth got more sensitive after a whitening treatment. You make take care of your enamel and re-mineralize your teeth in time, but once the enamel gets to specific level damage, there’s little you can do about it.
How to choose the best natural toothpaste?
Now that it’s clear why you should give up on the traditional oral health products, you’re facing a new problem: which natural toothpaste should you go with?
To make sure that you’re going to use the right natural hygiene products, you should seek for the ingredients that sustain your oral microbiome. A good natural toothpaste is going to be free of any flavor or synthetic additives which may destroy all the good job that other ingredients are doing. No good natural oral hygiene product is going to be formulated with harsh whiteners either.
Here are the ingredients to look for in a natural toothpaste:
1. Prebiotics and probiotics
The most exciting part about the strong microbes is that some of them may repopulate your oral microbiome. It’s the case of L. paracasei which it’s been proven to eliminate S.mutans, the main cause of holes in your enamel or gum irritation. They’re also naturally fighting the P.gingivalis. P.gingivalis is one of the most common types of odor-causing bacteria.
2. Xylitol
Xylitol is good for your oral health as it gathers the unwanted bacteria. Sweet as sugar, but presenting a different molecular structure, xylitol is a good ingredient as bacteria isn’t going to be able to get nutrition from it, eventually starving. At the same time, xylitol doesn’t influence good bacteria, which is going to be able to repopulate your oral microbiome. In a nutshell, you’re going to get a sweet taste if it’s used in your natural toothpaste, but you’re not going to worry about your microbiome getting destroyed.
3. Organic coconut oil
Coconut oil was an effective solution for cleaning the teeth for many years, and it’s only now that research has been backing up its amazing powers. It seems that coconut oil can lower the number of S. mutans in the mouths, decreasing the biofilm formation and reducing the risk for the gums to get inflamed.
4. Diatomaceous earth
This one works a gentle cleaner as it’s able to physically remove the biofilm buildup from your teeth, without ruining your enamel in any way. It presents abrasive qualities, so it’s an active polishing agent for the teeth, eliminating stains from tobacco, wine, and coffee.
5. Activated coconut charcoal powder
At a glance, it doesn’t make any point whatsoever to put black powder on your teeth to whiten them, but you need to understand that activated coconut charcoal powder is, in fact, one of the most successful natural methods to whiten your teeth. It’s abrasive enough to eliminate the stains, but it doesn’t ruin your enamel in any way. It’s also able to balance the pH of the mouth, which is only good for the oral microbial balance.
One final thought
Taking good care of your teeth and gums is important only if you’re determined to maintain your oral health.
You should be dedicated and develop healthy brushing habits at an early age. You may now turn to the natural alternatives as you’re going to be able to maintain your teeth and gums nice and healthy for a long time, without worrying about any side effects. Just give it a go!
